Samuel V. Wilson obit

DIA announces death of former director, Lieutenant General Samuel V. Wilson, U.S. Army (Retired)

By DIA Public Affairs

 He was not on the list.

Lieutenant General Samuel Vaughan Wilson, U.S. Army, who served as 5th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from May 1976 to August 1977, died June 10, 2017 at his home in Rice, Virginia. The cause was lung cancer his family reported.

Lt. Gen. Wilson led DIA through a time of transition, reorganizing the agency to focus more on operational intelligence support. Under his direction, DIA completed modernization of the National Military Intelligence Center and strengthened intelligence support to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. military commands. Intelligence efforts during his tenure centered on the death of Mao Zedong, aircraft hijackings, the Israeli raid on Entebbe Airport, unrest in South Africa, and continuing Middle East dissension.

Lt. Gen. Wilson was considered a legend in the military intelligence world, having served not only at DIA, but also in the Office of Strategic Services, the Central Intelligence Agency, and as the Director of Instruction at the U.S. Army Special Warfare School. He co-authored legislation establishing the U.S. Special Operations Command and helped create the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, more commonly known as Delta Force – the Army’s premier counterterrorism unit. Fluent in Russian, he was designated the first general officer to serve as defense attaché to Moscow. He also coined the term counterinsurgency and wrote the Army’s first program if instruction on the subject.

Sam Wilson joined the 116th Infantry Regiment, (Virginia National Guard) as a 16-year-old private bugler in June 1940. By early 1942, he had become successively a squad leader, platoon sergeant and acting first sergeant before being sent to Infantry Officer Candidate School (OCS), where he graduated as an 18-year-old second lieutenant at the head of his class and was selected to remain at The Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia, as an instructor.

As a young officer, Wilson taught guerilla and counterguerilla tactics at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1942 and 1943. In 1943, already a first lieutenant at the age of 19, he joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and subsequently responded to a presidential call for volunteers for "a dangerous and hazardous mission" to be undertaken by an elite regimental-sized unit. This move resulted in his becoming chief reconnaissance officer for the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), better known as Merrill's Marauders, which operated behind enemy lines in Burma during World War II. His role in that theater was later memorialized in Charlton Ogburn's book The Marauders, which subsequently was made into the 1962 film Merrill's Marauders. Then-Lt. Col. Wilson served as technical advisor for the film and was cast as General Merrill's deputy "Bannister" under the pseudonym Vaughan Wilson; he also appeared in the film trailer introducing the film and narrating the trailer.

Upon returning to the US from the China-Burma- India Theater as a combat veteran in fall 1944 with his fifth consecutive appointment in hand to the US Military Academy, Wilson was denied admission to West Point for medical reasons. His tour in Burma had ended with multiple medical ailments, including malaria, amoebic dysentery, mite typhus and severe malnutrition. He returned to the Infantry School where he developed and taught courses in military leadership for the next two years.

A native of Rice, Virginia, Wilson held an Honorary Doctor in Laws from Hampden-Sydney College, and an Honorary Doctorate in Letters from Longwood University. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University in 2014.

He entered active service in June 1940 and served in Burma during World War II as a member of the famed “Merrill’s Marauders.” Following his 37-year military career, he joined the faculty of Hampden-Sydney College as a professor of political science and served for eight years as the college’s president.

After leaving the Army and DIA directorship in August 1977, Wilson began teaching at Hampden-Sydney College in Hampden-Sydney, Virginia and continued to consult with and provide advice to intelligence leaders, legislators and U.S. presidents, including former CIA Director William Colby, then-Senator Al Gore and President George H.W. Bush.

In 1992, Wilson became President of Hampden-Sydney College and served an 8-year term during which he shepherded the college through major challenges such as the college's contentious internal debate over whether to remain all-male (it did) and a major capital campaign drive. He remained involved on campus as a fellow of the eponymous Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest.

In 1993, Wilson was inducted into the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame "for heroism, extraordinary achievement, and continued service to his country and the special operations community."

General Wilson is also a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame. He was a featured interviewee in Ken Burns' documentary series The Vietnam War (2017), which aired posthumously.