Hosea Wilson was born in Marion in 1878, graduated from Marion High School and Southern Illinois Normal University. Hosea’s father, Allen Wilson served in the Civil War in the 31st Illinois Infantry. It should he added that O.M. Wilson of Marion was a brother of Hosea. O.M. Wilson had a son, Virgil, who later became the noted athletic coach at Marion High School.
Hosea married Eula Russell from Pope County and the family ended up In Hurst-Bush where Hosea was the school principal where he eventually retired and returned to Marion to live out his life. When we talked to Kathryn McCarty of Benton, the only surviving child of Hosea and Eula, I asked about her father and whether he was a stern principal and she said in effect, “Oh Heaven’s yes. The kids were scared to death of him.”
This marriage brought forth seven children, one of whom died in infancy. The four sons are the subject of this report. There was another sister, Mary Louise McClusky who died in 1991 and is buried in Rose Hill Cemetery. There apparently was something in the Wilson blood which caused the boys to seek to serve their country in military service and they certainly succeeded in their actions.
The first born son, Russell Wilson, born in 1906, obtained an appointment to the U.S. Army Military Academy at West Point, New York and graduated in 1928 and became a member of the U.S. Army. When our country went to war, Russell was a Major in the U.S. Army Air Corps and by 1942 had been promoted to the rank of Colonel and was stationed in Washington, D.C. Along the way Russell had obtained a Master’s Degree from Yale University.
Col. Wilson was not content to serve in Washington, D.C. while his country was at war and requested re-assignment to the war front in England which was granted. He became the 3rd Division Air Commander with the 482nd Bomb Group in the U.S. 8th Heavy Bombardment Division in England which was conducting daylight bombing raids on German targets on the European continent.
Col. Wilson was awarded the Silver Star for leading a huge air attack on the factories at Marienburg in East Prussia, Germany. On March 8, 1944, the very day Col. Wilson was notified of his promotion to Brigadier General, he was leading either the first or second daylight raid on Berlin, Germany, when his life was taken.
An eye witness account of the incident related that Gen. Wilson’s plane, the “Chopstick G. George” was hit by German flak prior to the bomb run, when an 88mm shell hit the starboard wing and set the number three fuel tank ablaze along with number three engine. Since Wilson was commanding his air wing on this flight, he commanded the run to be completed. He then ordered his air wing to maintain battle formation and just then his plane exploded and fell to the earth. The pilot, Major Rabo and a Lt. Morgan were blown clear of the plane by the explosion.
Rabo thought the nose hatch, where Gen. Wilson would have exited was blocked by the exploding shell. Rabo and Morgan spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp.
It was not until March 20, 1944 that the family was notified by the War Department that Russell’s plane had failed to return from the bombing raid. In April the family was notified by Congressman C.W. Bishop that their son was “presumed to be a prisoner of war and uninjured.”
In June, 1944 the family received notification that General Wilson had been awarded the “Distinguished Service Cross” for extraordinary heroism in action. He also held the Air Medal with an oak leaf cluster. Gen. Wilson had participated in 15 attacks on German targets.
In August of 1945 the family received official notice that Gen. Wilson was now presumed to have lost his life in the air raid on Berlin. Gen. Wilson’s B-17 was the lead pathfinder in a B-17 bomber in a successful large scale operation against Berlin. Reports say the General’s plane had sustained three direct hits by flak, caught fire and exploded.
In August of 1945 the Wilsons received a letter from Gen. “Hap” Arnold, Commanding General, U.S. Air Forces attempting to console them in the loss of their son. They received a similar letter from Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War. Early in 1950 the Wilsons were invited to Yale University for the dedication of a memorial tablet bearing the names of Yale men who died in the Second World War.
Gen. Wilson’s remains were found in an unmarked grave after the war and identified. On Friday, March 16, 1956 Gen. Wilson’s remains were buried in Marion’s Rose Hill Cemetery with full military honors. The casket was carried by officers, none below the rank of Lieutenant Colonel from Scott Air Force base.
Gen. Wilson was not the first death experienced by the Wilson family in WW II. Just prior to the war, Lowell Wilson, who was born in 1916 and had attended Southern Illinois Normal University, was engaged in cadet training as a pilot when he was killed Jan. 4, 1940 in Texas during his first solo night flight. Lowell’s body was returned to Marion and was interred in Rose Hill Cemetery. So Gen. Wilson’s death was the second experienced by the Wilson family brought on by our nation’s involvement in WW 2.
When the afore-mentioned Kathryn McCarty was asked about Lowell she could recall that he was very interested in music and was not a warrior at heart. He apparently felt he had to follow in his older brother Russell’s footsteps and become a pilot.
This was not to be the last death in the Wilson family. Jack Wilson, born in 1917 in Marion and like his older brother, Russell desired to attend a military academy but this was not to be. He attended and graduated from the then Southern Illinois Normal University with a degree in chemistry. While at SINU he was on the school track team. After graduation Jack enlisted in the Army Air Corps and began his pilot training at Parks Air College at East St. Louis, IIIinois.
After Parks Air College, Jack went to Randolph Field, Texas; Kelly Field, Texas and then Selfridge Field, Mich. After the U.S. entry into WW II he went to Paine Field in Washington and entered into the South Pacific Theater of the war in January of 1942.
The first mention of him in the Marion newspaper was in July, 1941 when it was written that he had been chosen along with 11 other flyers to go to England as an air observer.
England was in a serious shooting war by this time with Germany, who was trying to bomb the English out of existence. Their journey to England was by boat and they returned on a U.S. bomber.
While in England the group had the pleasure of meeting the King and Queen. They spent three months in England but Jack was not permitted to talk of his experiences.
After Jack reached the Pacific Theater of the war he was mentioned in a Chicago Daily News report of Aug. 5, 1942 as downing a Japanese plane. His parents had heard nothing of his location but had learned indirectly that he was stationed in Australia.
It was also disclosed in that news report that Jack had married the former Lularose Sanders who was living in Hurst.
The account stated it was from an advanced Allied Air Base in the south-west Pacific that Lt. Jack Wilson had downed his first Jap Zero while escorting U.S. B-25s on a bombing mission. The report quoted Lt. Wilson, as saying, “Yes it was my first operational flight, all right, but these things happen too fast and I am not going to claim what I don’t see. We were flying along between two layers of clouds, five of us, when suddenly there appeared five Zeros heading straight for us. I turned away after one and got in a long burst, then a cloud hid it from view and I rejoined the flight.”
The bombing crews were definite about seeing the plane fall from the clouds and only Wilson got a fair shot. Lt. Jack Wilson was piloting the relatively new P-39 Airacobra by the Bell Aircraft Corp. The P-39 had a top speed of 560 mph and a range of 600 miles.
A scant 22 days later, August 27, a news dispatch referred to Jack as Capt. Jack Wilson and added the fact that he was now leading raids on the Japanese. Another news report dated Sept. 8 stated that Jack was now credited with downing five Jap Zeroes. Just a few weeks later on Dec. 11, 1942 a report told of a group of men of the Army Air forces were awarded the Silver Star and one was Capt. Jack Wilson of Marion, Illinois.
Just a few days later a news report stated that Jack had been elevated to the rank of Major and that Gen. Douglas MacArthur was the one who awarded the Silver Star to him for bravery beyond the call of duty. Captain Wilson was flying the Army’s sleek P-39 fighter plane when he became separated from the squadron due to bad weather during an air raid over the Buna territory in New Guinea.
Jack carried out his objective despite being separated from the other planes. He personally destroyed two Japanese pursuit planes, set fire to two others and damaged two others which he thought were finally forced down.
The Wilson family was notified in December, 1942 that Jack had been awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action for his exploits.
In January, 1942 the Wilson family was notified that Jack was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and that Jack was also referred to as a Major. The article referred to the Wilson family as currently living in Decatur. Mrs. McCarty had told us the family had moved to Decatur to be near their daughter, Louise and also to be close to Mrs. McCarty who by now had borne their third grandchild and was also living in Decatur. The other grandchildren were in California.
Jack’s exploits were not over, as in November, 1943 a dispatch from “Somewhere in New Guinea” reported that Lt. Colonel Jack Wilson was awarded the Air Medal for “meritorious achievement” while participating in 25 operational flight missions in the Southwest Pacific during which hostile contact was probable and expected.
Nothing else was reported on Jack in the paper until May, 1944 when the family received a phone call from him, reporting that he was in Los Angeles, California after 27 months in the Southwest Pacific. This relieved his family’s anxieties as they had had no word from him for several weeks and his wife had left for California to greet him.
A report in the May 22, 1944 edition of the local paper reported that Jack arrived in Marion for a visit with his parents who were living on East Thorn Street. He was accompanied by his wife and when peppered with questions about his war experiences replied, “I’d like to forget about the war for two months.” Jack did comment that he was then assigned to an air corps headquarters. He had piled up a record of more than 200 combat missions. He was still doing some flying but not as much as before. He also said he expected to return to New Guinea at the conclusion of his leave.
The next mention of Jack came June 4, 1945 when a friend, who had been with Jack in New Guinea phoned the family from Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He surprised the family with the news that Jack had been promoted to full Colonel and he was now in command of a bomber wing in action against the Japanese.
No other word was printed in the paper on Jack until after the cessation of hostilities against Japan when the War Department notified the family Oct. 23 at 524 E. Thorn Street that Jack had been missing since Sept. 27. The most recent information on Jack as reported by his wife was that he had been transferred from the Philippines to Japan with the 5th Air Force after the war.
Subsequently it was learned that Col. Wilson was piloting a P-51 Mustang fighter built by North American Aviation. This aircraft became famous and saw much action over Europe but saw limited use against the Japanese.
Mrs. McCarty advised that it was reported to the family that Col. Wilson, on a flight from Okinawa to Japan, had flown into a typhoon and went down.
The widow, Lularose Wilson was called to Chicago in May, 1946 where she posthumously received the medals awarded to her husband during WW II. Mrs. Wilson was presented with the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and Oak Leaf Cluster to the Distinguished Flying Cross. Col. Wilson was in command, at the age of 28 of the 310th Bombardment Wing of the Fifth Air Force. This wing had operated with great success in New Guinea, Morotai and the Philippines.
On May 17, 1949 Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Wilson received word that the body of their son, Col. Jack Wilson was enroute to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri for burial there in the national cemetery. His body had been found in the water sometime after the plane was reported missing. It had been identified from his uniform and other personal effects.
Jefferson Barracks was selected as the Colonel had entered the military there and had attended four years of Citizen Military Training Camps there each summer. The cemetery is located on the banks of the Mississippi River and adjoins the Veterans Hospital on one side and the city of St Louis on the other and is a beautiful wooded cemetery.
One son, Ronald Wilson, was to survive the hazards of war even though he experienced some near death events. Ronald Wilson was born in Marion in 1910. He was educated in the Marion schools and received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.
I inquired of Mrs. McCarty about the family’s ability to win two appointments to military academies. Mrs. McCarty said her father was apparently well connected to political people and somehow won these appointments for two of his sons.
Ronald of course went in the Navy upon graduation from Annapolis and was allowed to go back to school after graduation and received a Master’s degree from Harvard University.
The first mention of Ronald in the Marion Daily Republican was on Dec. 9, 1941. It was reported that Lt. Ronald Wilson, son of Mr. and Mrs. H.A. Wilson, 903 S. Madison was stationed at Pearl Harbor in charge of radio operations of destroyers in the Pacific. His wife and two children were with him. So this means that Ronald was a witness to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
The next mention was dated Nov. 4, 1943. The article spoke of Ronald, along with his family from California, visiting with his parents in Marion. This was his first visit home since he was assigned to the Pacific which was several months prior to the war beginning. He was to leave Marion shortly for a new command. Shortly after his departure he was promoted to the rank of Commander.
Ronald must have returned to duty in the Pacific as an article about a year later on Nov. 16 spoke of his accepting the command of the new destroyer, USS Drexler. Commander Wilson had previously commanded the destroyer Dixie in the South Pacific.
The USS Drexler was launched at Maine and commissioned at San Diego on Nov. 14, 1944 under the command of Commander Ronald Wilson. The Drexler sailed to Guadalcanal for duty there.
The ship joined the invasion fleet for the Battle of Okinawa. This was a long and protracted battle as evidenced by the damaging of 368 ships including 36 ships sunk which included 12 destroyers lost. Total Naval losses of personnel were around 5,000 killed in action.
The Drexler was on picket duty which consisted of destroyers working in a “screening” action of the main body of the fleet. In other words the destroyers were considered “expendable” if they could knock Japanese “Kamikaze” planes out of the air and protect the big ships such as the carriers, battleships and troop ships.
The Kamikaze planes were on suicide missions to crash their planes into ships thereby destroying them. The Kamikazes knew they had to get by the picket ships to reach the big prizes for sinking, but sometimes they crashed into the picket ships.
On May 28 at 0700 hours the first Kamikaze crashed into the Drexler setting her on fire but she maintained her integrity and continued firing on the invaders and actually shooting down three suicide planes. She kept this up for three minutes until the second suicide plane crashed into her at 0703 hours and a tremendous explosion ensued and in less than 60 seconds the Drexler rolled over and sank stem first killing 158 crewmen and injuring the 52 survivors including her commander.
Witnesses reported that men were frantically jumping overboard and throwing the wounded from the doomed ship. Ronald Wilson’s heavy coat became entangled in the ship’s superstructure and he broke free just as the ship dipped beneath the waves but then he was again caught on part of the bulwark and went under with the ship. Wilson was quoted saying, “I finally worked free and began swimming up. It took me so long to reach the surface, I was afraid I was swimming downward and was about to reverse my course when I sighted daylight.”
All about him were men struggling in the water. Men with life jackets were supporting their less fortunate shipmates. The wounded were being cared for as best they could until smaller ships could pick them up.
Throughout the 45 minutes the survivors were in the water. Men in isolated groups were banded together and sang songs like “Home on the Range” and Take Me Back to the Lone Prairie.” Commander Wilson did not remember what happened the first hour he escaped certain death, but he recalled that 45 minutes later he was so weak that he could not grasp a life line that was thrown to him. He had to be dragged on the rescue ship by the seat of his pants.
The Wilson family in Marion was quite concerned at news of the Drexler’s sinking and one can imagine their sense of relief when in June, 1945 they received a letter from Ronald advising he was in a naval hospital in the Marianas and that he was getting along and they should not worry about him.
Then in July, Ronald was back in the states and expected to go to Washington, D.C. Mrs. McCarty related that Ronald was going to Washington as there was great concern over the almost instant sinking of the Drexler. There was great concern that the Japanese had some secret weapon and the Navy Department wanted to hear from the skipper himself about this. Mrs. McCarty also related that the Drexler now holds two dubious distinctions. She sank quicker than any other ship, less than 45 seconds. She also was the last ship sunk by the suicide planes off Okinawa.
Therefore the Wilsons had one son survive the rigors of WW II. Ronald lived to leave the Navy after the war and went to work for Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles, Calif. Ronald outlived his parents.
His father, Hosea, died Dec. 22, 1954 and his mother, Eula, died Oct. 14, 1963. Both are buried in Marion’s Rose Hill Cemetery.
Ronald died January 18, 1966 in Los Angeles of a heart attack while on his way to work. He is buried at the Navy Cemetery in San Diego, Calif. Ronald was survived by four children, two of whom are still living and there are now 13 grandchildren. In 2005 the Drexler Survivor Association had a reunion in San Diego and were taken out in a Navy vessel and had a memorial service for their former crewmen.
Later the same week the survivors gathered in the Navy cemetery overlooking the city of San Diego at the grave site of Commander Ronald Wilson. One of the attendees wrote the following. “On Saturday the 18th, we visited the grave site of our Captain, Ronald Lee Wilson. We placed a wreath next to his headstone and prayers were offered. The view from this cemetery is spectacular. You can look down on the U.S. Naval Air Station Field and see most of San Diego Bay and the City in the distance. Being there at our CO’s gravesite, I couldn’t help but think about the letters of condolence he wrote to all of the next of kin of our KIA’s. He was a compassionate man and understood what grief was all about. After all, he already had lost three of his brothers in this war and now the grief of his lost shipmates of the Drexler.”
Thus ends the saga of the Hosea Wilson family of Marion, Illinois in WWII.
Where does this nation get families like this? Will there ever be another like it? It should be our fervent hope that we will not need more.
(Article written by Harry C. Boyd and published in Marion Living Magazine, March 2008)