After spending the better part of the past three decades as a pitchman for television commercials and newspaper advertising, Miles Wilkins has become a rather recognizable figure in the Coulee Region.

“People often say, ‘Hey, you’re the guy on TV. You’re a TV star,’” Wilkins said of his work as a spokesman for his company, The Board Store, and before that, TruGas. “I tell them, ‘No. A TV star is someone who is paid to be on TV. I pay to be on TV.”
While well known in the area, until recent years, Wilkins’ experiences as a member of the U.S. Army’s Special Forces were not as widely known.

Wilkins’ military career started in 1965 when he enlisted after spending three years as a student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

“I grew up in that era where all good American boys did their two years (in the service),” Wilkins said. “My question was never whether or not I would go into the service; it was whether I would do it before or after I went to college.”

Wilkins enlisted with the intention of going to Vietnam, saying if he wanted to be a clerk he would have stayed in college.

He joined the Special Forces and went to Officer Candidate School before returning for additional training as a member of an airborne team.

In August 1967, Wilkins arrived in Vietnam, where would serve until the end of 1969 minus six months when he was in Japan recuperating from injuries he sustained in the Battle of Lang Vei.

That battle, which took place in February 1968, gained attention after first a book and later a television documentary.

The book, “Night of the Silver Stars,” and the TV program, “Special Forces: Untold Stories: Green Berets” both tell how Wilkins’ 24-member Special Forces Team A-101, along with several hundred indigenous people, took on the heavily armed North Vietnamese army near the compound of Lang Vei.

When the battle was done, Wilkins was one of 15 Americans to get out alive. The other 10 were either killed or missing in action.

As Wilkins found out after the TV program aired, some members of his unit were taken prisoner and spent up to five years in North Vietnamese prisoner of war camps.

After he was discharged from the service, Wilkins returned home, where he said he was always treated with respect, unlike other Vietnam veterans who were verbally assaulted for fighting in what became a very unpopular war.

Wilkins said he looks back at his military experience with pride, but stresses, “There’s no such thing as a good war. There are some we may consider necessary wars, but none that are good.”

Over the nearly four decades since he returned from the war, Wilkins has established himself in the business community. He and his wife, Lynn, have raised four children, now care for two adopted sons and opened their home to a number of foster children.

Wilkins credits his wife so much for her work with children that a conversation about foster care quickly turns into Wilkins praising his wife for the role she has played in helping the foster care system throughout the state.

“She’s wonderful and has learned so much from doing it that she has helped write curriculum that is being used to train foster parents throughout the nation,” Wilkins pointed out.

Wilkins, a born-again Christian, credits his faith journey with helping him deal with life’s various burdens and said the Bible is the basis of his life.

“All of the answers you need on how to live your life can be found in God’s word,” Wilkins said. “It’s there for all of us. We just have to follow it.”

Wilkins, who started The Board Store in 1991, said those lessons are at the heart of the way he tries to do business.

Because of this, Wilkins said he demands that his employees have set priorities.

They must put their spiritual life first, family second and work third.

“If the first two are all screwed up, they won’t be any good at work because their heads will be elsewhere,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins file

Age: 63

Family: Wife, Lynn, six children, 18 grandchildren.

Profession: General manager of The Board Store Home Improvements.

Hometown: Spent early years in Plainfield, Wis. Moved to West Salem while he was a freshman in high school.

Education: West Salem High School; attended UW-La Crosse.

Military: Joined U.S. Army in 1965. Member of U.S. Special Forces Airborne. Fought in Vietnam from August 1967 until December 1969.

Dan Springer can be reached at dspringer@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8269.

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