who is Michael wilson?
Founder, Blacksmith, and Patriot.
Michael was born on November 22nd, 1940 and was raised in Connecticut.
He started in the craft of blacksmithing as a farrier’s helper when he came back from his freshman year of college in 1959. He continued to shoe horses on and off for 45 years.
The first blacksmith Michael apprenticed had gotten out of shoeing around World War I. He had retired from another business and decided to get back into shoeing due to demand in the late 1950s. Michael then apprenticed various farriers for the first 20-25 years of his blacksmithing career. A lot of the skills were almost lost to the craft in the '60s, but through working with excellent farriers, Michael learned a wide variety of forging skills. He mixed his time between either shoeing full time and rigging part time, or rigging full time and shoeing weekends. He never got away from blacksmithing completely…
But, in Michael's words, “there was nothing much going on in the early '60s.” By 1968, Michael wasn't happy with the life path he was on. He figured that he had better get out of where he was and what he was doing.
military career
In 1968, Michael decided, “If I went to Vietnam, I wouldn't be bored there.”
Up to this point, he had completed his Precommissioning Training for the United States Marine Corps, disenrolled when he dropped out of school in 1962, and was honorably discharged in 1965. But now that Michael wanted to go to Vietnam, he started looking into Special Forces. He passed the airborne physical, went to jump school, and passed the special course qualification test and was sent off to Fort Bragg in 1968.
He completed his special forces training in March of 1969 and went to Vietnam. He volunteered for MACVSOG (One Time Military Assistants Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group). He served for 5 months in Long Range Reconnaissance, serving with the Commanding Control Central in the central highlands.
He was made Reconnaissance Team Leader in September in 1969. And from there his first operation as a team leader was operation “Good Girl”.
On September 27th, 1969, Michael was shot in the right shoulder at 11:30 in the morning, but the rescue helicopters (Hueys) couldn't reach them. By the seventh attempt, they were finally able to get in at 4:30pm. By this time, Michael had only had 3 quarts of water within the last 5 days. In addition, he had lost lots of blood and was unconscious as much as he was conscious.
The Huey dropped 4 ropes down to the injured. Michael got hooked up, was hanging from below the helicopter, and they began to fly away from the enemy. He was in the air only a few minutes, before the Huey he was hanging from got shot down, flipped, and crashed into a river.
The pilot crashed them purposefully in some elephant grass right alongside a river for a softer landing. Once Michael hit the ground, he rolled and was wrapped up in his rope instantly. As he was getting his bearings, he became aware of the gun shots surrounding him and struggled to grab his knife.
Meanwhile, a rescue helicopter (KingBee) came in to rescue them and immediately began taking fire from two machine guns and small arms. A medic came running out to Michael, BacXi Ngoc, but saw that he was wrapped in ropes. After running back to the KingBee to get a knife (not knowing Michael had one on his hip), he cut the rope, and got him to the helicopter. Once Michael was in the KingBee, he was nearly unconscious. He says he remembers lifting off and flying past Ben Het. Then he was transferred to Dak To into a medic vac helicopter heading to 71st evacuation hospital. Next thing he recalls is waking up in the ER at Pliku. Then he was transferred to the Koshine Barracks, in Yokohama Japan, for reconstruction surgery and began physical therapy. This ended his first Tour in Vietnam.
He received two purple hearts (one for getting shot in the right shoulder and another for grenade strapnel in his forehead). He got out of Vietnam in 1969, did another 19 months in country, and was officially out August 2nd, 1971, after three and a half years in the Army.
After getting out and returning to farrier blacksmithing for a number of years, Michael decided he wanted to go to Africa (because he had never been). In order to go, he started looking for a job and found out that the Rhodesian Army was looking for a farrier and individuals with horse skills. Michael ended up serving in mounted infantry units in the Greys Scouts or the Selous Scouts from 1976-1980. Eventually, he left due to the political situation.
“You've never lived until you've almost died. For those who have fought for it, life has a flavor the protected shall never know.” - Guy de Maupassant
personal life
After his time in Rhodesia, in 1981, Micahel went to Florida. He had a good job, but found out his father had terminal pancreatic cancer, so he came back to Connecticut. Due to financial circumstances, the only way he could make money fast enough was to go back to shoeing.
In 1992, he met Karen. She had friends for whom Michael had shod horses. Karen was in the barn one day while Michael was shoeing. Later, Michael called her friend and asked for her telephone number. He called Karen, they went out, and in 1993 they got married. They have been married 33 years and have lived in Clarke County, Virginia ever since with their many dogs over the years.
dogs
Over the past 33 years, Michael and Karen have cared for Australian Shepherds and Border Collies. Starting in 1994, they started breeding litters of Australian Shepherds (they had 12 litters over the years). Many of which ended up being championship conformation dogs, both in the United States and Internationally. Additionally, many of their bred dogs ended up winning various herding competitions.
Around 2010, they transitioned to training Border Collies to do more advanced herding trials. Michael has won many awards, two championship dogs, and competitions throughout his life.
“Dogs have always been a part of my life.”
Today, they have three Border Collies (Sloane, Oi, and Kate)
odds and ends
Michael started volunteering at the Seaport Foundation in 1993, and eventually took a position in 1997 to teach a program with at-risk kids. The gentleman that hired him said, “I can get lots of guys who can hang a plank, but there aren't that many that can handle these kids. I think you can do it.” So, for eight years (1997-2001 and 2006-2010), Michael helped at-risk youth do boat building, trades and crafts, all with the goal that they pass their GED.
Seaport Foundation:
In 2004 and 2005, Michael was hired to work as an unarmed international monitor on a peace keeping team in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.
Sudan:
Around 2010 and 2011, Michael tried horse logging for a while, but found it to be not as profitable as blacksmithing. Additionally, he needed to have his knees replaced. He went back to blacksmithing, moved away from farrier work, and transitioned the business into more artistic and practical forging in 2012.
Horse Logging:
Because Michael was unhappy with how things were being run, he decided to run for school board in 2023. He was elected and has served faithfully and with much care for the Clarke County School Board the last 3 years. His term will end in 2027.
School Board:
the future of Wilson Forge
Sarah Murphy met and began apprenticing under Michael Wilson in the summer of 2021. After finishing college and beginning her Master’s degree in Clinical Counseling, Sarah decided to take blacksmithing seriously and pause her academics. She is now living in Virginia working with Michael, working part-time, and attending The Virginia Institute of Blacksmithing in Waynesboro, Virginia. She is currently enrolled in the Artistic Blacksmithing Certificate Program.
Sarah has always been very creative, inventive, and a problem-solver. Growing up, she was always making things with her hands. In college, she invested her spare time into learning how to whittle and has sold a number of kitchen spoons. When she began blacksmithing with Michael, she picked up the basics quickly and with eagerness to learn more. In many ways, blacksmithing has incorporated her love of problem-solving and design all in one.
Sarah attended Covenant College and graduated in 2023 with a Bachelor's in Psychology. She has a passion for psychology and hopes to complete her Master’s in Clinical Counseling to become a licensed therapist in Virginia. Her dream is to one day combine blacksmithing with therapy.