Obituary Oroville Mercury-Register
(11 August 1956)
GEN. ARTHUR WILSON DIES IN S.F.; SHOCK
TO HIS FRIENDS - Follows Coronary Two Days Ago; Oroville's Most
Famed Soldier - Taps sounded today for Major Gen. Arthur R. Wilson
(Ret.) 63, Oroville's most famous soldier-son, who died early
this morning at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco.
Death came at 3:30 a. m. as a result of a heart attack early
this week after Gen. Wilson had been taken to the hospital suffering
from a bladder ailment. Only yesterday friends in Oroville were
informed that Gen. Wilson appeared to be recovering from the
heart attack and doctors at the hospital said his condition was
satisfactory. Gen. Wilson was born at Cherokee, one of three
sons of Agnes and Alex M. Wilson, pioneer Butte county residents
both of whom were born in Butte county. He attended grammar school
in Cherokee and was a graduate of Oroville Union High School.
He later graduated from the University of California at Berkeley,
but left school in 1916 to begin his military career that was
to lead him to the four comers of the world.
Up from the ranks. Gen. Wilson served
as an enlisted man with the California National Guard on the
Mexican Border under General John A. Pershing in 1916. He entered
the army in World War I as a second lieutenant, August, 1917
and was commissioned in the regular army as a first lieutenant
of field artillery effective July 1, 1920. Meanwhile, he had
managed to complete his college education and received a bachelor
of arts degree from the University of California in 1919. During
World War I Gen. Wilson served with the 346th Field Artillery
at the Presidio, in San Francisco and at Camp Lewis, Wash. He
joined the American Expeditionary Force with his regiment on
July 13, 1918 and served at Camp De.Souge, France. After the
armistice he served with the American Army of Occupation in Germany.
After The War. General Wilson's post-war
service included duty with the 76th Field Artillery at the Presidio
and with the 13th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
He was an instructor in the Command and General Staff School
at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., from 1935 to 1937 when he became
war department liaison officer with the Works Progress Administration
in Washington, D. C. He rose in rank to become a full colonel
1937 and was assigned as chief of the Federal Works Agency. Subsequently
he was assigned to the general staff of the War Department and
later was named liaison officer with the Truman investigating
committee of the Senate.
Attended Army War College. As the clouds
of World War 11 began to gather on the horizons of the world,
Gen. Wilson attended the Army War College, the command and general
staff schools, the field artillery school and the chemical warfare
school, gaining the military education that was to make him one
of the nation's top soldiers. When war broke out on December
7, 1941, Gen. Wilson was ready to take his place among the leaders
of the greatest army ever assembled. By January, 1942, he had
been advanced to the rank of brigadier general and was recognized
as an expert in logistics and supply. His first assignment under
his new rank was to lead the first American troops in the Southwest
Pacific Theater of War in the early spring of 1942. As quartermaster
general of the United States forces in that theater, he assisted
in working out a vital lend-lease agreement with the top officials
of the Australian government.