Grove City College will host Charles Wiley, veteran journalist, cultural observer and representative of the media watchdog organization Accuracy In Media, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 20, in Room 110 of the Hall of Arts and Letters on campus.
Wiley’s address, “A 90 Year Old World War II Veteran Looks Back at a Changed America,” promises to inform and entertain the campus audience. He has spoken previously at Grove City College, where he has become known as a very popular and exciting lecturer.
A journalist and war correspondent for many decades, Wiley has covered numerous wars, including four tours in Vietnam. Early in life, Wiley had a very successful 13-year show business career that included traveling the country as a USO entertainer during the first years of World War II.
As soon as he was of age, he joined the U.S. Navy and served in the Pacific. This included serving in the Battle of Okinawa, being part of the first landing group into Japan following the surrender, and evacuating Bikini Atoll ahead of the first atomic bomb test there in 1946. Most historians today have only studied these things, but Wiley has lived and studied them. He has known every generation of young people – well – since the 1940’s.
Wiley’s long journalism career has taken him to more than 100 countries where he has covered 11 wars, been arrested eight times by secret police – including the KGB – and been imprisoned in a Cuban dungeon. He has worked for NBC, UPI, New York radio station WOR and other outlets. His freelance articles and photos have been published by The New York Times, U.S. News and World Report, Newsweek and Time. He is a well-known radio/TV talk-show personality and has appeared on hundreds of network and local programs.
Wiley frequently address military audiences in the U.S. and abroad, including the Naval War College, the Defense Intelligence Agency School, the Air Force school for its top NCOs, the Navy Postgraduate School, CincPac, the UK intelligence school and many others.