Bobby C. Wilson was born in West Monroe [Annotator's Note: West Monroe, Louisiana] in February 1925. His father was a common laborer who was a genius in math and had 150 men working for him at the papermill [Annotator's Note: Brown Paper Mill in West Monroe, Louisiana; now part of Riverwood International Corporation in Atlanta, Georgia]. He was employed throughout the Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression, a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1945]. His mother graduated from Baylor [Annotator's Note: Baylor University in Waco, Texas]. Wilson had one brother who went into the Navy. Wilson was at Louisiana Tech [Annotator's Note: Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, Louisiana] and remembers Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941] happening one afternoon. He knew something had happened. He could have stayed at Tech, got his Navy training and become an officer, but he wanted to go take his part in it. He has never regretted going into the Marine Corps. He enlisted and went to San Diego [Annotator's Note: US Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego in San Diego, California]. He found basic interesting. He was very athletic. He was put on the swimming team, and they won a meet at Mission Bay [Annotator's Note: man-made bay in San Diego]. He had been a Boy Scout [Annotator's Note: Boy Scouts of America, scouting and youth organization founded in 1910] and had no trouble with military life. He had gone the World's Fair in 1939 [Annotator's Note: 1939 New York World's Fair in Queens, New York] and used his Boy Scout drills. After basic, he went to the Naval Training Station across the bay [Annotator's Note: Naval Training Center San Diego, now Liberty Station], in the Super Quartermaster Corps. After there he went to Miramar to the Marine Air Base [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Miramar, San Diego]. He learned how to keep accounting for everything with the Navy and the Marine Corps. He was sent to Santa Barbara [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara, Goleta, California, now Santa Barbara Municipal Airport and part of University of California, Santa Barbara, California]. Santa Barbara was paradise. At Miramar he was trained to go overseas but was needed in Santa Barbara in MAG [Annotator's Note: Marine Air Group] forces 45 [Annotator's Note: Marine Air Group 45 (MAG 45)] and 47 [Annotator's Note: Marine Air Group 47 (MAG 47)]. He was later sent back to Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] and lived on the docks for about a year.

Bobby C. Wilson was responsible for keeping inventory and books. He was sent to Pendleton [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California] to get ready to go overseas. He was stationed on the docks right downtown. He went onboard the Enterprise [Annotator's Note: USS Enterprise (CV-6)] one time. He enjoyed everything about it. He became a staff NCO [Annotator's Note: non-commissioned officer]. If he wanted to eat on a certain ship, he would. He followed the war. Iwo [Annotator's Note: Battle of Iwo Jima, 19 February to 26 March 1945; Iwo Jima, Japan] changed everything up. The big push was put on and they kept everything ready to go. He had never seen so many supplies at the end of the war. He was sent to Camp Elliott [Annotator's Note: now part of Naval Air Station Miramar, Miramar, San Diego, California] and saw it all. We [Annotator's Note: the United States] beat them with our ability to manufacture. They did not stand a chance and he got to see it all. One time, he was put in charge of the NCO Club. He lived right on the docks. The Admiral's boat would dock right there so he could go downtown in San Diego. The quality of the men he met and so forth made him happier than he had ever been in his life. He has been honored by the Pope [Annotator's Note: head of the Catholic Church; unable to identify which one and when]. He was in the Lions Club [Annotator's Note: International Association of Lions Clubs, non-political service organization] for 64 years. He gave his first pint of blood in the Marine Corps, and he has never stopped. He has given 99 pints of blood. He was in the line to go overseas and was pulled out. They told him he had bad tonsils and no Marines were sent out that way. They cut them out. He went into the Colonel to complain and was told he would go where they needed him and that was Santa Barbara [Annotator's Note: Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara, Goleta, California, now Santa Barbara Municipal Airport and part of University of California, Santa Barbara, California].

Bobby C. Wilson was in San Diego [Annotator's Note: San Diego, California] when the bombs [Annotator's Note: nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on 6 August 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on 9 August 1945] were dropped. The world had a celebration like he had never seen before. There was a baseball park there and he got to see Satchel Paige [Annotator's Note: Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige, American professional baseball player] and Bob Feller [Annotator's Note: Robert William Andrew Feller, American professional baseball player]. He was the happiest Marine ever. He was honored by President Nixon [Annotator's Note: Richard Milhouse Nixon, 37th president of the United States] and President Reagan [Annotator's Note: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States]. He was discharged in June [Annotator's Note: June 1946] after the war. He was sent to Camp Elliot [Annotator's Note: now part of Naval Air Station Miramar, Miramar, San Diego, California] where all the supplies were sent. He returned home to West Monroe [Annotator's Note: West Monroe, Louisiana] and went to work at the papermill [Annotator's Note: Brown Paper Mill, West Monroe, Louisiana, now part of Riverwood International Corporation, Atlanta, Georgia]. He used the G.I. Bill [Annotator's Note: the G.I. Bill, or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was enacted by the United States Congress to aid United States veterans of World War 2 in transitioning back to civilian life and included financial aid for education, mortgages, business starts and unemployment] to get three degrees. He had no problem adjusting to civilian life. He had trouble passing math and wanted to be a doctor. He was put into education. He wound up in charge of discipline and Federal Aid in the school system. All of the Black [Annotator's Note: African-American] schools were given to him. He worked with Federal Judges. He developed a plan for summer schools at Rutgers University [Annotator's Note: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick, New Jersey]. His congressman got to tell Nixon about it, and he honored him for it. He worked with Adolph Rupp [Annotator's Note: Adolph Frederick Rupp, American college basketball coach] and Rocky Marciano [Annotator's Note: Robert Francis Marchegiano, American professional boxer]. Wilson thinks the Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is a good tribute to the veterans and the war. There is a future there. He has spent eight years with the veterans. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Wilson if he thinks Americans today know about and understand World War 2.] He says they [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum] still have a selling job to do. Americans are getting distanced from it. What is being done now [Annotator's Note: at The National WWII Museum] is key to it.