Cedar Rapids WWII veteran continues service to country

CEDAR RAPIDS – Decades after service to his country officially ended, Myron “Mike” Wilson continues to serve today.

The World War II veteran logged more than 3,500 hours of volunteer service in a 5-year period alone.

As Americans mark Veterans Day on Friday, the 87-year-old Cedar Rapids man is a shining example of the selfless contributions that service men and women continue to provide.

“He's such a super guy,” said Mike Potter, public relations director for the Honor Flight Network of Eastern Iowa, one of the organizations for which Wilson volunteers.

Wilson, who was drafted into the U.S. Navy in 1944, went on an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., in September 2010.

Veterans are taken to the WWII Memorial and other sites during the daylong trip.

“He was so moved by the experience that he wanted to help out and make sure other veterans could make the flight,” Potter said. “He's our best salesman.”

The pitch often takes place at nursing homes, where Wilson convinces fellow veterans to go on the free trip.

“If they're living and able, they should be on the flight,” Wilson said.  “I certainly enjoyed it. It was a wonderful experience.”

Wilson has done more than recruitment, offering time to raise funds for the trips and other volunteer work.

Seeing a need for a trip before next year, he and his wife, Esther Wilson, decided to donate $50,000 for a flight last month.

Potter estimated that 4,000 Eastern Iowa veterans are eligible to go on a flight. About 450 from the Cedar Rapids area have made the trip since the program began in 2010.

“We are running out of time,” Potter said, noting the aging population of WWII veterans. “There were veterans on the trip in October who wouldn't be here in April.”

One veteran, held prisoner of war by the Japanese for 42 months, had survived the Bataan Death March.

Potter said the man had a tearful smile on the return Honor Flight to Cedar Rapids.

Wilson said his time in the service was more fortunate than many who entered in 1944.

He was in college at what is now Case Western Reserve University when he was drafted at age 19.

His track, repairing radar equipment and radios used in the war, kept him from seeing combat.

Wilson was assigned to the USS New Orleans before his two years in the Navy ended.

He went on to earn three bachelor degrees and was hired to work at Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids in 1951.

Honor Flight is one of numerous programs that have benefitted since Wilson retired in 1990.

A full wall in the basement of his southeast Cedar Rapids home isn't large enough to hold all the plaques Wilson has been awarded.

His wife also stays active, logging 1,185 volunteer hours by the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, or RSVP of Linn and Jones Counties.

Esther Wilson spends much of her time helping Erskine Elementary students with their math and providing bookkeeping assistance for elderly women.

Mike Wilson is active on the board of the Rockwell Collins Retiree Volunteers and has mentored Viola Gibson Elementary students in the First Lego League competitions.

He has also volunteered at Pierce Elementary, helping students make space shuttle models with other Rockwell volunteers among other projects.

His long list of professional volunteer activities includes the Institute of Industrial Engineers and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

Wilson has also been a civic volunteer, serving on the boards of the Linn County Trails Association and Cedar Rapids Symphony among others.

“I'm certainly sold that being active keeps you young,” he said. “You stay active to stay young.”

For more information on the Honor Flight program, see:

www.EIHonorFlight.org