John P. Wheeler III

John "Jack" Parsons Wheeler III (December 14, 1944 – December 30-31, 2010) was a former chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, former senior planner for Amtrak (1971-1972), held various positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission (1978-1986), former chief executive and CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, consultant to the Mitre Corporation (2009-death), member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a presidential aide to the Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations, as well as other positions in the US military, the US government, and US corporations.^[1][2]

John Parsons Wheeler III had descended from a family that had attended military academies for several generations, including Joseph Wheeler, who had served as a general both in the Confederate Army, and later with the United States army. Wheeler III was born in Laredo, Texas, where his mother was staying with her mother while his father was in Europe. Five days after the delivery, the family received a telegram that his father was missing in action in the Battle of the Bulge. His father was later found to be alive.^[3]

Wheeler III's life was extensively covered in the 1989 book The Long Gray Line by Rick Atkinson, which chronicled the experiences of the West Point class of 1966 (10 percent of whom were killed in the Vietnam War). Rather than going to Vietnam after graduation he attended Harvard Business School, where he graduated in 1969. After leaving the army he received a law degree from the Yale Law School in 1975.^[4]

Wheeler served in a non-combat position in Vietnam at Long Binh starting in 1969. He resigned his commission as a captain in 1971.^[5]

In 1979, Wheeler became chair of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the organization that constructed the nation's official war memorial in Washington, D.C., and called for recognition of wounded veterans, writing, "We need to honor the wounded as well as those who died." He also wrote the memoir Touched With Fire: The Future of the Vietnam Generation (1985), a book about the post-war experiences of Vietnam soldiers and anti-war protesters. In 1983, Carlton Sherwood ran a four part series on WDMV-TV (now WUSA) "Vietnam Memorial: A Broken Promise?" which focused on Wheeler's handling of the Memorial Fund saying that most of the $9 million raised for the memorial was not accounted for. In the piece, Sherwood cast aspersions on Wheeler's career questioning his decision not go directly to Vietnam out of West Point and noting he had been disciplined shortly after arriving in Vietnam in 1969 for "misappropriation" of government property. A General Accounting Office audit spurred by the television report cleared Wheeler. WMDV made an on-air apology and donated $50,000 to the memorial.^[6]

Wheeler urged top universities to drop their opposition to ROTC; several elite schools, including Harvard, linked their opposition of ROTC recruiting on campus to the controversial DADT military policy. Wheeler, a staunch supporter of ROTC, blasted this position. (Now that the policy has been repealed, Harvard and Yale say they are reconsidering their stance on ROTC.)^[7]

Wheeler was allegedly seen on December 28, 2010, exiting an Amtrak train^[8], and later, on the afternoon of December 30, 2010, at 10th and Orange streets in Wilmington.^[9] On December 31, his body was seen by a landfill worker falling onto a trash heap in the Cherry Island Landfill.^[10] Police ruled his death a homicide and claimed that "all the stops made Friday (December 31) by the garbage truck before it arrived at the landfill involved large commercial disposal bins in Newark (Delaware), several miles from Wheeler's home."^[11]

Wheeler's neighbor of seven months, Ron Roark, said that he had met Wheeler only once and rarely saw him. Roark claimed that, in the days prior to Wheeler's death, he (Roark) and his family heard, from outside the Wheeler residence, a loud television within the home that was constantly on, though no one appeared to be home. ^[12]

Late on Dec. 28, several smoke bombs were tossed into the residence across the street from Wheeler's home, scorching the floors. The property is at the heart of a property dispute between Wheeler and the owners of the property, Frank and Regina Marini. Wheeler had filed complaints and attempted to halt construction because the reisdence blocked his view of the Delaware River and nearby park. The incident is still under investigation. ^[13]

According to the Washington Post, Wheeler was sighted, on December 29th, at the New Castle County courthouse parking garage, disoriented and wearing only one shoe, as the other was ripped. Wheeler attempted to enter an indoor parking garage on foot, claiming that he wanted to warm up before paying a parking fee. Wheeler explained that his briefcase had been stolen and repeatedly denied being intoxicated. It is also claimed that, on December 29th, Wheeler asked a pharmacist for a ride to Wilmington and "looked upset." The pharmacist offered to call a cab for Wheeler, at which point Wheeler left the store. ^[13]

On December 30th, Wheeler was sited wandering various office buildings, where he repeatedly refused offers by several individuals who had offered assistance.^[13]

• Wheeler, John (January 1982). "Theological Reflections upon the Vietnam War". Anglican Theological Review. 64 (1): 1–14.
• Wheeler, John (1984). Touched with Fire: The Future of the Vietnam Generation. New York: Watts. ISBN 053109832X. OCLC 10207966.