Post Office in Illinois Capital Named for Long-Time APWU Member

In honor of a long-time Postal Service worker and APWU member, a facility in Springfield, IL, has been named the “Colonel John H. Wilson, Jr. Post Office Building.”

Mr. Wilson, who died last August at the age of 89, was a lifelong Springfield resident who died in the house in which he was born. The measure to rename Springfield’s main post office was passed by unanimous consent in the U.S. Senate on Feb. 12 and affirmed in a House vote on Feb. 24.

Remarks by Ron Smith, president of APWU’s Lincoln Land Area Local, were read into theCongressional Record. “Colonel” Wilson was a dedicated employee, Smith said: “John always sought to bring honor and integrity to the Postal Service through his words and his actions, and he recognized the very important role that the U.S. mail has played in the everyday lives of everyone.”

Mr. Wilson served 14 years on active duty in the Army, rising to the rank of first lieutenant under Gen. George S. Patton in World War II. He subsequently received the Silver Star, a military distinction awarded to those members of the United States Armed Forces who have demonstrated “gallantry in action,” the official transcript of the U.S. Congress notes.

“If it wasn’t for the brave men and women like Colonel Wilson,” said Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary Tammy Duckworth, “we would not have the same freedoms we do today. America would just not be the same.''

After retiring from active duty in the early 1950s, Mr. Wilson spent nearly 20 years in the Army Reserve. In 1965, he was promoted to colonel: He was the first African American resident of Illinois to attain this rank in the Army Reserve. He retired from the military in 1973.