Comer A. Wilson, BMC, U.S. Navy, WWII, Pearl Harbor
Comer A. Wilson was born in Andalusia to Paul Anderson Wilson and Hannah Doscia Wilson. He attended Andalusia schools and served with the local National Guard unit before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1931. By 1941, he had risen to the rank of Chief Boatswain’s Mate and was serving aboard the battleship USS Arizona.
On the morning of December 7, 1941, Wilson was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
He was among the 1,177 Sailors and Marines who died when the Arizona exploded and sank. More than 900 of those who perished remain within the sunken battleship, which is preserved as a protected military war grave. Wilson was among only 107 Arizona casualties whose remains were positively identified and recovered for burial. He was initially interred in Hawaii. In 1947, his remains were returned to Andalusia and buried in Magnolia Cemetery.
Wilson was survived by his widow, Martha Anna Murphree Wilson, whom he married in 1937. Their son, Comer Jr., was born two months after his father's death. When an American Legion post was established in Andalusia in 1949, it was named in Wilson's honor.
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