Donald L.Wheeler

Donald L. Wheeler

Company C 1-22 Infantry

KIA October 13, 2003

Spc. Donald L. Wheeler of Concord, Mich., was searching for explosives in Tikrit, Iraq, when his unit was attacked with a rocket propelled grenade.

**********************

Michigan soldier killed in Tikrit

By Associated Press

Wednesday, October 15, 2003

CONCORD -- Donald Laverne Wheeler Jr. -- named after an uncle who was killed in the Korean War -- died Monday in a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Tikrit, Iraq.

Wheeler, a 22-year-old Army specialist in the 4th Infantry Division, grew up as one of 12 brothers and sisters in Concord, 15 miles southwest of Jackson. He is the second Michigan soldier killed in action since President Bush announced the end of combat operations last May. Wheeler was killed while on patrol in this Tigris River city 90 miles north of Baghdad.

"When 9-11 happened he came to ... us and said, 'I need to be fighting this evil,' and he joined the Army," his mother, Mary Catherine Wheeler, said Tuesday. Wheeler is the only Wheeler child who joined the armed forces. However, he was inspired by his grandfather, who was a World War II veteran, his mother said. "He went over from Fort Hood, and he said, 'The only thing I need is my rosary and prayer book that my grandpa gave me and I will be OK,' " she said. "We think of him as a hero," she said. "We support our troops and what President Bush is doing. There isn't the slightest doubt that we are doing the right thing."

The 6-foot-5 gunner graduated from Jackson Lumen Christi High School in 1999 and was an offensive lineman on the Titans football team that made the regional finals. Lumen Christi coach Herb Brogan described Wheeler as "a good solid, hardworking kid." Wheeler's body will be flown home within a week, and then funeral arrangements will be made.

Wheeler missed several graduations, a wedding and other family events during his absence. His family created a 5-foot-tall blown-up photo of him on cardboard and placed it behind the head table at his sister's wedding, but had to take it down because his sister wouldn't stop crying. On Tuesday, the oversized photo stood behind the living room couch, surrounded by other pictures of Wheeler. Wheeler's mother said she had a premonition that something had happened to her son Monday morning.

From The Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/

**********************

Farewell to fallen soldier

Family, friends say final goodbyes to Concord man killed in Iraq

Wednesday, October 22, 2003

Staff Writer

"Evil was chosen, but good prevailed."

Those were just a few of the words selected by Mary Cay Wheeler to honor a beloved son of 22 years during a funeral Mass on Tuesday.

Spc. Donald L. Wheeler Jr. was killed in action in Tikrit, Iraq, on Oct. 13. On Tuesday, he was laid to rest with full military honors in Maplegrove Cemetery in Concord.

In addition to his mother, and father, Don Wheeler, the young soldier's immediate family consists of eight brothers and three sisters.

Hundreds of people either attended the service or took time out of the day to line the procession route to honor the fallen soldier, known affectionately to friends and family as "D.J."

The procession from Queen of the Miraculous Medal Church passed hundreds of American flags along the way. About a dozen fire trucks from area fire departments lined M-60 in Spring Arbor. Every tree, post and pole was wrapped in yellow ribbon between the highway and the young soldier's final resting place.

On Main Street in Concord, old people watched from benches, a small American flag clutched in each hand. Children from nearby Concord middle and elementary schools were released from classes to watch; the school band played the national anthem when the procession arrived.

Tyler Sprague, painting a house across the street, stopped working. "I changed my clothes and came over here out of respect," Sprague said.

Concord residents Nancy Coon and her husband, Rusty, also waited at the cemetery gates. "We lost a fine young man, a community man, and a hero," Nancy Coon said, as she waited, holding a large American flag on a flagstaff.

Those who gathered under a threatening gray sky for graveside services at Maplegrove watched as Wheeler received three medals posthumously: the Bronze Star, for meritorious service; the Purple Heart; and the Combat Infantryman Badge. Seven riflemen in the Army honor guard fired three volleys and a lone soldier behind the crowd blew taps.

During the service at Queen of the Miraculous Medal Church, every pew was filled with former classmates and friends, relatives or sometimes, complete strangers.

Capt. Paul Hullinger, a member of the Army Reserve in Lansing, came down in uniform with two of his comrades. Hullinger did not know Wheeler, but felt it was his duty to attend the service. "To support a fellow soldier," Hullinger said. "And to honor the family."

Mike Woolsey, a government and history teacher at Lumen Christi High School, said Wheeler was a student of his. "I think D.J. died in service to his country. I know that was very important to him."

The Rev. Thomas Nenneau, who conducted the Mass, honored Wheeler as a man of commitment. "He was willing to lay his life on the line for something greater than himself," he told the congregation. "He was a good soldier because he was a good comrade. He would lift up their spirits. He used his own goodness and his own joyfulness to lift them up."

Wheeler's positive attitude and infectious smile earned him the nickname "Sunshine" in his company, which is part of the Army's 4th Infantry Division.

He was assigned to C Company in the 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment. He was slain when his Bradley armored vehicle was attacked with a rocket-propelled grenade while on a mission in Tikrit, north of Baghdad.

Wheeler was the first Jackson County soldier killed in Iraq since the war began in March.

In a tribute from the Michigan House of Representatives, Rep. Clark Bisbee, R-Jackson, said Wheeler's death "reminds us how fragile life can be and that the freedoms we all enjoy in this country are not free."

Drawing from Ecclesiastes, Mary Cay Wheeler reminded those gathered inside that there is a time for everything. "Oct. 13, 2003, was Donald Laveren Wheeler's last day on Earth and his first day in heaven," she said. "He had total faith and trust in God. He remained hope-filled and cheerful."

Mary Cay read excerpts from Wheeler's letters home, including a passage where he consoled, "everything will all work out in the end."

"That is where our hope lies," she said. "Trust God, this will all work out in the end.

"I love you D.J. Thank you for the privilege of being called your mom."

-- Reach reporter Paul Overeiner at 768-4917 or povereiner@citpat.com.

**********************

Regiment hails two fallen soldiers

10/17/03

Katarina Kratovac
Associated Press

Tikrit, Iraq - With Psalms and a 21-gun salute yesterday, soldiers hailed two fallen comrades from the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Regiment in a memorial service at one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.

More than 190 American soldiers have been killed by hostile fire since President Bush declared an end to major combat in Iraq on May 1. But the two deaths were especially poignant because they occurred within 24 hours and within the same regiment, which is stationed in one of the most dangerous areas of Iraq.

Spc. James Powell, 26, was killed Sunday when his Bradley armored vehicle struck a land mine near Beiji, 30 miles north of Tikrit.

He was born in Mark Center, Ohio, but listed Radcliff, Ky., as his hometown of record, the Army said.

He graduated from high school in Columbus. He then enlisted in the Navy in Columbus and served from June 1997 to June 2000, said Mike McLellan, a spokesman for Navy Personnel Command in Millington, Tenn.

Powell was a seaman apprentice on the USS Arctic, based in Earle, N.J., McLellan said. He enlisted in the Army in January 2001, said Dan Hassett, a spokesman at Fort Hood in Texas.

Spc. Donald Wheeler, of Concord, Mich., was killed in an attack Monday in downtown Tikrit, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle.

Their units are part of the 4th Infantry Division, which controls a large swath of northern Iraq and is based in Tikrit, Saddam's hometown 120 miles north of Baghdad.

Tikrit lies at the heart of the Sunni Triangle, the region north and west of the Iraqi capital where most of the attacks have taken place.

Several hundred soldiers, including those of Wheeler's Charlie Company and Powell's Bravo Company, gathered at the downtown palace for the somber ceremony.

The two soldiers' helmets were placed together with their name tags over their rifle butts, next to their boots on a small podium adorned with the U.S. flag and the regimental banner. Medals, including the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, were awarded posthumously to Wheeler and Powell, and placed next to their rifles.

"We mourn their loss; we honor their sacrifice," said Lt. Col. Steve Russell, the battalion commander.

Company commanders recounted how Powell had volunteered for a combat mission although he was due for home leave within days, and talked of Wheeler's "contagious smile and boundless enthusiasm."

BACK