[Wiley discusses Reynolds Metal's efforts to restore the Kanawha Canal Locks]
Wiley:
... Mr. Murphy and I were involved in something else that I think is probably the third best thing that I had done at Reynolds, and that was to save the Kanawha Canal Locks. I don't know if you've heard about that?
Q:
Bits and pieces.
Wiley:
All right, I'll show you in the other room some photographs that I've got on my bar's wall. We decided we did not have room to store the Reynolds Wrap we were making and then ship it properly. And we were using outside warehouses in various cities and they had a theory that if you ship from here to the warehouse in St. Louis and from St. Louis to the customers you could save money. And you could up to a point, but then you had so dang many warehouses that it was not economical. But we decided and the company, higher ups approved a warehouse. But we needed the land immediately to the east of the North Plant.
There was an old building on there that had once been a rumored hospital in the Civil War. Well you don't dare touch that. So Mr. Murphy and I and another man by the name of Andy McCutcheon, who was in public relations and an outside man named Mark Wright, who was an local architect of some well-known background. And to make a long story short we went before all the historical society in Richmond and pointed out that this building was about to fall in. If we could buy where that building was and the lot it would save those locks, the two locks that we eventually saved. And they bought that in a hurry and about 24 hours later that building was gone, no second choices. And we did that and we did save it. Mr. Murphy and I frequently heard from auditors and others about spending money. But I was taking maintenance people and putting down there, which I might have done it once or twice but we cleaned it, magnificent structure, still there. Eventually we gave it to the city. It's a part of the so-called Canal Walk and it, it's a magnificent engineering of the Kanawha Canal. Because it took from Richmond 193 miles west with a waterway, went over the Skyline Drive and back in those days the only power you had was waterpower. But you built locks to take things up and down, which the water actually did the work. But Mr. Murphy wrote histories on the canal, I mean he was fascinating. And he once told me if you touch those locks to tear them down, you're in big trouble. And I said okay, we won't because I thought it was a great thing that Reynolds did.
Q:
It was a several million-dollar restoration wasn't it, to do the locks portion of it?
Wiley:
No.
Q:
No?
Wiley:
No. What we really did and what, what probably was a little bit wrong was we used our own people to clean it. Now, we had some capital money and there is a difference as you know between capital and maintenance and we might have crossed that line a little bit, but not millions. Because the basic thing is there, I mean it's stones, huge stones, 500 pound stones put together in a way that when they finally tore out three of them they had an awful time getting them separated from whatever they used as a in-between thing. But then Mr. Murphy, a man named Tony Perrins was his kind of aide, concocted the idea that why don't we fix some picnic tables after we built the building. And the whole point of this was to get a Reynolds Wrap distribution center, which we eventually did. So that left the locks underneath, well they were outside, but it went underneath to get on to the next point. And had something underneath there with the picnic tables with photographs we had found of the canal with histories.
Q:
A little mini-museum.
Wiley:
And a little dining room, not dining room but a little kitchen. And he could have customers down there, which were absolutely fascinated. And I've heard him say many times, "We've all been invited to the top of the mark and -- but nothing like this with a history. It really was a public relations masterpiece for Reynolds. And it's still there, but it's being run by the group that doesn't keep it clean. I'm getting involved in that a little bit trying to get it cleaned up 'cause it's a shame what's down there. And Mr. Murphy was a strong man and a delightful strong man.

[Comments about Reynolds Sr. and the Reynolds family]
Q:
Did any of the Reynolds family -- when they were running the company did, did they make the trips down to the plants also?
Wiley:
Yes, frequently. Well not frequently, but more than you might expect. I once saw old man Reynolds, Sr. I never met him, but I saw him, well I guess, two or three times. When I got there in 1950, at 3rd and Grace, he was in and out, had some age on him, but I never talked to him. But I was fascinated to see him with what he had done in such a short period of time. Brilliant man, they tell stories about him.
One that I always remembered that when he was down in Louisville, he was running the plant down there. He noticed that one guy would get a stack of purchase orders, and he'd just run through and sign them, sign them, sign them. So, one day he stuck the man's resignation in that stack so he signed his own resignation. But they didn't let him go, just taught him a lesson. Don't do that. But a lot of stories about his ways.
You know at one point fairly early on he was -- had made a lot of money and was doing very well in his businesses, and he went to Europe and he bought 50 aluminum case watches and they were made by the best watch company in the world. And he came back with those 50 watches, and he gave each man that had been with him since just about the start one of these watches. And one of my bosses, Frank Eichner, died, and I helped his wife through a lot of times before he died and after and she gave me his watch. It's a magnificent watch, a pocket watch, so I got one of the 50. And I had to have it cleaned one time, and they told me what value to put on it, which I was shocked. So he was that kind of a person he wanted to express his appreciation. And most of those people in -- that started with him were still there, which is rather unique, I think.

[Wiley comments about his military service in World War II]
Q:
You also mentioned that you were drafted. What was your experience in the military?
Wiley:
Well, you can see here; I'm glad you asked. I just got these things put up. I didn't have these for a long time, and I wondered why 'cause other people said that they had gotten their things from the Army. And then I have a friend who said call this number, which happened to be the warehouse in St. Louis with all the Army records -- had had a fire and all the records were lost. And if you send them your discharge, they would give you what medal you should have. Now the ones on the bottom of this I got these in the hospital, but I didn't want to throw them away. So these are duplicated up here from the unit that I talked to. And that is a Combat Infantry Badge, that's a Purple Heart, that's a Bronze Star for good conduct, and these are just area campaign ribbons.
Q:
Campaign Ribbons, yeah.
Wiley:
And this is some kind of honor our unit got from the Belgian Government, and I can't even pronounce the word.
Q:
So you were an infantryman in Europe during World War II?
Wiley:
Yeah. And I was in the hospital for six months with trench feet. You know what that is?
Q:
Um, hmm.
Wiley:
Frozen feet.
Q:
So, that put you in the Bulge then, or at least…?
Wiley:
Right before the Bulge I got hit in the knee, and they took me back to an aid station and found out I had trench feet. I hadn't had my shoes off in a week, which was one of the biggest screw-ups in World War II. You never got any shoes or socks, but the trench feet, the knee thing was fixed. It was in a cast for a while and then it was, was fixed, but I was six months in the hospital with the trench feet. And I got discharged from Ashford General Hospital, you know where that is?
Q:
No.
Wiley:
That's the Greenbrier Hotel. They used the Greenbrier to house the Japanese when the war started. They rounded up all the Japanese Diplomats put them down there. Then they got those exchanged and then they made it the Ashford General Hospital for diseases such as trench feet, having to do with nerve cells. And that was, I was there only for about three or four months. That was my last stop; I was getting well. They sent you up there to get your final thing and --
Q:
So, back to West Virginia?
Wiley:
-- back to West Virginia University, right. Now, that Ashford General Hospital was the best, best service I had. But, I put those up in a box, and if I'd have never heard of that phone number, I still would only have what's on the bottom. And the nice -- the things about the top is they all have your name embossed in the back because so many people were going to the Army-Navy stores --
Q:
Right.
Wiley:
-- and buying their own collection, but this way your name is on the back of the medal. But, the Army -- I was not a lover of -- most inefficient, but the combat was unique. I was in combat for about 75 days. And between the fear and the cold and the fact you had little chance of getting out because they had a point system. (Points were awarded for service credit, overseas credit, combat credit, and parenthood credit to determine if soldiers could be released from service.) And just newly in, you had snowball's chance you know where, of ever getting out on points. So you knew you had to get the million dollar wound, or you died. And I was in an old unit, Company K, 47th Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, who'd been in North Africa, Sicily, Italy. All of these guys were something, unbelievable guys. And all had the haunted look that you eventually got 'cause the point system, and how do you get out of this mess. That whole combination made you almost animalistic. You couldn't take a bath very often; you couldn't shave. The food -- I had two hot meals in those 70 some days; the rest of it was C rations and K rations, unreal. And once you got out, life was so very sweet.