The walls in the office of Fast Al’s Oil Change on Sardis Road in Union can tell a story as much as the business’ owner can.

Old newspaper articles from The Union Daily Times telling of Willie Edward Greer’s talents and trade can be found on at least two of the walls along with photos of him with his No. 8 race car, wedding photos and pictures of his family on all the others.

Mingled in with those photos and articles are testaments of just how much Greer puts into everything he does. The awards, diplomas, certificates of achievement, commendation declarations and even a plaque presented to him as “Father of the Year” in 2004 from the Lizzie Smith Circle of Sardis Methodist Church all tell the tale of a man who has done everything he’s wanted to do in life and maybe more.

Greer was born in Union, raised his family in Union and runs a business in Union — but the 71-year-old has led a life that has taken him all over South Carolina, many places in the United States and sometimes across the world.

One of his most recent trips was to Columbia, however, where he was inducted into the South Carolina Army National Guard’s Warrant Officer Hall of Fame at Fort Jackson on Feb. 21.

It’s an honor Greer feels completes his extensive military background with the Guard. When the woman who called to tell him he would be inducted asked how he felt about it, he told her just that.

“I said, ‘Well, let me tell you, I just graduated,’” Greer said.

The Union native retired from service with the South Carolina Guard in March 1999 as a warrant officer with the rank of W4 — one of the highest an officer can achieve. He also held two designations as a warrant officer — one in food service and the other as unit vehicle mechanic — just in case he needed something to fall back on. That’s an accomplishment only about 1 percent of warrant officers achieve.

To be inducted into the hall of fame, a warrant officer needs to be nominated for the honor by a general. Once a general nominates someone, that person is sent a packet with questions and documentation for the warrant officer being considered to answer and complete.

The officer’s accomplishments during time of service, extra-curricular activities and other experiences all are taken into account when a committee of five looks at the applications.

Greer didn’t disappoint.

His time in the service was highlighted by several achievements, commendations, medals and other awards and his life outside the military is speckled with just as many, if not more.

Greer played an instrumental part in how food services are operated in the South Carolina Guard, his unit being the first to implement a system where everything — including food — is delivered on the same supply trucks. He also played a key role in the consolidation of the Guard’s summer camp messes and was the man who took over the Citadel’s dining hall during the Guard’s response after Hurricane Hugo.

“I didn’t go ask anybody nothing,” Greer said.

Instead, he took it upon himself to work with a Citadel employee in commandeering the military school’s dining hall and then proceeded to inform his general of the move. When the general asked him how he did it, Greer gave him a quick response.

“I said, ‘Don’t worry about it. You can go eat supper there tonight,’” Greer said.

He also was able to secure the Citadel’s yacht club quarters as a place for his food service personnel to sleep when they weren’t working by dealing with the same school employee.

“Warrant officers possess a high degree of specialization in a particular field in contrast to the more general assignment pattern of other commissioned officers,” reads the hall of fame induction pamphlet. “Their extensive professional experience and technical knowledge qualifies warrant officers as invaluable role models and mentors for junior officers and NCOs.”

But it was more than his level of expertise in the areas in which he became a warrant officer. It was Greer’s decision early on in life that no one was going to tell him he couldn’t do something.

If there was something he thought he wanted to do, he went after it — he made arrangements, going as far as getting an extra job to make extra money to pay for it, and did it and if someone told him he couldn’t, Greer was quick to reply.

“If you tell me I can’t do it, watch me,” he said.

Moving up in the ranks from enlisted officer — starting at the bottom of the pole — to a warrant officer held the same challenge for the Union native. Instead of doing in the customary 15 years, he did it in 13 and got a two-year waiver from the military to do so.

Greer spent a total of 34 years, nine months and three days in duty either with the U.S. Army Reserve or the South Carolina Army National Guard. His rank when he retired was right between that of a captain and a major.

He also has taught at the South Carolina Guard’s NCO — or noncommissioned officers — Academy, done career counseling for the Guard, done recruiting and completed training at the Military Intelligence School, Military Operations School and even took the nuclear, biological, chemical course at Fort Jackson.

Outside of his career in the reserves and Guard, there were other exploits, including racing with some of the biggest names in NASCAR like Richard Petty, Buddy and Buck Baker, Donnie and Bobby Allison and even some of the Earnhardt clan. Greer and his No. 8 car were ranked No. 10 of the top NASCAR sportsman drivers in 1966 and 1967.

“There was a time I could walk up to Richard Petty and just start up a conversation,” Greer said.

He raced in the late model series for several years until he decided it was the military — and teaching — that would get him to where he needed to go. He was the automotive instructor for Lockhart Area Schools from 1967-1968 and for Union High School from 1978-1984. He then became the co-op coordinator for the Union County Vocational Center from 1984-1996 and is now the present owner of his shop on Sardis Road.

All of it became intertwined in his life — each part of the puzzle coming together at exactly the right time.

“I just stayed in line and paid my dues,” Greer said.

His father and a friend took him to the Greenville-Pickens Speedway when he was 10 years old and 10 years later he had his own race car. His fascination with racing told him he would eventually need to know how to fix that car which led to his mechanics training and schooling.

Greer had his mechanical training in Nashville where he was fascinated with the way Nashville Auto and Diesel College taught its students and that’s when he decided he wanted to become a teacher. He also was inducted into the Nashville Auto and Diesel College Hall of Fame in 1990.

When he enlisted in the military — instead of waiting for the government to draft him — in 1960, a sergeant told him about the warrant officers program and the decision he made after that conversation about someday becoming a warrant officer cemented his future in the service.

But he couldn’t have done any of it, received any of his awards, gotten any of his commendations and medals or even been inducted into the Warrant Officers Hall of Fame without the support of the people around him.

“You cannot do all that stuff without a lot of support,” Greer said. “Friends, family, neighbors, whatever — somebody along the way has helped you.”

He did it all and now that he’s retired he’s glad he had the opportunity to do everything he wanted to do — it’s given him a great retirement system and a wonderful memory lane. When one thing started to slow down or come to an end, he picked right up on another.

“Some how or another, I did it all,” Greer said. “I put all that puzzle together.”

He’s met some great people along the way and — as the walls of his office scream — made enough memories to last more than a lifetime. He appreciates the support he received from his family, especially his wife Nina, four children and now eight grandchildren but he knows it all wouldn’t have been possible without the support and guidance of a higher power.

“Above all that, God had a hand,” Greer said. “I looked at myself and said, ‘If God’s going to let me do it, then I’m going to do it.”

This story only tells of a few of the 71-year-old’s exploits — as they number plenty — and even he, looking back on it all, agrees — while it all was great — it’s hard to imagine accomplishing everything he did.

“It’s unreal,” Greer said. “But I had a lot of friends and a lot of support.”