Page 10 - Black History Month 2022 - Combined Special Edition of Aerotech News and Review — Nellis AFB - Creech AFB Desert Lightning News

Everyone has a story:

Sheriff shares father’s World War II story

by KC Rawley
staff writer
For most of his childhood growing up in Sun Village, Calif., Ray
Wilson thought his father’s service in the World War II had only been
in the mess hall.
“He was making us dinner one day, and we kids asked him if he
learned to cook in the Army,” Wilson said.
“We did everything in the Army,” was his father’s reply.
Then, at age 11 or 12, Wilson found out from an older brother that
Myron “Mike” Wilson was not a cook in the Army Air Corps, but a
combat pilot.
And not just any pilot, but a member of the esteemed Tuskegee
Airmen, and who was awarded a Certificate of Valor for flying 47
missions in the European Theater of Operations.
Wilson said his father was very private and unassuming, and his Courtesy photograph
family had to pry information out of him regarding his role in the outfit Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Ray Wilson in front of the
of 992 African Americans. Tuskegee Airmen memorial on Lancaster Boulevard. His father,
Myron “Mike” Wilson, was one of the famous African American
Because of Jim Crow laws, segregation and bigotry in the United pilots in World War II.
States, the flying units had all-Black support services: “pilots, co-
pilots, bombardiers, navigators, engineers, meteorologists, intelligence
officers, instructors, medics, aircraft and engine mechanics, control civilian life.
tower operators, and other maintenance and support staff,” according “He’s not the only person who is reticent like that, but if we stop
to government sources. and talk to people, we can find out they have some interesting stories, Library of Congress photograph
Deputy Wilson made a video about Mike Wilson, using his flight and some of them are pillars of history,” said Wilson. The Tuskegee Airmen during briefing in Ramitelli, Italy circa
logbook, as well as war footage and still photos in the public domain to “You can’t look at everybody as if they are the same.” 1945. Myron ‘Mike’ Wilson in the rear center of the picture with
show his father’s service and the Tuskegee Airmen’s exploits against Wilson, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy for more than 20 the scarf around his neck and tape across his nose. Front left is
the background of World War II. There is a seven-minute version, and years, has shown his film on school visits in the Antelope Valley and Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr.
one a little more than 20 minutes in length, that puts the war itself in to young people in the Sheriff’s Youth Activity League, an afterschool
the context of world history. The 20-minute film features footage of program. The YAL has been around for 20 years, formerly at Jackie but didn’t seem too bitter. “He just said, ‘I didn’t get a good deal.’”
Mike Wilson in 1990 talking about his war experience. Robinson Park, but Wilson took it over in Palmdale, December 2020. The story of the groundbreaking African Americans has fostered
“It’s a timeline, inside of a timeline, inside of a timeline,” said Members of the YAL were “pretty locked into the film,” said many books, documentaries, and feature films. Wilson recalls
Wilson. Wilson. “I doubted that they were going to pay attention to it, but watching the 1995 film The Tuskegee Airmen starring Laurence
The film mentions the planes the 332nd Fighter Group used to kids here knew it was my dad, and they can relate to that.” Fishburne. The older man said, “It was pretty right on the money,”
escort the Army Air Corp bombers: P-39 Airacobra, P-40 Warhawk, One of the YAL activities is to make scale models of aircraft of according to his son.
P-47 Thunder, and Mike Wilson’s favorite, the P-51 Mustang. World War II and Korea-era planes. As the film laid out individual stories, Mike Wilson recognized his
It took Wilson nearly three years to finish the video, learning the Mike Wilson, of Shawnee Town, Ill., went to the University of fellow fliers. “He’d say, ‘Oh, that’s (John H.) Chavis, that’s (Henry
Final Cut Pro editing program as he went. Illinois for a two-year degree, which according to his son, “made him R.) Peoples, that’s (Robert W.) Deiz,’” Wilson said.
Wilson made the film because he and others didn’t see his father eligible to test for the pilot program.” One character who elicited the most comments from the old pilot
as a hero, he said. “He was just my dad, he was just the guy who “He was accepted to MIT, but they didn’t have scholarships for was Commander Col. Noel F. Parrish. “This guy was tough as nails;
fixes stuff.” African Americans,” Wilson said. he was a son of a gun,” Wilson remembers his dad saying. “He was
That’s why the film has an “Everyone has a story” tagline. So, Mike Wilson was sworn into the Army Air Corp at Moton a good man.”
Like many of the Greatest Generation, Mike Wilson didn’t talk Airfield in Tuskegee, Ala., on April 4, 1941, eight months before “I knew that meant a lot. My dad didn’t talk much; he wouldn’t say
about his service. He did what he needed to do, then went back to Pearl Harbor, and soloed on Dec. 17, 1943, according to his logbook. that unless there was some serious context.”
The pilot became a first lieutenant and flew until the program’s In 2001, the Tuskegee Airmen pilot Myron “Mike” Wilson died
end. He was discharged on a compassionate leave but returned to of natural causes at age 85. Deputy Wilson says he can still see his
service during the Korean War. Once again, he flew, but only as a father’s handiwork in many Littlerock, Calif., houses he remodeled
sergeant. The newly formed U.S. Air Force refused to reinstate his and home additions he built as a contractor.
previous rank. But now, those are not the only reminders he has of his dad. “As
Wilson said that his father “alluded that it was because of his race,” time goes on, I realize what a treasure that logbook is,” Wilson said.

Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Deputy Ray
Wilson works with
young people in the
Sheriff’s Youth Activities
League in November
2021. Wilson shows his
film about the Tuskegee
Airmen to inspire them
and put World War II into
context.
Courtesy photograph
Editor’s note: The two videos about Myron “Mike” Wilson can be viewed at:
Tuskegee Airmen WWII Timeline in 7 minutes Featuring Myron ‘Mike’ Wilson’s Flight logbook entries https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=8YQrsxdpbHM
Courtesy photograph Tuskegee Airmen Timeline featuring Myron “Mike” Wilson of the 332FG
The yearbook page for Myron “Mike” Wilson’s Tuskegee class. https://youtu.be/cLE2M6o-IrM

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