Born in Napa, California on July 1, 1894

Stanford University 1917. Letters in football and baseball.

When the United States entered World War I Earl Wilkins was attending law school at Stanford University. He volunteered for Sea2C schooling at San Francisco being sent first to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and then Naval Training School at Pensacola, Florida. At the-close of World War I he was one of the first pilots to land on the new aircraft carriers. He was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. His next assignment was Naval Air Station (NAS) Astoria, Oregon where he served until the end of World War II retiring as LCDR, USNR.

The following is from Earl Wilkins niece, Meredie Dozier Porterfield.

My Uncle Earl was my childhood hero for as long as I can remember. Staying with him during a summer vacation in Hawaii where he was stationed in 1941 I could see how much he loved to fly and how much he loved the Navy.

He also was devoted to my mother, Helen Wilkins Dozier, his only sister, and her two children. To the children he was very special -- a warm, loving person with a great sense of humor, wearing a handsome uniform and living a life of excitement.

Like so many of his classmates in 1917 my uncle felt the need to serve his country in World War I. It led to his learning to fly at Pensacola, Florida in the beginning of the naval air age. From that experience came his joy in flying in spite of the loss of many friends in this dangerous new enterprise and bad accidents to himself including a panicked student pilot landing his aircraft in a tree causing him a lifetime of pain, but he never wanted to give it up.

Long after his retirement due to health and age restrictions he took me to see the memorial to the sunken USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. As we stood looking at this tragic scene, he quietly pointed out the quarters where he and my aunt had been living on Ford Island on that fateful day of December 7, 1941. It was directly across from where the Arizona had been sunk right in their front yard.

How many memories he had in his full life as a naval pilot and how fortunate his family was that he survived into serene old age. He was buried with full military honors at the Punchbowl Military Cemetery on Oahu on April 21, 1977.

I come from a family of veterans -- my father, Yount Dozier and two uncles having served on the front lines in France in World War I, receiving no public recognition for their sacrifices. Because of that, I have donated through the years to veterans groups in remembrance of them and of my brother John C. Dozier's service in the South Pacific in World War II. I have been disappointed in only one group -- the Battle of Normandy Foundation who let the veterans and their families down badly. I am trusting in the reputation and integrity of the Smithsonian to carry out the commitment they are undertaking.

Missing my Uncle Earl very much, I want his name and service to his country to be remembered on the Wall of Honor at the National Air and Space Museum along with the other air pioneers.