The Good Life – July-August 2020

LOCAL HERO | WILBERT SCHEFFLER
Original publish date:
March-April 2017
WILBERT SCHEFFLER
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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.
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.”
22 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com