WWII Veteran Wildman Surrounded By Family At Courthouse Ceremony
WWII Veteran Wildman Surrounded By Family At Courthouse Ceremony
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
WWII Veteran Wildman Surrounded By Family At Courthouse CeremonyThough his wife passed away Monday, Harold Rex Wildman was surrounded by several generations of his family as he was named the April Veteran of the Month at Tuesday’s Kosciusko County Commissioners meeting.
“It is a little bit of a bittersweet morning this morning for the Wildman family. Last night, Rex lost his precious wife. So our hearts are with you all this morning. ... From all of us in the community, our condolences this morning and our sympathies to all of you in your loss,” Veteran Affairs Officer Rich Maron said in his opening remarks of the ceremony.
He said “Rex,” as he’s most well-known, is one of the most special men in the county.
Wildman was born in Deedsville on April 22, 1923. The oldest of 10 children, he moved to Kosciusko County at age 10 when his parents purchased a farm near Leesburg. As a youth, he experienced the hardships that many Americans endured during the Great Depression, Maron said.
He witnessed the electrification of rural America and the replacement of horses by gasoline engines to move and power farm machinery. He graduated from Leesburg High School in 1941, only a few months before the U.S. entered World War II.
“Like so many of the patriotic young men of his generation, he joined the United States Army to help his country in the worldwide fight to preserve the American way of life and to make the world a safer place for freedom-loving people everywhere,” Maron said.
Once in the Army, Wildman applied to and was accepted for the U.S. Army Air Force. Trained as a pilot, he was assigned to the China-India-Burma theater, where he became one of the famous “hump” pilots. Their main task was to fly troops and supplies from Burma over the Himalayan Mountains to assist the Chinese in their fight to repel the invading Japanese army.
Wildman flew 50 missions through the “unpredictable and extreme weather and treacherous terrain” that over the course of the war claimed over 600 planes and more than 1,000 lives – fully a third of the men who flew this route over “the roof of the world,” Maron said.
After the war, Wildman left the U.S. Army Air Force as a first lieutenant in 1946 and returned to Indiana to begin his life as a civilian.
He married the former Lorabel Ferverda that same year and they moved to Nappanee. Their first of five children was born in 1948.
After working as a fuel oil distributor for Standard Oil, Wildman launched his career as a businessman and entrepreneur with the purchase of a dry-cleaning business in Nappanee. He sold that business in 1963 and moved with his family to Warsaw, where he became a partner in a local dry-cleaning business.
Several years later, Wildman purchased the Buffalo Street Cleaners and Laundry, which became the foundation for what is now the Wildman Business Group. It is a Warsaw-based company with over 200 employees “that is still thriving today under a third generation of family owners,” Maron said.
Wildman has been active in his local church, having served in every lay leadership position over the years. He has contributed “to the vitality of his local community” through service and public “spiritedness,” Maron said.
He was a member of the Kiwanis International service organization in Nappanee and Warsaw, serving as president of the Warsaw club in 1985.
He was a member of the Warsaw City Council from 1980 to 1984.
Maron said, “Rex Wildman is a man who answered his country’s call, served courageously during the second World War and afterward contributed wholeheartedly to the growth of his country and the betterment of his local community. (He) exemplifies the very best of what Tom Brokaw aptly labeled this country’s greatest generation.”
After a round of applause for Wildman, Maron said, “It’s hard to comprehend sometimes what one life means. But if this one life didn’t come back from World War II, look at the impact of how many things. ... So I thank God this morning for keeping His hands on Harold Rex Wildman and bringing him safely back, because without him we wouldn’t have the Wildman family. Your impact has affected our lives. And once again we thank this man this morning for his service to our country.”
Asked by County Commissioner Bob Conley if he wanted to say anything, Wildman simply replied, “I’ve said it all.”
