Everyone thought Minnesota authors would fail — except the two of them

If you were booking stars for a movie about people who refuse to abandon their dreams, Central Casting likely would send over Ray Wilson and Bruce Richardson.

As a young Black man in the 1960s, Wilson wanted to become a pilot. But none of the white-run flight schools would accept him as a student. So he kept knocking on doors.

“If someone tells you that you can’t achieve your dreams, keep asking people until you find someone who says you can do it,” he advised. And that’s what he did, to the point that he eventually worked at Northwest Airlines as a 727 captain and instructor.

Richardson wanted to go to college. But as one of five children of a blue-collar worker, he knew there was no way his family could afford it. So, he set his sights on earning an appointment to West Point, even though his high school teachers pooh-poohed his chances.

“No one from my school had ever gone to West Point,” was the reasoning the doubters cited. Still, he started studying for the entrance exam on his own, and two years later he posted the highest score in the state.

Wilson, who lives in St. Paul, and Richardson, of St. Louis Park, have written a book together, “Brothers,” and are kicking off what Richardson calls their “bookstore tour” with an appearance at the Uptown Magers & Quinn on Monday. Many an encouraging word is likely to be shared.

“Both of us had people tell us that we weren’t going to make it and our dreams were foolish, we should do something less difficult, more into the role that society had outlined for us,” they write. “We said, ‘No.’

“All it takes is a dream and a plan,” they say.

Which is not to imply that it will be easy. “We ran into many different barriers, but we finally made it,” Wilson said. “You have to work, work, work really hard.”

And there are times you likely will come up short — which is just part of the process. “Failure doesn’t mean defeat,” Richardson said. “You don’t stop. You keep going.”

Richardson, 79, and Wilson, 77, both served in Vietnam on Army posts that were just a few miles apart, although Richardson had finished his tour of duty by the time Wilson arrived. Richardson, who at the time was considering a career in the military, volunteered for the assignment. Wilson didn’t get a choice; his entire recruiting class of pilots was sent to the war.

Their paths didn’t cross until nearly 50 years later. Both active in veterans’ issues — Wilson remains a mentor in the Ramsey County Veterans Court — they were involved with a 2018 TPT documentary, “Minnesota Remembers Vietnam.” They discovered that despite their many external differences, they shared many more internal similarities.

“For our generation who served in the military, Vietnam was a defining event of our lives,” Wilson writes in their book.

But the connection was more than that: “We both had difficult beginnings in life, we weren’t given much of a chance to fulfill our dreams by some of those around us. We both had to work hard for what we accomplished through our lives.

“Because of that shared upbringing, the hardships of our early life and the fact that we faced the same hardships, challenges and the dangers of war, we were brothers.”

Richardson invited Wilson to join him in a program about the war that he was doing at a high school. The event was so well received that other requests for the duo soon followed.

“When we speak, our presentation does not change much,” Richardson writes. “We tell our stories of Vietnam, because that’s a big part of what made us brothers. We do not glorify war. We share our stories of who we lost there. We want it understood that war is ugly and protecting and defending the U.S. Constitution is the highest service there is.”

Both were in helicopters that weren’t shot down. Wilson was piloting one; Richardson, a member of an airborne division, was being transported in the other. And now they both struggle with survivor’s guilt.

“We got to come back and so many of our friends didn’t,” Richardson said. “Nothing prepares you for that.”

While they take pride in gearing their presentations to veterans and non-veterans alike, they have been moved by how many of their fellow Vietnam vets have bonded with them.

“Guys who have never talked about the war come up to us after we’re done and start telling us stories,” Richardson said. “It’s interesting to watch their kids standing behind them. Their eyes get as big as saucers as they hear these things that they’ve never heard before.”

The decision to write the book — parts of which they wrote individually and parts on which they collaborated — was an effort to spread their message a little wider.

“This book is more than memoirs of two veteran soldiers who needed to overcome being poor kids and their PTSD after serving in the U.S. Army,” they write. “It is a road map for finding an answer for all students and veterans — especially those looking to find peace and to achieve their dreams.”

By Bruce Richardson and Raymond Wilson. Austin Macauley Publishers, 216 pages, $15.95 paperback.

Authors’ appearance: 7 p.m. Monday, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls. Admission is free but registration is requested at magersandquinn.com/events