WWII Memorial
Last weekend, Lisa Wischkaemper, Heather and I went downtown to attempt a little night photography of a few of the monuments. We weren’t very efficient with our time and spent all our time at the WWII memorial, which is very well done. When we arrived, we met this little fellow (almost 90 years old) that was handing out information on how to register veterans for the memorial and spoke with him for awhile. We heard a few stories of his time in the war, saw a picture of the ship he was deployed on, and discovered he was an inventor. Being the curious guy I am, I asked what he had invented and he replied: “Ever heard of the DC Brushless Motor?” I don’t know the complete history behind the development of the Brushless DC motor, but I did find the patent he was referring to, which was granted in 1965. He also said he had two patents in the works; One was a method to safely dispose of radioactive waste, the other was a method to efficiently desalinate salt water. He told me with a smile that it wouldn’t be long before we were irrigating deserts.
This is Mr. Wesley O. Niccolls, WWII vet, inventor, US Patent 3210631:
Rest of Gallery here.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:40 pm
I saw your blog. Yes I know Wesley O. Niccolls, Sr. very well. He lives just a few blocks from me in Arlington. Sharp as a tack, intelligent, and articulate to boot. He has worked my many DOD programs, NASA, and more. All quite interesting.
September 15th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
The pictures are wonderful. What a great story to meet someone so interesting. Thanks for sharing. I’m looking fordward to more pictures and stories so we can keep up with you two.
June 17th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Beautiful photos. OH!Yes, Wes is our family genius and my oldest living brother. Always there if you need him!!. I hope for many more years of his company and I am very proud of him.
December 16th, 2008 at 10:52 am
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mr. Niccolls at the World War II Memorial in January of 2007.
My girlfriend and I had just moved to Virginia, and decided to take in the sights.
Being history buffs, and genuinely appreciative of all members of our military, we decided to pay our respects at a few of the monuments on a particularly beautiful Saturday afternoon.
Well, once we first saw Mr. Niccolls standing quietly at the top of the Pacific Theater portion of the monument, we simply had to introduce ourselves. He had his clipboard out, and was greeting the tourists.
Unfortunately, most people simply ignored him, or, at best, gave a cursory, “Hello,” before zipping off. My girlfriend and I knew this was someone we needed to meet.
We chatted with him for close to 2 hours. Not nearly enough time to absorb all of his knowledge, experience, and memories… What a kick the guy is!
I hope to see him again, as I need to be reminded of how small I am in comparison to our veterans.
Truly a wonderful person. He’s the kind of guy that makes me proud to be an American.
~Jim
February 11th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Was in D.C. for the first time ever in January ’09. Having had 3 great uncles who served in WWII I had to see that memorial. Had the privilege of meeting Mr. Niccolls and what a privilege it was. A delightful person who was so kind to take his time and answer my questions about his service to our country. Ten minutes with him and I was reminded once again why his truly is “the greatest generation”. They put their lives on hold to serve and sacrifice for our freedoms. Freedoms that sadly so many people only blocks away from the WWII Memorial treat with such disregard.
Thanks, Mr. Niccolls, for your service.
March 8th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
My friend Michael and I had the privledge of meeting Mr. Niccolls today at the WWII Memorial. It was so wonderful to hear just a small part of his story and hope that I will accomplish just a fraction of what Mr. Niccolls has in my lifetime.
April 10th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Yes, Ive met up with Mr Wesley O Niccolls near end of Oct 2009, I think he’s near mid 90s of age, full of admiration for his conquests and achievements but alas Ive misplaced his address to send him the photo we took … any idea where should I send the photo to ?
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:52 am
april was my first time at the ww11 memorial and it was impressive. i met mr nicolls just walking around and had to shake his hand. i’m always happy to meet ww11 veterans. that generation suffered a lot and deserve our thanks. the memorial is a very nice tribute to them.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:40 am
My associates an I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mr. Niccolls while strolling by the WWII Memorial. We talked for nearly an hour. Wes really defines “The Greatest Generation” and to have served his country without hesitation, says alot about his true nature to contribute so much lost knowledge to make our lives better. Mr. Niccolls, at 91 years young, has the sharpest and most intact mind to remember intricate details of his critical and admirable contributions to our different space programs, especially to NASA’s Gemeni IV program and to our current space exploration efforts. Our present generation should learn as much as we can from Wesley and Veterans like him before they are all gone, to unselfishley make our Nation a better place to live and play. Thank you again Wes for your service! I salute you Sir.
Andrew
August 11th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
I visited the WWII monument on Saturday, August 8th, 2009. Mr. Niccolls was holding court at the Pacific section of the monument. My family & I stopped to listen & chat with him. He told us all about his ship and some of his experiences during the war. He also showed us pictures of the ship he served on. He was fascinating. We thanked him for his service. It was our great honor to have met him.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
We just left the WWII Memorial and it was breathtaking.
We had the greatest pleasure of meeting Mr Niccolls. I looked at his clipboard and listened to his wonderful stories.
I was all teary eyed to leave him.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:21 am
we were in DC for a wedding over Labor Day, and took our 1st grader to see the Lincoln Memorial (his only request). we had not seen the WWII Memorial, so walked down the mall to it. we also met Mr. Niccolls and he spent quite a bit of time explaining his ship and his inventions to my son. it was a pleasure to talk with him, and one of the highlights of the trip for my son and truly helped ‘history to come alive’ for him.
December 21st, 2009 at 2:58 pm
My husband and I and our two daughters visited the WWII Memorial as part of her Band trip last year. We had the pleasure of meeting Wesley and I have a picture of him with my 9 year old. She was so excited that he wanted to take a picture with her. He really did make “history come alive.”
September 15th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Mr Niccolls lives at Sunrise in Arlington now. He is just a pleasure to talk to. He would love any copies of pictures. Please send to 2000 North Glebe Road, Arlington, DC 22207. Thanks
September 15th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Arlington, VIRGINIA, sorry
October 11th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
I met Mr. Niccolls when he came to speak at our base for Memorial Day. He’s such a wonderful man! I would love to email him some pictures that I took of him with my kids. If anyone has his email address, can you please post it? I have a business card from him, but the number on it is no longer in service, and I can’t read the email address that his assistant wrote out for me.
December 12th, 2011 at 1:42 pm
How fun that your blog post has garnered so much traffic (over several years) from folks who have had the joy and privilege of being enraptured by Wesley Niccolls stories. Yesterday evening my church members were caroling at the home where Mr. Niccolls resides. Jokes and stories aplenty. Thoroughly enjoyed chatting with such a fascinating-fiery character. He mentioned that his birthday is Jan. 7th and he will turn 94.