US Navy Lt. Wilson Carroll McNeill was born in Carterville, Illinois on January 9, 1918, the son of John Alexander McNeil (1882-1975) and Dosia R. Vaughn (1892-1981). His father spent most of his early days supporting his family as a manager of a creamery. His first creamery job was in Vinita, Oklahoma in 1920 followed by the next twenty years or more managing the Kansas City Creamery Company in Kansas City, Missouri.
After his formal education, Wilson decided to join the Navy's flight program therefore was sent to NAS Pensacola for training. Upon completion of the program, he received his wings and was assigned as a flight instructor to Barin Field in Pensacola. Along the way, he met and married a young Pensacola girl named Miss Lillian Dorothy Brady (1925-1980) on March 20, 1943. They set up housekeeping in Foley, Alabama since it was close to his new duty station. Dorothy was the daughter of Henry Malachi Brady (1893-1951) and Lillian Adams (1898-1978) who had married in 1918. Her father was from Nashville, Tennessee and had moved to Birmingham for a job with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company. He moved with the company to Pensacola and then on to New Orleans years later. He relocated to Mobile, Alabama in 1945 to work for the Carlin Typewriter Company before passing away there in 1951.
However, as the war in the Pacific reached its final stage, more and more Navy pilots were needed to bring it to an end. In response, Wilson was transferred to VB-11 Squadron aboard the fleet carrier USS Intrepid (CV-11). He would board his new ship on February 24, 1944, leaving his wife and young daughter, Lelle Ann at her parent's house (built 1941) at 1913 N. Baylen Street.
To prepare for the capture of the Philippines, the Intrepid was assigned to Task Group 38.2. and ordered to bomb the Philippines as well as Japanese airfields on Formosa and Okinawa. As the naval battle for the island of Leyte began on October 20, Wilson and his squadron were ordered to provide air support for the landings. However, on October 23 the Japanese fleet struck in an attempt to prevent the landing of US troops and became known as the Battle of Leyte Gulf. On the morning of October 24, the enemy fleet was spotted where they were not supposed to be. Recovering from the surprise attack the Intrepid and the USS Cabot launched strikes that began the secondary battle of the Sibuyan Sea. Wilson and the other Helldivers launched at 10:27 AM aiming straight for the huge Japanese battleships Musahi and Yamato. The battle was fast and furious as the outgunned Helldivers and Avengers was blasted out of the sky in flames. But the Navy pilots bravely pressed the attack as they scored multiple hits on both battleships plus the Nagato and Haruna and the heavy enemy cruiser Myoko. The aerial assaults were so devastating that the Japanese admiral ordered his forces to withdraw.
During the battle, Lt. Wilson C. McNeill became one of those that was shot down as he and his gunner disappeared below the waves spiraling to a watery grave. His part of the battle was over, but his ship continued the fight. On October 29, a kamikaze crashed into Wilson's carrier, killing ten men and wounding six others. On November 25, two more kamikazes crashed into her decks, killing sixty-six men, and causing a serious fire. Despite the damage the Intrepid refused to yield and remained on station!
But Wilson's fight was over as his wife and parents were notified by the War Department that he was missing and not likely to be recovered. His name and that of his gunner are listed on the Tablets of the Missing in Manila. As for Dorothy, she would remarry several times following Wilson's death in WWII. Her last husband was James S. Ritchie, and the couple were living in Charlottesville, Virginia. She was an interior decorator at the time until she was killed at the premature age of 54 years old by gunshot. Today she rests peacefully in the Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church in Laurel Hollow, New York. Wilson's daughter, Lelle Ann McNeill (1944-2000) would marry Pedro Sanchez Toledo on October 13, 1962, in Jackson County, Missouri. She would pass away in 2000 and was subsequently buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City, MO.
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