MERRILL BUFORD "MURLE" WILSON was
graduated from Ranger High School in the Class
of 1939 at Ranger, TX and attended Ranger Jr.
College. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps
and earned his commission and pilots wings in
April of 1943. He was stationed in England for
14 months & flew 66 missions over Germany as the
pilot of a B-26 and was awarded the Distinguished
Flying Cross. He was in the air over Normandy on
D-Day.
Upon his discharge from the military, he attended the
University of Texas at Austin and earned a BS degree
in petroleum engineering. He married Jean Elaine Hogan
and they lived in Austin where their only child, a
daughter named Merrillie was born. They were divorced
& Merrill later married Nora Elizabeth "Betty" George
and they had a son named Geoffrey Wilson who became an
engineer also. Merrill suffered a massive heart attack
& died on March 6, 1978 in Oklahoma.
His parents were Mr. and Mrs. E.M. "Marvin" and Lilly
Mae Young Wilson of Ranger. He had two brothers, Harry
L. Wilson (RHS-1947) & Marvin Dwain Wilson (RHS-1949),
both now deceased & one sister, Irene Wilson Meredith
(RHS-1942) of Duluth, GA.