MERRILL BUFORD "MURLE" WILSON was graduated from
Ranger High School in the Class of 1939 at Ranger,
TX & 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 and 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.