Richard "'Dick'" Wheeler

Richard "Dick" Wheeler, 86, of Pine Grove, a nationally acclaimed author, passed away Tuesday morning Oct. 21 at the VA Hospital, Lebanon.
He had resided with his sister, Margery Wheeler Mattox, since 1997 at her National Register Property "Nutting Hall," 205 S. Tulpehocken St., Pine Grove.
Born in Reading, Jan. 8, 1922, he was a son of the late Margaret Wenrich Wheeler, Pine Grove, and Clarence E. Wheeler, Reading. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to Laureldale.
He graduated from Muhlenberg Township High School, where he was the editor of the school paper in his senior year. Having a passion for writing at a very young age, he wrote for the Reading Shopping Bulletin after graduation until he enlisted in the Marine Corps immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Little did he dream he would be engaged in one of the worst battles of World War II - Iwo Jima - and live to write a firsthand account of the battle. He was wounded severely as the battle raged. Lying in a hospital ship offshore, he heard a roar go up when the first small flag was raised over Mount Suribachi. A few hours later, the small flag was replaced by a much larger flag that could be seen all over the island, boosting morale for the Americans, although the battle raged on for weeks. It wasn't until hours after the flag-raising that he learned it was his buddies and his platoon who raised the flag that day, creating a place in history that will remain forever.
Cpl. Wheeler returned home after a long recuperation and started the first day at his old job writing for the Shopping Bulletin. He went on to write humorous verse for national magazines, among them the Saturday Evening Post.
Moving to Pine Grove in 1950, he built his own little cabin in Swopes Valley along the creek, where he divided his time between Pennsylvania and Florida to be near his first love, the seashore. He eventually bought a second home in West Palm Beach, which he
owned more than 30 years.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Conrad Richter, a friend and naturalist like Dick, liked to walk along the creek with Dick, discussing literature or wild life, enjoying the freedom of the wide-open spaces. Conrad compared Dick to Henry David Thoreau, the American writer from Concord, Mass., who lived a similar lifestyle in a cabin he built by himself at Waldon Pond in the 1800s.
In 1965, Dick's first book, "The Bloody Battle for Suribachi"? was published from his personal memories. That started him on his life-long career as an expert in military history from the Revolution to the Civil War to World War II and the publication of 17 books. In 2004, a booklet called "Chuckles in Rhyme"? was published, exhibiting his humorous side, which was always part of his character since he was a child. His dry humor was a gift.
In 2006, a revised edition of "The Bloody Battle for Suribachi" was published using the same text, but all new photographs, letters, some verse about the battle and a post card from Gen. Kuribayashi's widow from Japan, who had provided material and pictures for his Iwo? book - one of his best sellers yet today - published in 1980. The Americans considered him a great general, even though he was their foe.
Iwo Jima was returned to Japan in 1968. One ex-Marine said, "By Hell, I'll run off to Canada before I'll help take it again." In all, 1,083 of the defenders were captured. About 20,000 of the Japanese died violently or perished in the caves where they ?hunkered? down until the nighttime. It was then that the Japanese came out and took the Americans by surprise.
The revised book was used extensively for the movie "Flags of Our Fathers,"? written by James Bradly. Dick was a consultant and allowed the use of his own book to help Bradly with many of the passages. Clint Eastwood had his entire cast read "Bloody Battle"? before starting the movie, but since Hollywood strives for entertainment and vulgarity today instead of telling the true story, the movie was a great disappointment to Dick and the Marines in general.
Dick was also contacted by the writers for Tom Hanks' new mini-series, "The Pacific,"? produced by Steven Spielberg, which will be out probably next year.
No services are planned at this time. The family would prefer anyone wishing to make a memorial contribution to send it to the Pinegrove Historical Society,205 N. Tulpehocken St., P.O. Box 65, Pine Grove, PA 17963 or to the VA Hospital, 1700 Lincoln Ave., Lebanon, PA 17042.
H.L. Snyder Funeral Home Inc., Pine Grove, was in charge of arrangements.