LOCAL HERO | WILBERT SCHEFFLER
Original publish date: March-April 2017
WILBERT SCHEFFLER www.yumpu.com/user/ thegoodlife
Where is he now? The Good Life featured Army Corporal Wilbert Scheffler as the Local Hero in the March-April 2017 magazine issue. Throughout the last three years, Scheffler has been busy working through his personal home library of books, continuing to eat blueberries for good measure, and celebrating his 90th birthday. For Scheffler, the highlight of the party was celebrating with nearly 100 of his friends and family. Local accordion player Albert Mikesh, whom Scheffler considers a personal hero, played music at the party including Scheffler’s favorite waltz.
22 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com
WRITTEN BY: BRITTNEY GOODMAN PHOTOS BY: URBAN TOAD MEDIA
87-year-old Barnesville native, Corporal Wilbert Scheffler of the US Army 7th Infantry during the Korean War, is a local hero worth getting to know. This reflective and grateful farmer and television repairman’s life was greatly influenced by his time in service in Korea. Wilbert is the recipient of many honors for his time in service, including the Bronze Star, Korean Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, United Nations Service Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and the National Defense Service Medal. He entered Basic Training in 1952 at Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky. Wilbert described his fellow soldiers as “all farm kids, all the same people like I am.” After basic training, Wilbert said that where the soldier was assigned was “alphabetical”: “If your last name began near the beginning, you went to Germany. Mine was later, so I went to Korea. That’s that.” During his time in Korea, one of his duties was guarding a prisoner of war camp. Wilbert explained, “We spent two years guarding prisoners. Years later we learned it was a leper colony.” He did not end up with leprosy. Wilbert was also struck by the poverty of the Korean people, especially the children: “What really got me over there were those little orphan kids — they were starving. How they survived I don’t know. Many soldiers threw crackers to them and they fought over them.”
