CHRISTOPHER B. WILHELMY, LT, USN

Christopher Wilhelmy '58

Date of birth: October 23, 1935

Date of death: February 17, 1966

Age: 30

Lucky Bag

From the 1958 Lucky Bag:

CHRISTOPHER BRUCE WILHELMY

San Antonio, Texas

Although he hated to admit it, Bruce learned that Maryland was not a suburb of San Antonio; he kept up appearances though, and always claimed that it was. After a brief sojourn with plebe sports, this lanky Texan became a stalwart on both the company basketball and football teams. He seemed to have the traditional girl in every port but always preferred the Southern belles from the Lone Star State. With great ambitions to someday command the Texas Navy, Bruce plans to put in his thirty years in preparation for that glorious day.

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He was also a member of the 20th Company staff (fall).

CHRISTOPHER BRUCE WILHELMY

San Antonio, Texas

Although he hated to admit it, Bruce learned that Maryland was not a suburb of San Antonio; he kept up appearances though, and always claimed that it was. After a brief sojourn with plebe sports, this lanky Texan became a stalwart on both the company basketball and football teams. He seemed to have the traditional girl in every port but always preferred the Southern belles from the Lone Star State. With great ambitions to someday command the Texas Navy, Bruce plans to put in his thirty years in preparation for that glorious day.

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He was also a member of the 20th Company staff (fall).

Loss

Bruce aboard a carrier with a RF-8 Crusader of VFP-62.

From Find A Grave:

He was the son of Christopher B. Wilhelmy and Elizabeth Kane, and had an older brother named John.

LT Christopher B. Wilhelmy III flew VFP-62 missions over Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. He wanted to be an Astronaut, so the first step on that road was going to the navy test pilot school at Pax River. It is believed that he was flying a T-28 there when he pulled the wings off of it. He was killed in the crash. This happened on Feb. 17, 1966.

Remembrances

From VFP 62:

When I saw the movie about the Cuban missile crisis, one of the scenes showed the pilots walking out to man the aircraft. One of the names on the side of the aircraft was Bruce Wilhelmy. He was a classmate of mine at the academy. He and I were in the 20th company. He was company commander - I was not. It was a sad day when the news filtered down that he died up at Pax River. Lt. Cdr. Scott Ruby, VFP-63 pilot

From VFP 62:

Evidently he was a great guy - and his big smile in his picture on your web site shows the fun loving guy that I've always heard he was. BTW, if you've ever seen the movie "Thirteen Days", they do have a character in the movie "playing" Bruce getting ready to fly during the Cuban missile crisis. Catherine Maloney

Book

Bruce is mentioned several times in the book "Blue Moon over Cuba: Aerial Reconnaissance during the Cuban Missile Crisis" By William B Ecker USN (ret.), Kenneth V. Jack, Michael Dobbs.

Related Articles

Monte D'Armand '58 was also in 20th Company.

Class of 1958

Christopher is one of 28 members of the Class of 1958 on Virtual Memorial Hall.

• ← Leonard Reynolds '58
• Robert Kornegay '58 →

The "category" links below lead to lists of related Honorees; use them to explore further the service and sacrifice of the alumni in Memorial Hall.