2nd Lt. Daniel S. Wilson

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2nd Lt. Daniel S. Wilson

This was written for the Stories Behind the Stars website, which plans to remember every WWII fallen. They provided training and a certain format, including footnotes for research. They even offered to link them to Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for An Iowa Family During World War II, but in order to do that I’d need to join something else.

By then, I was finishing up the manuscript for Leora’s Dexter Stories: The Scarcity Years of the Great Depression and was exasperated by trying to jump through all their hoops and gave up.

2nd Lt. Daniel Sheridan Wilson

KIA on a Mission, Schwanberg, Austria

2nd Lt. Daniel S Wilson was born on May 21, 1923, in Stuart, Guthrie County, Iowa. His father, Claiborne Daniel Wilson, and mother, Leora Frances Goff Wilson, were born and raised in Guthrie County. His father was a farmer and raiser of championship Duroc Jersey hogs. Dan had two older brothers who served in the US Navy during the Great Depression and WWII, and two other brothers, who were lost during the war. He also had two sisters.

Dan Wilson grew up during the Great Depression in and around Dexter, Iowa. He graduated from Washington Township High School in 1941, valedictorian of his class. Dan farmed with his father and brothers, tenant farmers near Minburn, Iowa, when the war broke out. He enlisted in the US Army Air Force in early 1943.

Basic Training was at Jefferson Barracks, MO in February 1943. He was sent to College Detachment in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in March and April 1943, then Preflight at Santa Ana, CA from May to August, 1943. Primary Cadet Training was at Ryan Field, Tucson, AZ. Basic Training was at Marana, AZ, at the end of 1943. Advanced at Williams Field, Chandler, AZ, graduating in the Class of 44-C. Transition was at Victorville and Salinas, CA, with Tactical Training in the P-38 at Santa Rosa and Hamilton Field, CA.

2nd Lt. Wilson was sent via Liberty Ship to Italy, where he was based at the 15th Air Force Fields in the Triolo area, with the 14th Fighter Group, 37th Fighter Group.

On February 19, 1945, his P-38 was lost after an escort mission to Vienna, then strafing in the Graz area. He was lost near Schwanberg, Austria. Eye witnesses said it was hard to spot a silver plane in a snow-covered area. Lt. Daniel S. Wilson was listed as MIA from that date until January of 1946. By then the military had received information from captured German records through a British Graves Registration team, turned over to an American Graves Registration team who followed up in November 1945. His parents were notified in January 1946. His remains were removed from Austria in August 1946 to the temporary Lorraine American Cemetery at St. Avold, France.

A Purple Heart and an Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster were sent to Dan Wilson’s parents.

Dan Wilson was survived by his parents, two brothers and two sisters. His father died in October 1946 of a stroke and a broken heart.

Later his widowed mother made the decision for permanent overseas burial. He is buried in the Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France.

The five Wilson brothers served in the war. Only two came home. Dan Wilson is one of the three young pilots who lost their lives during the war. His parents had a cenotaph added to the family burial plot at Violet Hill Cemetery in Perry, Iowa for their sons, Dale and Daniel .

The brothers are remembered on the Dallas County Freedom Rock at Minburn, Iowa.