november 4, 1942 - september 21, 2023
rank: SP4, E-4
Dates of Service: 1960 - 1962
Stephen A. Wilder was born November 4, 1942 to Ashley and Lona Wilder of Knightdale, He attended Knightdale “High” School but dropped out to join the Army in 1959. He entered Basic Training at Fort Jackson SC. After Basic, he went to Fort Gordon, Georgia, for Military Police Advanced Individual Training. He was then assigned to 8th Division and Rose Barracks, in Bad Kreuznach, Germany. As a member of the 8th Division, he participated in Operation ’'Winter Shield” 1961”, a large NATO Europe-wide military training exercise.
In 1962, while accompanying a new replacement on a tour in the mountains to familiarize him with operating a ¼ ton vehicle on German roads and traffic signs, a Jeep tumbled down the mountain and crashed onto Stephen. He was critically injured and sent to a field hospital in Bad Kreuznach, then to Division Hospital where he received life saving surgeries. He sustained damage to his Spleen and lost part of his lung. He was sustained by a tube in his chest for several weeks. His family was informed that a relative would be flown to Germany to accompany the body home. He finally was able to walk and do other exercises until he was able to return home and be discharged.
Stephen received his high school GED diploma while on active duty in Germany, and was accepted into NC State University where He majored in Sociology. Stephen married Kaye Mann from Pittsboro, NC, but was divorced and had no children. He worked in personnel recruiting and finally in commercial real estate sales. He lived on a bit of family land in an old building which he renovated into a contemporary home until He went to the VA hospital. He passed away in that facility.
