Wilbur Harrison Buchanan, "Wild Bill", son of Milton Harrison (1890-1923) and Anna Pischel (1899-1982) Buchanan, was born 8 May 1921 St. Louis, Missouri. Wilbur's life was once described as "a lifelong itch for the incredible." (2 January 1974 Lansing State Journal).
Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) Friday 26 January 1923
MAN, TO AID WIFE, ASKS SECRET DEATH
Request Denied and Family Comes; All Penniless Here.
Few requests are denied a dying man as a rule but the authorities at the Receiving hospital decided against Milton Buchanan, 42 years old, when he requested them not to notify his family, especially his wife, of his condition as he knew she would have to mortgage their furniture in order to get railroad fare.
Buchanan entered the Receiving hospital December 16, ill from Tuberculosis in an advanced stage and said that his relatives were not aware of his condition but thought he was working in Detroit.
Wednesday Buchanan's condition took a turn for the worse and the physicians, knowing that it would be only a few hours before he would be taken away, notified his wife in Coleman, Mich., and late Wednesday night she arrived with two children, one 3 and the other 1.
Buchanan died Thursday and his body was sent to the morgue, as his wife and children haven't sufficient money to live on, to say nothing about funeral expenses. The Volunteers of America have taken the mother and the two children to their home, at 2120 East Jefferson avenue, and will keep them until plans can be made for the burial.
Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) Wednesday 31 January 1923
WIFE MORTGAES COW TO VISIT DYING SPOUSE
EMILY LOU, JERSEY, ACCEPTED BY COLEMAN (MICH.) BANK AS GOOD COLLATERAL
A jersey cow's part in the scheme of life is minor. She is neither a comic or heroic character as a rule. At best she is a phlegmatic creature munching the meadow that she may feed mankind, but influencing man's destiny not at all.
To every rule there is an exception, however, and Emily Lou is it. Last week she became a 100 percent friend in need, when a western Michigan bank accepted her as collateral for a loan that a wife might be at her husband's bedside in Receiving hospital when he died.
TELEGRAM CAUSES FLUTTER.
The Buchanan's of Coleman, Mich., got a telegram last week. Up that way such mystic yellow blanks cause a flutter. They usually mean but one other thing, if they don't mean a new baby. This one was for Anna Buchanan and simply read:
"Your husband, Milton Buchanan, seriously ill here." "Receiving Hospital"
She had dreamed of Milton astonishing the city - Milton grown tired of striding the fields, lush though they were, and wanting high stone and steel silhouetted on his starlit sky instead of only a barn and silo and hoary ancients maple.
Coming through the grain Milton had told himself again and again how he hated it. He had often said, as he and his wife sat evenings about the farmhouse lamp, that it was in the city where life was fullest and gayest and ambition most rewarded. He could not know that in the cities at the same moment countless men probably were envying the lot of Milton, the morning glories trooping round his window and the base chorus of pine down in the cooling creek. Milton had given it all up however, for his chimera and had come to Detroit a month ago.
Anna gathered her two babies to her when she had read the telegram. Then she talked to her father and mother. They counted resources. It would cost a lot of money - a lot to Anna and the elder Buchanan's - to come to Detroit. It would cost more than all three had available.
MORTGAGE EMILY LOU.
"We might mortgage the cow." her father suggested.
"Perhaps we can," said Anna "It's the only way."
The Buchanan's mortgaged Emily Lou the next morning. Anna arrived at Receiving hospital Friday with her two babies, one 2 years old and the other 3. The first night was taken care of at the woman's detention home and the second night the Volunteers of American found a place for her.
Milton Buchanan died Sunday of acute tonsillitis.
According to the State of Michigan Certificate of Death, Milton succumbed to "miliary tuberculosis." He was interred Coleman Cemetery, Midland County, Michigan under a military headstone. Milton served during World War I as a Private 4th Co 155 Depot Brigade.
Anna remarried Clarence A. Randall (1903-1994) and the family moved to the Okemos area about 1934. Wilbur graduated in 1939 from Okemos High School.
Wilbur was always interested in adventure, speed and mechanics. In high school he entered the Soap Box Derby and later was a regular with the Art Davis Air Circus, working in and around Davis School of Aviation at the Capital City Airport, Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan. Wilbur enlisted in the Army Air Corp 30 January 1941.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Friday 15 May 1942
MINTER FIELD, BAKERSFIELD, Cal., May 15 - Among the new group of aviation cadets to arrive here is Wilbur H. Buchanan, better known as "Wild Bill" - a handle he picked up in his parachuting days with the Art Davis air circus - son of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Randall, 4393 Dobie road, Okemos, Mich.
"Bill" is cramming in ground school, mastering the gentle art of formation flight, and taking part in a host of cross-country flights. When he gets through with his basic training here, he'll go on to advanced. After that the Japs will learn that the old flyin' circus was a pretty good proving ground after all.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Friday 4 September 1942
In this corner is Wilbur (Wild Bill) Buchanan, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Randall of Okemos who is in line for heartiest congratulations for having received his wings and commission in the A. A. F., with Class 42-H on August 27 at Luke field, Phoenix, Ariz., about the time Cadet Bob Meyer of Lansing arrived (wonder if they met?)
Bill was in aviation actively long before he decided to pitch in against Jap Zeros and Nazi Focke-Wulfs, having been a parachute jumper with the old Art Davis flying troupe which ranged far and wide from our Capital City airport.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Wednesday 4 August 1943
OKEMOS RESIDENT IN SICILY ACTION
Okemos, Aug. 4 - Word has been received by Mrs. C. A. Randall, Dobie road, that her son, Wilbur Buchanan, has taken part in action in Sicily. He is a bombardier and this spring created considerable excitement in Okemos when he flew a large plane over the school and village.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 26 September 1943
BUCHANAN - Two brothers, Pfc. Milton Buchanan and Flight Officer Wilbur Buchanan, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Randall of Okemos, find that it really is a small world after all. They recently met in Sicily, their first meeting in nearly three years. Milton is a member of the United States Rangers while Wilbur is a pilot in the United States air forces. Both boys saw action during the recent battle for Sicily. During their reunion, Wilbur took his brother, Milton, on a tour of the island in his Douglas DC-3. Both state that Sicily is a beautiful country, as viewed from the air, and much quieter, now that the Germans have been eliminated from that area.
Wilbur lived in mid-Michigan for many years. He and his wife, Joan, were divorced in the 1970's. Wilbur died 14 March 1997 in Delaware.
Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Monday 17 March 1997
BUCHANAN, WILBUR HARRISON, 75 of Cheswold, Del., formerly of Okemos, World War II veteran, former American Airlines Transport Pilot and Johnson Wax (Lansing) corporate pilot, died Friday. Memorial services 2 p.m. Tuesday at Centenery United Methodist Church, Laurel, Del. Arrangements by Watson-Yates Funeral Home, Seaford, Del.
Anna Pischel Buchanan Randall and 2nd husband, Clarence A. Randall, were interred Leek Cemetery, Okemos, Ingham County, Michigan.
One of Wilbur and Joan's four sons, Robert, born 1957 and a 1974 Haslett High School graduate, died in a plane crash off Martha's Vineyard in 2002.