VETERAN RAY WILSON IS A TRUE ‘SURVIVOR’
He served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam
Veteran Ray Wilson of Vallejo fought in three wars, but he will do his best to tell you he is not a hero. That is a word he insists is meant for others.
“I’m not a hero. I got to come back,” Wilson said. “The real heroes are under marble headstones. I’m just a survivor.”
Many viewed Wilson as a hero at the Vallejo Veterans Day event near City Hall last year though. One by one, people lined up to shake Wilson’s hand and tell him thanks for his service. Some people are brave enough to fight in one war. Wilson made it through three — World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
“Look at this,” Wilson said with a big grin and laugh while pointing to the numerous people snapping pictures of him that day. “I haven’t been this popular since the day I was born!”
When Wilson talks about his life as a veteran, well it’s like his life — all over the place. He will go from one decade to another in his discussions, then back to another decade while often pausing for a second with a large smile, because he’s thought of a story he hadn’t told in a long time. But he’s appreciative about the entirety of it.
“I did a lot of things that an ordinary sailor didn’t get to do,” the retired Navy man said. “Out when I was doing it I thought about it quite differently but it’s when looking back on it I realize how special it was. But I’m proud of the fact that I served but even more happy that I came back with little to no damage done to myself. I got a good education in the Navy and a good job when I left the Navy just due to the fact that I was once in the Navy.”
Wilson started his military career at just the age of 15 shortly after he heard the news of the bombing at Pearl Harbor
on Dec. 7, 1941.
“I really wasn’t into watching news at the time, and I was outside practicing skating with my brother in law when news starting coming over about Pearl Harbor,” Wilson said. “We shook our shoulders and didn’t think much of it. But then a few weeks later in January of 1942 we all hitchhiked to Santa Rosa to enlist.
“I lied on my application as I was only 15. But of the three that hitchhiked to enlist I was the only one chosen. My brother in law had had some difficulties with the law at the time, and our friend had some paperwork problems. So all of sudden it was just me. It surprised me, but it didn’t bother me. It was exciting to go into the service.”
Wilson was soon made Carpenter’s mate, third class and he would serve on a supply transport ship.
Two years later in 1943, Wilson was married to his wife, Dorothy, but two weeks later was back working in the service.
“It bothered me a bit yeah, but I had things to do in the Phillipines, Manilla, Tacloban that kept me busy,” Wilson said. “
Wilson was pleased when WWII ended but just a few years later he was back in the thick of things again fighting in the Korean War. There he worked on a submarine reserve fleet the USS Fulton (AS-11) at Hunter’s Point in San Franciso. Wilson helped work on the USS Fulton before it was recommissioned on 10 April 1951,. Then Wilson stayed with the Fulton while it sailed three weeks later for New London.
That being said, Wilson found the Korean war to be “a letdown” compared to WWII.
“It wasn’t the same as WWII because in WWII we knew what we were fighting for after they bombed us in Pearl Harbor,” Wilson said. “In the Korean War in my mind, it was published as a police action. People were saying that it would be taken care of in about three weeks and we’d be out of there. It took about
three years.”
While serving in Korea, Wilson went through the Panama Canal from San Diego and was on a ship that picked up a nuclear warhead.
“We didn’t know what it was at the time and they always had a parade of marines around it,” Wilson said. “We took on a lot of rolls of cement and lead. They were in 18 or 24 inch rolls. We’d have to cement the deck and align overheads with lead. We didn’t know how powerful it was at the time and if it should be used in a war, well, that’s
a story for another time.”
After Korea, Wilson served in Vietnam starting as a recruiting officer from approximately 1961-1964.
“I was just trying to replace myself in that war,” Wilson said. “I didn’t want to just put anybody in that war. I didn’t want to just send over a body. There was a lot of people there that didn’t want to enlist at all. They just needed someone to talk to. I remember one soldier talking to me and he didn’t talk about the war at all, he just asked me if I should take so and so to the prom. One high school wanted to start a column with me in it called, ‘The Chief Says’ but it never materialized.”
While Wilson calls the
Korean War “a letdown” and WWII a humane war, he calls the Vietnam War “terrible” and a “inhumane war.”
“When I was first in that war I was on the USS Hancock (CV/CVA-19) it hadn’t been bombing the north yet, it was still just hovering around the area,” Wilson said. “But then (President Lyndon) Johnson gave the order to start bombing and we had the first squad of airplanes to bomb then. They would talk about the war being over soon but so many of them didn’t come back. I mean, we didn’t know who we were fighting. There was good Vietnamese and bad Vietnamese. But it was such an inhumane war. I mean, all wars
are inhumane I guess, but in previous wars there was at least some rules like you never bomb a church or a school. That all disappeared in Vietnam.”
Wilson retired from the serve in 1967, and it was something his wife and two kids were happy about. Wilson’s son would eventually serve but often asked his dad Ray, “How the hell were you able to do that for 25 years?”
Ray would eventually work 15 years as an engineer of facilities of operations at Palo Alto Hospital. He officially retired in 1993.
These days he’s pleased to go to military events and be greeted by so many people.
“It makes me feel good
when people come up to me because they are recognizing that I did something important,” Wilson said. “I like to dress up in my uniform again and see all the ladies go ‘Oh wow’ while all the men look at me and say, “Ah, what an a###&*%^.’ But I like when people come up to me and say ‘thank you for serving’ and I wish it happened more often.”
These days he has five grandchildren and six great grandchildren. One of his granchildren with often call, “Papa, tell me about your life.”
“I don’t like to sugarcoat it, but I won’t tell her everything as she’s not old enough yet,” Wilson said. “But I enjoy it that she asks me.”