U.S. Army officer, War Crimes Trial Guard, & Victim of historical intrigue - Jack George Wheelis, was one of seven children. He became a Texas Tech football player, graduating from Texas Tech in 1941, immediately entering active duty with the U.S. Army (where he remained until his death). He served in World War II, the post-war occupation of Germany, and then later in Korea. In 1946, Wheelis was stationed in Nuremberg, and assigned as guard staff for the "Big 21" (term known to the guards for the top 21 Nazis, being held there), for the duration of famous War Crimes trials. This included #2, the infamous Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring with whom Wheelis grew to establish a rapport. After being condemned, Göring was able to cheat the hangman just before his scheduled execution. He did so, by biting into a cyanide vial (1 of 3) hidden amongst his personal effects, one possibly at the bottom of a jar of cold cream which he used for his skin. Investigators of the suicide, identified then Lt. Jack G. Wheelis as the officer who had given Göring the jar of cold cream. Apparently, Wheelis had provided Göring the jar, and other such requested personal items (from the Reichsmarshall's confiscated baggage), simply as a "kindness or favor" to which Göring gleefully often repaid with a "gift of a souvenir" to the then 33 year old Lieutenant. These multiple gifts included Göring's watch, which Wheelis is seen wearing in a photo after the war. The "souvenirs" were also observed by other guards. Lt. Jack Carver said: "Wheelis showed me the pen once" referencing to the gold pen Göring had presented to him along with the watch. Further clarifying that these were items that would have to have been retrieved by a guard, from the prisoner's storage. Which was further corroborated by Sgt. Alex Lopez, another guard who believed the "Captain" (Wheelis), with sole access to Göring's cell, inadvertently gave him the deadly cyanide vial. "There was only one guy that got next to him. From what I hear, he (Göring) asked this guy (Capt. Wheelis) to go into his briefcase and get him a compound that he had there, some kind of cream compound. The pill (vial) was inside that compound," Lopez said. Despite fellow guards acknowledging that Wheelis had seemingly befriended Göring, to date, no wrong doing has ever definitively been established and/or substantiated. To that point, in 2005, a former U.S. Army soldier named Pvt. Herbert Lee Stivers, a verified War Trials guard, came forward, publicly declaring "I gave it to him" in a confession to a news agency. Furthermore, Stivers detailed his plausible story on how he, the then 19 year love struck and gullible soldier, was duped by an attractive German girl and inadvertently passed what he was told was medicine onto Göring. Thus technically, if true, finally clearing Captain Wheelis and affirming his good name and character. Tragically, just 8 years after Göring's suicide, Wheelis died of heart disease in a Fort Hood hospital, having honorably served a total of 17 years and 8 months in the Army. He was just 41. He was survived by his wife and their two children. (Bio by: Jay Lance)