Giles Wesley Vick, Junior
(1918-1999)
Professor Emeritus,
Wingate University
Giles Wesley Vick, Junior was born January 7, 1918 in Kannapolis, North Carolina.
The second of five children, G.W. was the son of a Methodist minister, Reverend
Giles Wesley Vick, Senior and Annie Pitts Vick. He attended Guilford College,
transferred to Duke University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Physics
in 1938. When World War II broke out, he was teaching at Wood Junior College
in Mississippi. He enlisted in the United States Army and was sent to Massachusetts
Institute of Technology for training in meteorology.
Major Vick had a distinguished twenty-one year military career. During World
War II he served in the Army Air Corps and later in the United States Air
Force. His war time service assignments in forty-five countries included China,
India, and Saudi Arabia. As a meteorologist and navigator, he flew missions
over the treacherous “Hump.” This famous operation provided military supplies
and support for the Chinese Resistance against Japan and required flying over
the mountains between India and China. The route over the Himalayas was immediately
dubbed "the Hump" by those who flew it. Though relatively short,
the route is considered the most dangerous ever assigned to air transport.
Following the war, Major Vick continued in the Air Force as a meteorologist
and in the late 1940’s contributed to the United States Air Weather Service
Project called the Thunderstorm Project. This vital research into the structure
of thunderstorms provided a better understanding of the effect of thunderstorms
on airplanes. The severe turbulence occurring inside most thunderstorms was
considered as one of the worst hazards of flying at the time. As a result
of the findings of the project, air travel today is much safer in all types
of weather.
Major Vick retired from the Air Force on May 3, 1963. He then joined the
faculty of Wingate College to teach physics, mathematics, and meteorology.
He also served as the Director of Student Aid for five years. During his tenure
at Wingate, he won ten National Science Foundation Scholarships in science
and science education. His additional graduate studies included scholarship
at the following institutions: University of Chicago, University of Michigan,
University of Colorado, University of Wyoming, North Carolina State University,
Peabody College, and East Carolina University.
In 1982 Major Vick retired from teaching but continued to be active in his
church and community until his death. He was a member of the Monroe Central
United Methodist Church Chancel Choir, the Wingate Lions Club, and the Union
County Retired Teachers Association.
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