AUGUST 4, 2025 – “Honor before self” is a core value of the Marine Corps. It’s one Pfc. Robert Lee Wilson took to heart.
During the World War II battle for Tinian Island in the Pacific, Wilson gave his life so that three of his comrades could live. His selfless actions led to him posthumously receiving the Medal of Honor.
Wilson was born May 21, 1921, in Centralia, Illinois, to Joseph and Anna Wilson. He was one of eight children and was considered extremely helpful to his father when tending to their farm.
“He was one of the best workers I ever saw,” his father once said.
As World War II raged in Europe and the U.S. grew increasingly closer to getting involved, three of Wilson’s brothers volunteered to join the military. Wilson himself was no exception; he enlisted in the Marine Corps on Sept. 9, 1941, three months before the U.S. officially entered the war.
After training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Wilson was deployed to the Pacific, initially serving with the 1st Marine Division. He took part in assaults on strongly defended enemy positions across the Solomon Islands, including at Guadalcanal, where the division routed all enemy forces and seized a valuable airfield. Wilson also fought in the bloody battle for Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands. For these campaigns, he received two Presidential Unit Citations.
During the invasion of the Mariana Islands, Wilson served with Company D, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, 2nd Marine Division. The unit was fighting enemy forces on Tinian Island on Aug. 4, 1944, when Wilson made the ultimate sacrifice for his comrades.
On that day, Wilson and a group of Marines were tasked with advancing through heavy underbrush to neutralize isolated points of resistance. Despite the obvious dangers, Wilson moved ahead of the group to check out a pile of rocks where Japanese troops were supposed to be hiding.
As he did so, he saw an enemy grenade get tossed right into the middle of a tightly assembled group of three Marines in the rear.
Wilson quickly shouted out a warning. Then, without hesitation, he threw himself on top of the device before it exploded. Wilson sacrificed his life so that others could survive.
One of the men Wilson saved was Marine Corps Sgt. Harry H. Lehman, who later told The Times Record newspaper out of Brunswick, Maine, that Wilson had joined their company only three weeks before his death.
“What I remember most were the nights we sat around in our foxholes listening to his jokes,” Lehman said of Wilson. “They were terrible, but any humor was appreciated then.”
Lehman said he and the other two men who Wilson saved later wrote a letter to Wilson’s family, explaining how he’d given his life for them. The trio was also integral in nominating the fallen Marine for the Medal of Honor.
On July 26, 1945, Wilson’s parents were presented with the nation’s highest medal for valor on their son’s behalf during a ceremony at an American Legion in their hometown of Centralia.
Wilson was initially buried in a military cemetery on Tinian; however, in 1948, his body was flown home and laid to rest in Centralia’s Hillcrest Memorial Park.
To honor him, the Navy commissioned the destroyer USS Robert L. Wilson in 1946 — a ceremony that Wilson’s mother and Lehman attended. The ship served nobly until its decommissioning in 1980.
By Katie Lange, DOD News