[InMemoriam]

Staff Sergeant Wherley passed away this February. The Times article is incorrect; he enlisted at 14 according to multiple sources.

He retired for about a year. And then joined the Navy at 17.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I wonder what Wherley’s job in the navy was. Perhaps 100 combat hours in a machine-gun turret satisfied his yearning for the wild blue yonder. His chances of surviving past teenage would undoubtedly improve if he switched to surface ships.

[Mikey_1962]

"Wherley went on a nationwide bond tour and worked in a defense plant until he again falsified his age, this time to enlist in the Navy, his son said.

He was again assigned as a turret gunner, this time on a Navy B-26, but was once again sent home when his true age was determined.

He re-enlisted to serve in the Army Air Forces but was sent home after being deployed to the South Pacific.

“Just before he turned 18, the master chief told him he wasn’t 18 and they sent him home the third time,” his son said.

“He decided three times was enough.”