TOLEDO, Ohio — Wilbur Lewis grew up knowing he wanted to be a soldier.
"I belonged to what was called the future Marines as a young man," Lewis said.
So, the minute he was old enough to join, he headed to a recruiting office, planning on becoming a Marine, until he came across the paratroopers.
"I saw how good they looked in their uniforms and I liked the parachute badge they had," Lewis said.
He went through basic training, then specialized training to become a paratrooper and was stationed in the early 50's at then-segregated Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
"We weren't allowed on the main post unless the President or somebody was coming to review us," Lewis said.
Even getting warnings from his commanding officers.
"You're in the south now and all black soldiers have to abide by the state rules," Lewis said.
By the time he was sent to Korea, the troops had been desegregated.
"Everybody got treated a little better," Lewis said.
He was on the front lines in combat and received a purple heart.
"I was hit in the face right here with shrapnel and it knocked me out," Lewis said.
Two weeks later, he was back on the front lines.
When he came home, he continued his service as a Private in the 82nd Airborne doing regular jumps as part of training.
"Pop the canopy open and it jerks you a little and you know you'll be okay. You look down, the parachute's open everything's okay. You start floating down and it was just like floating on a cloud," Lewis said.
There's one training he'll never forget. He had just jumped, but the soldier behind him started falling.
"He fell on my chute, and I grabbed him as we were going down because his chute wasn't opening," Lewis said.
So, he started talking to the 20-year-old, letting him know he was safe.
"Whatever you do, don't open your reserve, we'll float down together, we were floating down and I noticed we were going down twice as fast as everybody else down to the ground," Lewis said.
News of Lewis' heroism spread across the country and he was submitted for the Soldier's Award, the highest award you can win for an act not in combat.
However, he never received it.
"I would think it would've been nice, but since it never happened again, I feel sad about it, but I'm proud I was part of the United States Army," Lewis said.