By KEITH GRANT
Wilson, the Grand Marshal of Monday's Memorial Day Parade, is a veteran of some of the fiercest battles of World War II. Battles that he and his fellow soldiers of the 82nd Airborne entered from the sky.
The devils in baggie pants, as the enemy German soldiers called them, the men of the 82nd parachuted into North Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Holland during World War II.
Though born in Atlanta and raised in Richmond, Va., Wilson is primarily a Brooklyn product. He has called Long Beach home for the past 40 years.
But back in 1942, the nation was getting itself ready for war. Everybody in the neighborhood was joining, he said. That's what you had to do.
Wilson enlisted in the Army, and was temporarily stationed at Fort Riley, Kan. But he soon volunteered for airborne training at Fort Benning, Ga. As depicted in Stephen Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, and the HBO series by the same name, the training was intense. Most of the volunteers didn't make it through, and not just because of butterflies when it came their turn to jump.
It was good training, Wilson recalled. It was rough. We ran six miles every morning before breakfast. In boots!
Before heading overseas, Wilson had time to find himself a wife. On June 13, 1942, he married Joan. She was beautiful, he said. She was Italian ... but she looked Irish. The couple remained together for almost 50 years, until Joan's death in 1991.
Everybody was getting married, he said, recalling some of the advantages besides having a beautiful bride. If you did, you got a three-day pass and a day off.
Once that pass was up, Wilson found himself in Newport News, Va., preparing for the battles ahead in Europe and North Africa. Secrecy was deemed so important that he couldn't even tell his wife where he was.
By May 1943, the 82nd was in Morocco, not far from Casablanca. It was not comfortable living. Soldiers had to march five miles just to take a shower. By the time you got back, you needed another one! said Wilson.
Since most training and patrols were conducted at night, soldiers tried to sleep during the day. The desert heat, though, made that a nearly impossible task. It was tough, he said. You just couldn't sleep much.
His Airborne rivals, the 101st Division, had quite a different introduction to the war, Wilson remembered. The 101st went to Ireland! he said. They had it good ... Those bums.
By July 1943, the 82nd was back in combat, landing in Sicily. A month later, they dropped into Italy. It was in Italy that Wilson suffered his most serious battle wound. He was caught by pieces of shrapnel from a mortar, which burned his stomach. He wasn't off the lines for long, though.
As long as you were a little better, you got right back out there, he said.
On June 6, 1944, the allies invaded Normandy, with the 82nd, of course, dropping in from above. We were all beat up, Wilson said. They lost 10 out of 25 men he was to go in with. While many airborne soldiers were lost that day, landing in the English Channel, Wilson came down on a hedge. A little bruised, but probably better than most.
One of the biggest obstacles for the paratroopers on D-Day was getting to where they were supposed to be. They landed all over northern France, most miles from their intended targets. If you got dropped 20 miles away, you were lucky, said Wilson.
The following September, he took part in what was the biggest airborne drop in history, parachuting into Holland. It was two o'clock in the afternoon, he recalled. It was a beautiful day. This was the biggest air drop ever! Of the whole war. Every kind of paratrooper was there. It was like a practice jump ... And 15 minutes later, the Germans came out of the woodwork.
After four years at war, when he finally came home to his wife Joan, some of the things you'd think Wilson would long for most were not all that easy to adjust to.
When I first came home, I couldn't sleep in the bed, he said. So my wife pulled the covers off, and the whole week we slept on the floor.
Monday's parade will not be Wilson's first. After the end of WWII, Wilson and his decorated 82nd Airborne colleagues were the guests of honor in the victory parade down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The 82nd was the best, he says. He easily recalls name after name of many of his long-ago lost comrades. Sometimes, he says, they'll pass him by in a dream. God rest their souls.
