Colonel William

Colonel William “Bill” Wheeler (USAF retired), passed away on August 20, 2024 at the age of 106. He is survived by his brother Tom Wheeler (Mary Frances), two daughters, Karen Wheeler and Dana Bradley (Pat), two granddaughters, Meghan Noe (Jeffrey) Hannah Bradley, and two great-granddaughters. He, and his wife of 72 years (Mary) will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery in the future.

 

Bill started his career in the military before the second world war. He went through training at Fort Leavenworth where he was given an aptitude test and admitted to flight school with the Army Air Corps. After being given his wings, he was transferred to a training base near Hondo, Texas after the war had begun. He met and fell in love with a beautiful woman from Houston and seeing each other only on weekends, they were married six weeks later.

 

Bill flew before there were no air traffic controllers and would follow radio stations air waves to go from town to town. Because he was such a good pilot and a good trainer, he remained stationed at Hondo for the rest of the war where he trained the combat pilots who would fly to the Pacific and to Europe.

 

After the war, he was offered a full regular commission and was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield. He was selected to fly the newly (yet to be built) B-47 jet which could, and did, carry nuclear weapons. He underwent extensive training on the planes at various bases around the United States including Barksdale Air Force base in Shreveport Louisiana. When the planes were finally built, Bill was re-stationed to Hunter where he would fly the nuclear bombs toward Soviet air space awaiting the “Failsafe” alert.

 

Without revealing any military secrets, we wanted people to know of his heroism. He had two patterns in these flights. One would go up the east coast (refueling near Nova Scotia), fly over the North Pole toward Stalingrad (his target). The other was to fly to North Africa and refuel in Morrocco. He would then fly over the Mediterranean and north over Turkey toward his target, Kyiv. Those were basically suicide missions since he would not have enough fuel to return to a “friendly” nation. He never revealed this to any of his family until he had been retired over 10 years.

 

Bill was a true Cold War Warrior.

 

Because of his age, 40, he was prohibited from flying in 1958. He continued at Hunter until he was transferred to High Wycombe Air Force base near London. While there he was attached to the NATO office and carried classified documents throughout the Alliance.

 

After 4 years there he was transferred to Grand Forks Air Force base in North Dakota and served as head of personnel and liaison to the community. From that posting, returning to Barksdale Air Force base, he became Base Commander. He retired from the Air Force as a Colonel and returned to Savannah which he and Mary always referred to as their home.

 

Bill and Mary enjoyed their retirement by traveling around the world, but most often returning to their favorite posting: England which they loved. Traveling on canal boats, visiting old friends, and making new ones who would also come visit them in Savannah.

 

Mary died in 2015 after a long illness and Bill was her attentive caregiver. He was still living in the house that was built in 1949 on Talahi Island when he died quickly and peacefully.

 

The family would like to thank the City of Savannah for embracing Bill and Mary as well as supporting our father after our mother’s death. We deeply appreciate the people of Talahi Island and to Rose Rutledge, his faithful companion the last three years of his life.

 

If you would like to make a contribution in Bill’s honor (no flowers please), you may donate to the Talahi Island Community Club (532 Quarterman Drive, Savannah Ga. 31410) or plant a tree in his honor.

 

He loved living in Savannah and vowed he would never leave it.

 

Rest in Peace Colonel