I am a contemporary of many of the younger talmidim. Rav Ilson is an Iluy, not only in his own ability to learn but also in the ability to see greatness where others were unable to do so. What he could read into the words of Rav Alpert z”l was pure genious.
R’ Yoshe Ber z”l was not as lenient as many portrayed him to be. There were times when you had to try to pin him down to explain the sevara of a psak and understand how he thought before many of the apparently contradictory piskey halachah made sense.
I know that he was not in favor of permitting his Talmidim to take mixed-pew synagogues. Those who asked him were told that they may NOT receive any salary as long as the synagogue lacked a mechitzah. They were also required to daven elsewhere but he did say that they must answer Kadish and Kedushah when they heard these in pasul synagogues. I would have to write paragraphs to explain his exact logic.