General Johnnie E. Wilson

Military officer General Johnnie E. Wilson was born on February 4, 1944 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Gladys Wilson and Thomas Wilson. He graduated from the United States Army Officer Candidate School in 1967 and received his B.S. degree in business administration in 1973 from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Wilson then graduated from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 1976 and received his M.S. degree in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1977. He also attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces from 1983 to 1984.

Wilson enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1961 and served as a supply clerk in France until 1964, when he was assigned to Fort Bragg. Then, he re-enlisted with the special forces and served as a platoon leader, shop officer, and company commander. From 1969 to 1970, Wilson was a brigade supply officer and company commander in Vietnam. He then was assigned to Germany in 1973 as a company commander and Division Class IX officer. From 1978 to 1980, Wilson was an officer career manager at the Military Personnel Center. He then served as a battalion commander at Fort Lewis before being reassigned to Germany in 1984 as a division commander. Wilson went on to serve at Fort Hood as a support commander from 1987 to 1988, when he was named deputy commanding general of the 21st Theater Army Area Command, the Army's largest and most diverse logistics unit. From 1990 to 1992, he served as the 25th chief of ordnance for the Army Ordnance Corps and commanding general for the Ordnance Center and School. Wilson then served as chief of staff for the Army Materiel Command from 1992 to 1994, when he was assigned as deputy chief of staff for logistics for the Army until 1996. That year, he was promoted to four-star general and named commanding general of the Army Materiel Command, where he was responsible for a workforce of over 80,000. After his retirement in 1999, Wilson was founder, president and COO of Dimensions International, Inc., an aviation-related logistics company, and vice president of logistics at Honeywell, until 2009.

Wilson served on the boards of Morgan State University, Washington First Bank, ROCKS Intl., and Career Communications Group and was nominated by Secretary of State Colin Powell as a trustee of the Truman Library Institute. He is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha and Sigma Pi Phi.

Wilson’s military honors include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Medal, Vietnam Service Medal and induction into the Ordnance Corps Hall of Fame. He also received the Meritorious Service Award from the NAACP and the Lifetime Achievement Award from U.S. Black Engineer magazine. General Johnnie Wilson Middle School and General Johnnie Wilson Park in Lorain, Ohio are named in his honor.

Wilson and his wife, Helen McGhee, live in Washington, D.C. They have three children, Johnnie Wilson, Jr., Charlene Wilson, and Scott Wilson.

Military officer General Johnnie E. Wilson was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on June 6, 2022.