Early Life
Wilson was born in Geraldton, in Western Australia on 23 August 1922. His early life was marked by sorrow and hardship. When he was four years old his mother died. At the age of seven his father suffered a stroke and spent the next five years in a hospice 300 miles from home. His older brother became a father figure to him and for years the family faced financial struggles. At the age of 14, these pressures forced Sir Ronald to leave school and he took his first job as a messenger with the Geraldton Local Court.
In World War II, Wilson elected to join the Royal Australian Air Force where he flew a Spitfire in defence of Britain.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“Many a woman shudders ... at the terrible eclipse of those intellectual powers which in early life seemed prophetic of usefulness and happiness, hence the army of martyrs among our married and unmarried women who, not having cultivated a taste for science, art or literature, form a corps of nervous patients who make fortunes for agreeable physicians ...”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)