This was a horrible and undignified end for an honorable man.
I don’t know if you remember all the controversy about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial when a Yale architecture student’s “wall” design was selected by a panel of professional judges, but that design turned out to be, in my opinion, an outstanding, near-perfect war memorial. It has basically become a shrine.
The Wall” coming to fruition was largely the result of a lot of hard work by a relentless and gutsy Jack Wheeler, who supported the original design by Maya Lin against a whole lot of veterans and various political big shots who absolutely HATED it. Reagan’s Interior Secretary even refused to issue a building permit for the memorial because of the public outrage. But Wheeler persisted and made it work, and this nation owes him a debt of gratitude for that, as well as for his other decades of service.
John Wheeler served in Vietnam as a Captain at U.S. Army headquarters from 1969-1970.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall was dedicated November 13, 1982. - Today 58,226 names are inscribed on The Wall.
The Wall includes the names of deceased and missing. The goal of the Memorial was to allow all people to reflect on the price of war and to honor those who served.
Well done, Jack Wheeler. May you Requiescat in Pace.