Wilson Alexander Martin was the oldest child of John Alexander and Jessie Martin. Wilson graduated from the University of Toronto in economics and then worked at the Waterloo Trust and Savings Company. In 1939, he entered active service at the rank of Sergeant and worked on the staff of the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. He was eventually promoted to the rank of Major. In 1942, he married Dorothy Elaine Pequegnat and they had two daughters, Margaret Christine and Nan. After the war, he had a career in industrial engineering and then management at the Dominion Rubber Company in Kitchener and Montreal.