Jack Wheeler enlisted in the army on October 10, 1942 at Camp Shelby, MS. He had completed four years of high school and was single, without dependents.

He volunteered for parachutist duty and was sent to jump school at Ft. Benning, GA where he completed the requisite five jumps from "an aircraft in flight".

Pfc Wheeler was assigned to Company G of the 508th PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment) and was one of thousands that jumped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Wheeler's name surfaces twice in related Company G Morning Reports. On 16 June 1944 his status was changed from duty to in hospital (hospital unknown), LD (in Line of Duty) slightly wounded in action, as of 6 June 44". But two days later it was corrected to read as "from slightly wounded in action, as of 6 June 44 to seriously wounded in action, as of 7 June 44." The name does not appear again in the company's Morning Reports.

Pfc Wheeler's name was added to the Tablets of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The tablets commemorate men who were Missing in Action or Buried at Sea.

His IDPF (Individual Deceased Personnel File) shows that he was buried at sea by naval personnel aboard the USS Frankford, a destroyer (DD 497). His burial took place at coordinates 49o 32' 55"N, 01o 03' 25" W which is approximately 5 miles NNE of the Ile du Large, Iles St-Marcouf and 10 miles NNE of Omaha Beach.

It may be appropriate to speculate that he was moved to a field aid station and was then transported to the USS Frankford for treatment in the ship's hospital (the "unknown hospital" in the Morning Report) where he subsequently died of his wounds.

Pfc Wheeler's awards include the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart.