One Man’s War
First Sergeant Robert G. Wilson: 1943 -
Robert G. Wilson of Omaha Nebraska was just nineteen years old when he was called up by his country to serve in the United States Army. He would spend the next three years traveling throughout America and the Pacific Theater, eventually ending up in Seoul, Korea. Rising through the ranks, Robert was First Sergeant when the Army finally sent him back home, a man worlds apart from the small town teenager who left for war in 1943.
Introduction
Voice Overlay of Franklin Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech:
Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific… The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost… I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
Narrator:
On December 7, 1941 Robert Glen Wilson was a student, still in high school.
He was halfway through his senior year, and like all his classmates, looking forward to making his way in the world.
Pearl Harbor was 3 ½ thousand miles away, an exotic and far off place compared to the rolling plains of Nebraska.
Beginnings
Narrator:
Robert, or Bob, as he was called, was born on March 11, 1924 in Omaha Nebraska to Fremont and Blanche Wilson.
Bob was the middle child, his brother Neal a year older and Verna Ruth three years his junior.
The 1920s were a time of economic prosperity before a combination of Mother-
On September 19, 1931 when Bob was just a boy of seven, the Empire of Japan invaded Manchuria, setting the stage for the coming global conflict.
Two years later both Japan and Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, effectively dooming the struggling organization to failure.
Having lived through the First World War, Fremont was aware of the proverbial storm clouds on the horizon, but Bob was more concerned with Boy Scouts and model planes.
In many ways, the Wilson family escaped the worst parts of the Great Depression, with Bob and his siblings able to grow up with a fairly typical, small town American childhood.
Always quick to take advantage of any opportunity that came his way, Bob was active in school government, sang in the glee club, acted on the stage, worked for the school newspaper, and played basketball.
Bob was just starting his second year at Dunbar High School when Hitler’s legions crossed the frontier into Poland, instigating the fighting in Europe that would last for six long, devastating years.
The Wilson family had been in America since before the Revolutionary War, and unlike many families in the region, had no relatives in the old country to worry about.
As Bob made his way through high school, the world at large was becoming darker. Austria and Czechoslovakia were assimilated without a shot being fired. Poland was carved up between Nazi Germany and the Soviets. Japan was rampaging through China.
On May 12, 1941 as Bob and his classmates were taking to the skies during a field
trip to a local airfield, German Stukas were dive-
By the time Bob started school that fall for his final year, the situation outside
the Americas was grim. Germany dominated practically all of mainland Europe except
the few neutral states, while Japanese pilots were perfecting their anti-
Everything Changes
Narrator:
As news of Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor rippled across the country, many people were taken aback, shocked at the losses, angry at the subterfuge, united now in a way that was almost impossible before.
When Bob went to class the next day, Monday December 8, the school was abuzz in uncertainty. At 11:30 that morning local time, President Roosevelt delivered an address to a joint session of congress, asking for a declaration of war.
Within weeks, Bob’s senior class of 15 students shrank by one as Roy Rodaway dropped out to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard, eventually serving the duration of the war and sailing all the way to Japan.
There were now just nine boys left in Dunbar’s senior class and each one knew his time might soon be coming to take up arms. Across America every male as soon as he reached the age of eighteen was required to register with the draft board.
The boys of Dunbar, soon to be men, watched the papers intently as their final year in school drew to a close, reading about far off places and battles, taking smug satisfaction at Doolittle’s successful raid on Japan. Each was thinking about what might lay ahead, what might be their future.
As the editor of the school paper, “The Blue and White,” Bob wrote his final piece in May of 1942. Throughout the paper’s fifteen pages there was not a single mention of the war, or the turmoil gripping the world. It was the senior class’ last hurrah before reality set in.
Robert Wilson:
Here it is, the end of another school year and a sad occasion for we seniors. Yes leaving good old Dunbar High… Graduating might be called the renascence of your life. Practically everything that we do from now on is going to be new to us. New environment will surround us in our new work wherever it may be. We will meet new friends and above all new problems, problems that will toughen us into this new life, and make us real Americans all.
-
Narrator:
On May 14, 1942 Robert Wilson graduated from Dunbar High School. He entered into a world torn apart by war and hate, and a world where there would be no shortage of deeds to be done.
In The Army
Narrator:
Not long after graduating high school Bob decided to take up arms for his home and country. His older brother Neal was already in the Army Air Corps, training to become a pilot in far off Arizona. Bob, with his love of all things aeronautical, wanted to be a pilot as well.
When Bob reported for the battery of medical tests every potential recruit faced, he was excited. He was smart, athletic, and with 20/20 vision. But during the testing, he faced something he had never seen before, a printed page covered in red and green dots. Bob couldn’t make anything of it, and couldn’t see the patterns that everyone else said were there. The Army Air Corps had no room for pilots with color vision deficiencies, and Bob was officially disqualified.
Rejected from being a pilot, Bob settled in to wait to be drafted, no longer particular what branch he served in. He was employed after all in a vital war industry, the railroad.
It was while working at Union Pacific that Bob met Joyce Olson, one of the office girls. As their romance blossomed, the United States was coming to the end of its first full year at war. It had been a hard year. The Japanese had lost at Midway, but the enormity of the campaign before the Allies in the Pacific was daunting. The German advances into the Soviet Union had ground to a halt in front of Stalingrad, but the outcome was far from certain.
1942 also saw the United States Government with the stroke of a pen question the loyalty of over one hundred thousand persons of Japanese heritage living in the U.S., uprooting them from their homes and sending them to desolate internment camps for the duration of the war.
On December 18 Bob was ordered to submit himself for another physical examination, this time for the draft board. He had until Christmas Eve to see if he would be a fitting gift for the U.S. Military.
On February 15, 1943 Robert Glen Wilson received notice from the Selective Service System directing him to report on March 3rd for induction into either the land or naval forces of the U.S. Military.
For Bob and his sweetheart, Joyce, the moment was both terrifying and slightly exhilarating. Bob would have his chance to take part, to serve his country. Joyce would remain home, working at Union Pacific, with only letters to comfort her.
On March 11th Bob formally became a soldier in the U.S. Army, and was sent to Fort Sheridan Illinois for basic training.
On the far side of the world, the tide in the war was slowly turning toward the Allies, as commanders like General Patton and Admiral Nimitz were becoming household names across the nation.
Located just north of Chicago, Fort Sheridan was a major processing point for the thousands of new recruits inducted into the Army. With the wide expanse of Lake Michigan as a back drop, Bob would reside there for the next seven months.
Assigned to an anti-
When the war started, the American Army Air Corps was by far inferior to its Japanese and German counterparts. There was simply no equivalent to the Zero and Messerschmitt fighters terrorizing allied pilots.
By 1943 things were changing; a parity was soon reached and then surpassed as the industrial and innovative might of the United States sought to reclaim the skies.
Bob and the men of the 586th Anti Aircraft Artillery were training for an enemy that was fast becoming irrelevant, especially as the pool of experienced pilots was dwindling daily for the Axis powers.
It was not long before Bob and his new compatriots boarded a train and were sent down to Camp Hulen on the Gulf Coast of Texas.
Arriving on October 1, 1943, the newly minted Sergeant Wilson was beginning to wonder if the war was going to pass him by.
The Allies had taken Sicily and were advancing up the Italian mainland. The Soviets had turned back the German thrust, and started the long push that would land them in Berlin a year and a half later.
At the same time however there were thousands upon thousands of people who couldn’t be done with the war soon enough. In a cramped hideout in Amsterdam Anne Frank was hiding with her family, fervently wishing the war would pass her by.
In the town of Posen in Nazi occupied Poland, Heinrich Himmler was boasting of German prowess and publicly laying out the justifications of Hitler’s “final solution.”
Bob and the 586th would end up staying in Camp Hulen for more than a year.
The days fell into a routine of training, drill, and more drill. The men got to know their weapons inside and out. They learned to work together, bonding in ways that would last a lifetime.
Robert Wilson:
My Dearest Joyce,
It’s Sunday again and boy am I glad of it. Boy I’m not kidding, this has been a rough
week. To begin with we went over the “infiltration course”-
I love you. Yours forever, Bob.
April 23, 1944, Camp Hulen Texas
When the Allied troops were storming the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944 the men of the 586th were digging in on the beaches of Texas, practicing fortifying their guns.
Bob’s brother Neal was also impatiently watching the events transpire in the world.
Finished with another stage of flight school, in July of 1944 Neal was sent to Columbia
South Carolina to complete his training as a B-
Everyday that passed for the men of the 586th was a day with fewer and fewer enemies to fight. German factories were producing planes faster than ever, but struggled to find pilots to fly them. The Japanese were suffering the same surpluses and shortages as well.
At the end of 1944 Bob and his compatriots were sent to Ft Bliss Texas, tucked up against the Rio Grande a thousand miles inland, far away from the coastal shores they had known so long.
Bob didn’t know it at the time, but it would be his last stateside posting. In three short months he would be boarding a ship for a destination unknown.
Granted leave for the holidays, Bob went home to see his parents and sister, and to see his sweetheart, Joyce.
Though there was an occasional gold star in the windows of the surrounding homes, the region’s casualty rate was far under the national average. But numbers don’t mean anything when your loved one is the one leaving. Bob and Joyce spent as much time together as possible before Bob had to board the train back to Texas.
It was a tearful goodbye, Joyce not knowing if she would see him again.
Other thoughts were weighing on the Wilson family as well. Neal, now a 2nd Lieutenant, was in Italy, bombing German positions and bridges.
On February 22, 1945 Neal almost didn’t make it, taking serious damage from German flak. With the instruments failing, one engine out, the bombardier wounded, Neal managed to limp back to base, landing, only to find out that he had no brakes. Spinning off the end of the runway the plane came to a stop, mercifully with no further injuries.
As Bob spent his third birthday in the Army, thoughts of Joyce were constantly on his mind, combined with the knowledge that he would soon be heading overseas.
At the same time thousands of miles away, Germany was crumbling around Hitler’s broken dreams, and the end would soon be near. On a minuscule island in the Pacific a small group of battle weary marines had only 16 days earlier raised the Stars and Stripes on Mt. Suribachi even though it would take 30 more days to completely secure Iwo Jima.
Later that March, Bob and the men of the 586th boarded a train for Seattle, the first leg on their journey into the Pacific.
After an uneventful, unescorted crossing, they arrived in Hawaii that April, settling in for what would be a three month stay.
Hawaii was an exotic place to the men of the 586th: tropical climate, volcanoes, and lots of pretty girls.
On April 30, 1945 deep in a bunker below the ruins of Berlin, Adolf Hitler put a gun to his head and took his own life. One week later Germany surrendered unconditionally. All the while Bob was enjoying the tropical climate of Hawaii.
Throughout Europe and North America celebrations took place, and Hawaii was no exception. Though hanging over the initial joy was the knowledge that the war was still far from over in the Pacific.
Japan had been slowly pushed back, island by island, and now the reality of a Normandy-
Facing this prospect, the men of the 586th began training on how to use their guns on things other than aircraft.
In early July Bob set sail on the U.S.S. Effingham, bound for Okinawa. After his own series of island hopping, Bob finally arrived on Japanese soil.
Though the Japanese still had an active submarine force, the passage was free of trouble.
Robert Wilson:
My Dearest Joyce,
We’re still sailing along across the blue Pacific. I’m getting to be a regular “old
salt” by now and sea life is getting almost enjoyable-
Things don’t look any too promising, but one never knows-
I love you. Yours forever, Bob.
Somewhere in the Pacific.
Narrator:
Okinawa had been captured by the Americans less than two months earlier, and things were still tense when the 586th arrived.
Fortunately for Bob and his compatriots, they did not have to wait long wondering about an invasion of the Japanese home islands.
On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, utterly devastating the city.
Three days later the feat was repeated over Nagasaki.
On August 15, 1945 the Japanese government announced its surrender.
Robert Wilson:
My Dearest Joyce,
I haven’t heard the latest news but I understand the war will be over as soon as
the treaties are signed. That can’t be too soon to satisfy. Of course I realize that
it will be some time even then, before I will get home. Anyway Honey, you get that
wedding dress ready-
I have to close for now Honey-
August 17, 1945, Okinawa
Narrator:
The war was over.
Occupation
Narrator:
The war was over, but the victory was in some sense hollow. Wide swathes of Europe and Asia were devastated. More than fifty million people worldwide had lost their lives, while millions more were crippled physically or emotionally. The Axis powers had been defeated, but a new power had risen. The Soviet Union was instrumental in turning the tide of the war, but now had become the enemy.
It was not long after the war ended that the 586th Anti Aircraft Artillery was broken up, everyone going their separate ways. The lucky ones got to go home, while others were sent to different units throughout the theater. All anyone cared about anymore was getting the points to go home, and not messing up.
Bob was now sent to Seoul, arriving in late September of 1945.
Korea had not had a government of its own since Japan forcefully annexed it in 1910. Free from foreign rule at last, a new government had to be built from the ground up.
Bob’s new unit was there to support the Koreans in their endeavor, helping create a counterweight to the Soviet controlled regions in the north.
As part of the rebirth, the main newspaper in Seoul, The Chosun Ilbo, opened its doors again after years of Japanese suppression. At the helm was Hyungki Lew, born in Korea and educated in Ohio.
Whether it was the shared experiences back in the United States, or the commonality of a professed faith, Bob and Hyungki Lew became close friends.
Bob would spend every Sunday afternoon with Hyungki Lew and his wife, ticking days off the calendar until he could go home.
No longer tasked to destroy enemy aircraft, Bob found himself acting as a jeep driver-
During the war the general was chief of Japanese military police in the region, the Kempeitai, and was now awaiting trial.
After the years of training, and years of dehumanizing the enemy, Bob was face to face with the adversary.
Fortunately for Bob, the general spoke English, and as the days passed, a rapport developed between them.
When the time came for them to go their separate ways, the general presented Bob with his personal sword.
Bob went on to other duties, the general was sent to Tokyo to stand trial before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
On November 29, 1945, two months after arriving in Seoul, Bob received what would be his final promotion. He was now First Sergeant Robert Wilson.
Homecomings
Narrator:
When it came time several months later for Bob to board the ship and go home, he was excited.
Even though he was returning to the rural Midwest, leaving behind the friends he had made in the Army and in Korea, Bob had something else on his mind.
A pretty girl working at Union Pacific, a girl who was still waiting for him.
Joyce.
As the U.S.S. Admiral E.W. Eberle steamed across the Pacific ocean, all Bob could think about was the train ride to see his girl.
On March 12, 1946 at Fort Logan Colorado, three years after being inducted, Robert Glen Wilson was officially discharged from the United States Army.
He caught the next train for Omaha and was soon watching the rolling countryside pass by, each stop bringing him closer and closer to Joyce.
The man that returned home was worlds apart from the scrawny teenager who drilled at Ft. Sheridan in 1943.
Bob had escaped the horrors of war that so many of his brothers in arms experienced, but the war changed him none the less.
He gained perspectives that would have been impossible in Omaha. He traveled the world and met people in all walks of life.
Bob was not done serving his country either. On June 4, 1948 Robert Glen Wilson was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Army National Guard.
But before that, before he went back to Union Pacific, before he started a career in the insurance business, Bob married Joyce on April 27, 1946.
The war was over, and a chapter in Bob’s life was closed. Side by side, Bob and Joyce now faced the new chapters opening before them.
Page by page, they would never be apart for the next 66 years.
Robert Wilson:
I guess your right about us not getting married until after the war. I didn’t talk
like that about a week ago did I. You’re right and I know it, but this war could
last a long time. I guess that’s why we’re fighting this war-
I love you honey, with all my heart. Yours forever-
Bob
Credits
In Memory of Robert G. Wilson
March 11, 1924 – November 27, 2012
Directed and Produced by Joshua Camp
Written by Joshua Camp
Narrated by David Rhoads
With Joshua Camp as Robert G. Wilson
Visual Media & Research
The Collection of Robert Wilson
The Collection of Joshua Camp
The Wartime Correspondence of Robert and Joyce Wilson
The Library of Congress
The National Archives
The Imperial War Museum Archives
The 57th Bomb Wing Association
Memoirs of a Soldier
Bomber Pilot: The Wartime Experiences of Lt. Neal Wilson
By Alan Woods
© 2015
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