Captain Wilson was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 25th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 51st Fighter-Interceptor Group. On October 30, 1951, while on a combat mission near Sohung, North Korea, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed inverted and burst into flames. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.