Retired 9/11 General Among Metro Deaths in DC

Retired 9/11 General Among Metro Deaths in DC
2009 06 24

Among the nine fatalities in yesterday's deadly subway train collision in Washington D.C. was a retired Air Force general who headed the National Guard in the nation's capital and gave the order to scramble fighter jets during the 9-11 terror attack.

At a news conference at the crash site this afternoon, Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty confirmed that Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. was among those killed in the crash. Also killed in the crash was his wife, Ann. Both were 62 years of age.

Prior to becoming the head of the DC Army and Air National Guard Wherley commanded the 113th Fighter Wing, based at Andrews AFB in Maryland. That Air National Guard unit provides the planes and personnel that regularly fly combat missions protecting Washington.

It was this unit that scrambled jets over Washington during the 9-11 terror attacks and received orders to shoot down any suspicious aircraft that threatened the capital.

After commanding the 113th Fighter Wing, Wherley assumed command of the DC Army and Air National Guard in July, 2003. He retired from that post about a year ago. He had been promoted to the rank of Major General in October, 2005.

According to his biography, Wherley joined the Air Force in 1969 after completing ROTC training at Fordham University in New York. He ultimately logged 5,000 hours of flight time in various fighter aircraft.

Share |

Latest News from our Front Page

Military Says No Presidential Authorization Needed To Quell “Civil Disturbances”
2013 05 17
A recent Department of Defense instruction alters the US code applying to the military’s involvement in domestic law enforcement by allowing US troops to quell “civil disturbances” domestically without any Presidential authorization, greasing the skids for a de facto military coup in America along with the wholesale abolition of Posse Comitatus. The instruction (embedded at the end of this article), which ...

Ancient Maya Pyramid Destroyed in Belize
2013 05 17
An archaeological group says it plans to take legal action. Despite its small size, the Caribbean country of Belize is known for a few outstanding characteristics: a spectacular barrier reef, a teeming rain forest, and extensive Maya ruins. It now has one fewer of those ruins. A construction company in Belize has been scooping stone out of the major pyramid at the site ...

Ginger: A Warming Herb
2013 05 17
Ginger is an Asian herb that is particularly well known to us in the West. Over time, and with trial and error, its stimulating properties and piquant flavor have been integrated into both our herbal “materia medica” and cuisine. Brewed as an herbal tea, ginger root is particularly helpful for those people who have underactive stomachs and difficulty producing adequate amounts ...

Australian man dead for 40 minutes revived with new CPR machine
2013 05 17
In an Australian first, doctors have used a new resuscitation technique to revive three patients who were clinically dead for up to an hour. One of the lucky survivors was Colin Fiedler, 49, who was pronounced dead at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Victoria, after suffering a heart attack, The Herald Sun reported. Doctors brought Fieldler back to life using a U.S.-made ...

How a pregnancy test for humans caused a wave of global extinctions
2013 05 17
The deadly fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has been wiping out amphibian species across the globe for decades. But how did this global environmental disaster get started? A new study suggests that it came from doctors importing frogs for use in pregnancy tests. Since the 1980s, amphibian species have experienced a sharp decline in their numbers. Some estimates suggest that 400 or more ...

More News »