Eric Wilson is a maintenance specialist at Volkswagen in Chattanooga. He is also a veteran.

Wilson served in the U.S. Army’s 2nd Cavalry from 1978 to 1980 in Germany, running border operations along the Iron Curtain. Wilson, like thousands of Americans, volunteered to protect not only American democracy, but also the fragile democracy of West Germany at a time when Soviet tanks and ballistic missiles were aimed right at his head.