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News & Photos
The Lessons of the Late Doug Wheelock
During the school's Memorial Day celebration on May 26, Director of Religious Studies, Character, and Service John Grega remembered alumnus Doug Wheelock. The lesson of Doug Wheelock, Grega said, is that "life is full only when it is shared."
Wheelock shared his life only to lose it in military service. The school community remembered him and all the other alumni veterans who gave their lives for our country. Grega's remarks follow:
On the monument before us, along with names like Arenz and Benson, Focke and Gaynor, is inscribed the name of Douglas F. Wheelock.
In our school archives we can find a poignant note from his mother, Margaret, to McDonogh’s headmaster Major Lamborn. Written in 1948, it accompanied a photograph of her son for the permanent display in the foyer of Memorial Field House.
Mrs. Wheelock writes, “He looks so natural and happy and (the picture) shows (that he has grown to manhood).” And it does just that. Please look for the photograph of Doug Wheelock in the field house foyer; he does look happy, mature, full of life.
Like so many others in his generation, Doug Wheelock was happy and full of life. Yet, however alive he might have been, however precious life might have been, something greater compelled the offering of his life, first in service, and finally in self-sacrifice.
Regard for the well-being of our nation and for the lives and freedom of others proved stronger than his regard for his own life.
Some say “Life is short; enjoy it!”, Doug Wheelock and many others like him said, “Life is short; share it, offer it, make the world better for others.
Life held much promise for Doug. Although he did not graduate from McDonogh, he spent his eighth and ninth grade years here. And Doug came alive in a special way at McDonogh. Entering as an eighth grade boarder, he struggled. He encountered academic difficulties, he did not join many activities, and by year’s end had received 92 demerits, including three special citations in the first semester alone (and not for excellent behavior).
The following year, he became a day student and he changed completely. He played on three JV teams as a freshman (football, basketball, and baseball), his grades improved, he joined various clubs to develop other talents (Photography, tap dance, chess, and modern problems), and most surprisingly of all he received no demerits at all. Not one!
But with athletic contests and extracurricular activities multiplying, problems with his transportation developed and he had to transfer to Friends School, which was much closer to home. Graduating from there in 1941, he worked briefly for the Davison Chemical Company but broke off a promising career there to enlist in the Marine Corps during World War II.
His life, his promise, were important. But something else was more important, so he did not wait to be drafted.
After enlisting, he served in a number of campaigns both in Europe and in the Pacific. In the course of his service, he fell in love with a military nurse, Amy Lee De Shane; they were engaged to be married when he finished his military service.
Thus with so much to live for, when taking no chances seemed a much wiser course of action, Doug encountered another opportunity for important service. He volunteered for the Scout and Sniper platoon of his, the 25th regiment, of the 4th Marine Division.
Much riskier duty (but vital to the success of his outfit), this work often isolated him and his platoon from the main body of troops; in fulfilling this duty on the desolate island of Iwo Jima, Doug Wheelock was killed in action on February 19, 1945, a man full of life yet one willing to offer life for a greater cause.
Doug and many of his contemporaries might be puzzled, dismayed, even angered at the “Life is short; enjoy it!” philosophy that is often present today. Doug was no stranger to enjoying life; he did enjoy it, but he knew that was more to life than just enjoying it. Life is full only when it is shared, offered for some greater cause.
Daily opportunities abound to move beyond enjoyment and to offer more. A friend needs help with math just as other friends begin to flip the Frisbee on the quad. A younger student on the bus gets picked on and cruelly teased just as one’s cell phone goes off. A community service requirement seems like a major hassle just as the challenges of junior year appear on the near horizon.
Opportunities pepper an adult’s world as well. A student in need of tutoring appears unexpectedly just as a stack of overdue correcting beckons. Another school activity or program appears on yet another evening when down time at home beckons. A colleague seems out of sorts and needs a boost just when personal worries seem taxing.
At such times the choices are easy for those who believe that “Life is short; enjoy it!!” The choices are not so easy if one believes that life is best shared, offered, in order to come to its true fullness. Few ever become heroes like Doug Wheelock quickly or in some grand moment unless they have practiced it in smaller circumstances what it means to do what is right and what is good.
Our world is much better for the choices of Doug Wheelock (and Harrison Swalm, of Harry Hedges and Bill Pennock, of Charles Dimling and John Valliant), and of others like them. All made a clear choice, beyond just enjoying life; they chose to offer it.
Let us continue their tradition and make the most of life, not hoarding but sharing it. We shall leave our world a better place for having lived in it. We shall remember, as McDonogh remembers, not simply with a slab of granite, but with daily acts of offering life and helping others come alive.
During the school's Memorial Day celebration on May 26, Director of Religious Studies, Character, and Service John Grega remembered alumnus Doug Wheelock. The lesson of Doug Wheelock, Grega said, is that "life is full only when it is shared."
Wheelock shared his life only to lose it in military service. The school community remembered him and all the other alumni veterans who gave their lives for our country. Grega's remarks follow:
On the monument before us, along with names like Arenz and Benson, Focke and Gaynor, is inscribed the name of Douglas F. Wheelock.
In our school archives we can find a poignant note from his mother, Margaret, to McDonogh’s headmaster Major Lamborn. Written in 1948, it accompanied a photograph of her son for the permanent display in the foyer of Memorial Field House.
Mrs. Wheelock writes, “He looks so natural and happy and (the picture) shows (that he has grown to manhood).” And it does just that. Please look for the photograph of Doug Wheelock in the field house foyer; he does look happy, mature, full of life.
Like so many others in his generation, Doug Wheelock was happy and full of life. Yet, however alive he might have been, however precious life might have been, something greater compelled the offering of his life, first in service, and finally in self-sacrifice.
Regard for the well-being of our nation and for the lives and freedom of others proved stronger than his regard for his own life.
Some say “Life is short; enjoy it!”, Doug Wheelock and many others like him said, “Life is short; share it, offer it, make the world better for others.
Life held much promise for Doug. Although he did not graduate from McDonogh, he spent his eighth and ninth grade years here. And Doug came alive in a special way at McDonogh. Entering as an eighth grade boarder, he struggled. He encountered academic difficulties, he did not join many activities, and by year’s end had received 92 demerits, including three special citations in the first semester alone (and not for excellent behavior).
The following year, he became a day student and he changed completely. He played on three JV teams as a freshman (football, basketball, and baseball), his grades improved, he joined various clubs to develop other talents (Photography, tap dance, chess, and modern problems), and most surprisingly of all he received no demerits at all. Not one!
But with athletic contests and extracurricular activities multiplying, problems with his transportation developed and he had to transfer to Friends School, which was much closer to home. Graduating from there in 1941, he worked briefly for the Davison Chemical Company but broke off a promising career there to enlist in the Marine Corps during World War II.
His life, his promise, were important. But something else was more important, so he did not wait to be drafted.
After enlisting, he served in a number of campaigns both in Europe and in the Pacific. In the course of his service, he fell in love with a military nurse, Amy Lee De Shane; they were engaged to be married when he finished his military service.
Thus with so much to live for, when taking no chances seemed a much wiser course of action, Doug encountered another opportunity for important service. He volunteered for the Scout and Sniper platoon of his, the 25th regiment, of the 4th Marine Division.
Much riskier duty (but vital to the success of his outfit), this work often isolated him and his platoon from the main body of troops; in fulfilling this duty on the desolate island of Iwo Jima, Doug Wheelock was killed in action on February 19, 1945, a man full of life yet one willing to offer life for a greater cause.
Doug and many of his contemporaries might be puzzled, dismayed, even angered at the “Life is short; enjoy it!” philosophy that is often present today. Doug was no stranger to enjoying life; he did enjoy it, but he knew that was more to life than just enjoying it. Life is full only when it is shared, offered for some greater cause.
Daily opportunities abound to move beyond enjoyment and to offer more. A friend needs help with math just as other friends begin to flip the Frisbee on the quad. A younger student on the bus gets picked on and cruelly teased just as one’s cell phone goes off. A community service requirement seems like a major hassle just as the challenges of junior year appear on the near horizon.
Opportunities pepper an adult’s world as well. A student in need of tutoring appears unexpectedly just as a stack of overdue correcting beckons. Another school activity or program appears on yet another evening when down time at home beckons. A colleague seems out of sorts and needs a boost just when personal worries seem taxing.
At such times the choices are easy for those who believe that “Life is short; enjoy it!!” The choices are not so easy if one believes that life is best shared, offered, in order to come to its true fullness. Few ever become heroes like Doug Wheelock quickly or in some grand moment unless they have practiced it in smaller circumstances what it means to do what is right and what is good.
Our world is much better for the choices of Doug Wheelock (and Harrison Swalm, of Harry Hedges and Bill Pennock, of Charles Dimling and John Valliant), and of others like them. All made a clear choice, beyond just enjoying life; they chose to offer it.
Let us continue their tradition and make the most of life, not hoarding but sharing it. We shall leave our world a better place for having lived in it. We shall remember, as McDonogh remembers, not simply with a slab of granite, but with daily acts of offering life and helping others come alive.