May 22, 2013
We have lost another hero, another brave soul from the "Greatest Generation."
A New Bern man who performed a life-saving surgery aboard a submarine in World War II has died of cancer. Wheeler Lipes operated on a sailor aboard the U.S.S. Seadragon in 1942. It was a historic and controversial event, because Lipes was not a doctor, but a pharmacist's mate. He was finally rightfully honored by the Navy in February of this year with a Navy commendation medal given at a ceremony at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville. Lipes will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. A funeral service will be held Thursday afternoon in New Bern. Wheeler Lipes was 84.
