Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1954 Lucky Bag:

Robert Drexel Wilson

CROSS COUNTRY—4.3. FOOTBALL—4,3,2,1. BASKETBALL—4. SOFTBALL—3,2,1.

Out of the lathe shops of Brooklyn Tech came Bob Wilson to the Nineteenth Company. There were five Teachers at one time in the company, but the amazing thing was that Bob was the only one who was ever quiet. His quietness had the first class fooled because Bob soon acquired the reputation as the most squared away plebe in the company. Bob was a volunteer for the cross country team plebe year and spent his efforts youngster year in 150 pound football for the company. Second class year he graduated to help manage the battalion football team. He had an affinity for tea fights at St. Mary’s, which was understandable; swimming, which no one ever understood; submarines, his first love; and the mid-west, which he acquired.

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He was a member of the 5th Battalion staff for the winter set and the 19th Company staff for the third set.

Loss

Bob was lost when his AD-6 Skyraider crashed on December 28, 1956 near Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. (Information from Class of 1954 via email on June 8, 2017.) He was a member of Attack Squadron (VA) 45; he had been with the squadron since January.

Other Information

From researcher Kathy Franz:

Robert was christened at Brooklyn’s South Reformed Church, 4th Avenue and 55th Street, on Sunday, October 11, 1931.

He was stationed at Pensacola in January 1955 when his grandfather Samuel died. Samuel was a WWI veteran and for 25 years was chief steward on private yachts and other ocean-going craft.

Robert was survived by his wife Joan Anne; a son Jeffrey Michael, 18 months old; his parents John Albert, a bank manager, and Marie Wilson; and his sister, Mrs. Irene Cavanagh. Memorial services were held at the Protestant chapel at the Jacksonville Base on January 2, 1957. Robert was buried on January 4.

He is buried in New York.

Photographs

From the Daily News NYC on May 30, 1954

From the Florida Times-Union on January 3, 1957

Related Articles

Louis Niederlander, Jr. ‘54 and Robert Biederman ‘54 were also members of 19th Company.