Navy christens warship in name of former Camp Pendleton Marine hero Louis H. Wilson Jr.

A Navy destroyer has been christened in honor of Louis H. Wilson Jr., a former Camp Pendleton Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor during World War II for the courageous leadership he showed fighting Japanese forces in the Battle of Guam.

The ceremony was held on Sunday at Bath Iron Works in Maine, which will continue working on the $2.5 billion Arleigh Burke-class warship through its eventual commissioning.

Wilson was a Mississippi native who enlisted in the Marines in 1941 and was sent to Camp Pendleton, where he became part of the 9th Regiment. He was promoted to captain soon after arriving in the Pacific theater in 1943 and was commanding a rifle company the following year when he landed on Guam to help Allied forces recapture the island.

Against unrelenting machine gunfire, Wilson and his unit captured a strategically important hill, then pushed forward, even though he had been wounded multiple times, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. He also sprinted 50 yards into the open to rescue a Marine.

He was soon evacuated and taken to Naval Hospital San Diego, where he made a strong recovery.

“Capt. Wilson succeeded in capturing and holding the strategic high ground in his regimental sector, thereby contributing essentially to the success of his regimental mission,” the society says in its citation.

In 1955, Wilson has named commanding officer of Camp Pendleton’s 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division. A decade later, he deployed to Vietnam as part of the 1st Marine Division.

Wilson’s accomplishments and leadership led him to be named Commandant of the Marines in 1975, a position he held for four years. He died in 2005.