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Service set for Guard commander killed in crash

The former commanding general of the D.C. National Guard and his wife, both killed in a deadly train collision in Washington, D.C., will be remembered at a service Monday.

The ceremony in memory of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. and his wife, Ann, begins at 6 p.m. Monday at the D.C. Armory.

The couple will be interred together at Arlington National Cemetery. That ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Wherley and his wife, both 62, died June 22 when the Washington Metro train in which they were riding slammed into the back of a stopped train. Seven other people were killed in the crash, the deadliest in Metro’s 33-year history.

The Wherleys, who were high school sweethearts, are survived by a son, Staff Sgt. David Wherley, 36, a member of the Golden Knights, the Army’s parachute team, and a daughter, Betsy Regan, 35, and her family.

Maj. Gen. Wherley led the D.C. Guard from July 2003 to June 2008. As commanding general, he was responsible for operational readiness and command and control of the district’s Army and Air Guard units. On Sept. 11, 2001, Wherley was commander of the 113th Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. As the attacks unfolded, Wherley secured instructions from the White House that gave his pilots discretion to shoot down any threatening aircraft in D.C. airspace, The Washington Post reported.

On the day they died, Wherley and his wife had just finished an orientation for the volunteer program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Ann and David Wherley Charitable Gift Fund, care of Lassus Wherley, 1 Academy St., New Providence, N.J., 07974. Donors should include their name and address on their check.