David Whelan

David Whelan was born in in Trenton, N.J. He graduated from Trenton State College in 1968 with a BA in Industrial Education. He enlisted in the Army in November 1968, graduated from OCS in October 1969, and served as a Platoon Leader and Executive Officer in a Pershing Missile Battalion in Heilbronn, Germany.

In 1973 he joined the US Army Reserve and retired as a Lt. Colonel in 1997.

His civilian career began in New Jersey in 1973 and he retired in 2012 after working for companies such as Sun Chemical, Frito Lay, Borden Snacks and Hartz.

Whelan is married with 3 sons and 3 grandchildren and a 25-year member of American Legion Post 504 in Jackson, N.J. 

Dave’s cousin by marriage is Richard Guadagno, who was a passenger on Flight 93. While the family will never know what happened in the plane that day, they have no doubt Richard was working with other passengers to take action, and they work with the Friends of Flight 93 National Memorial to ensure that America never forgets the nearly 3000 people who died that day.