Journey to Healing: Old Soldiers' Stories ~ Viet Nam War Reconciliation Project

                 Wyley Wright                       Ouida Wright

                   President John F. Kennedy                Robert S. McNamara

Objective: This multicultural and multigenerational project will capture the stories of the aging "Knights of the Air” of 114^th Aviation deployed during the Viet Nam War and their children’s stories to give homage to their sacrifice and give healthy solutions to grieving families.  Target audiences will include military families of wars including Afghanistan and Iraq and urban neighborhoods that experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) grieving the sudden deaths of their youth.  The film project will be used as a reconciliation tool.

Story

The foreign policy of President John F. Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara directly affected the lives over 58,000 families and millions of American families indirectly and an estimated 1-7 million Vietnamese. Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. was deployed under the command of President John F. Kennedy to South Viet Nam in March of 1963.  The only son of Wyley Wright Sr. and Azalea Wright Chapman of Jacksonville, Florida, husband of Ouida Fay McLendon Wright and father of Jackie, Joe, Stanley and Phyllis, was among the early "Advisers” to Viet Nam.  Within 8 months of deployment, Wright’s Commander in Chief was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, November 23, 1963. 

After receiving medals for his bravery, Wright was chosen as an honor guard for then Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara to view the troops, just two weeks before he was to be shipped home.  It was on that honorary mission, after successfully completing all of his combat missions, Wright, 31 along with PFC John Francis Shea, 18 of Massachusetts was killed on March 9, 1964.  With his wife three months pregnant his deployment, Wright had only see photos of his new daughter, who was six months old at his death. His demise left his family who traveled to Germany and other states trapped in the Deep South, Phenix City, Alabama, an hour from Montgomery, during the Civil Rights era. Wright had "orders” to go to Fort Hamilton, near New York City upon his return.  His place of landing in the U.S. would have been San Francisco, CA.

Over Forty Years later, the Wright children all unwittingly found themselves far from home in Georgia in the San Francisco Bay Area where their father would have returned home.    Clicking on the keyboard of a Mac computer about 4 years ago, Jackie Wright began her journey to find out about her father.

 Her mother died Monday, March 9, 1970  (http://wrightthevisiononthewall.blogspot.com/) and was not around for the queries of the mind that were often after the midnight hour.

What would happen if she searched her father’s name on the Internet?  First it was the reference to her father’s name being on a microchip that had been launched into space.  How awesome was that since she knew that as a helicopter mechanic and crew chief her father loved the skies.

Jackie began to find out more information and ultimately she found a reference in the Gold Book about her father’s helicopter crashing in the Saigon River due to hubris- http://560mp.tripod.com/560MP/Shea.htm.

The finding in the Gold Book led to a website.  On the 114^th Aviation Company Website, Jackie found fellow Internet Travelers, men who served years after her father who were part of his company.  They began to share emails that revealed history Jackie did not know: Her father gave the name "Cobra” to the company’s assault helicopter; Her father created the "Cobra” insignia; and the Vihn Long Compound was named in honor of her father and another soldier, Lieutenant Kenneth Arthur Shannon.

"Journey to Healing: Soldiers Old Stories, ”a multicultural and multi-generational project will chronicle Jackie’s Internet Journey and will encompass the stories of soldiers from her father’s company as told at the Gettysburg Reunion. The Gettysburg Reunion will launch the initial research of the documentary as many stories as possible will be videotaped. The goal is to also film in Viet Nam during the November 11-22, 2011 San Francisco Ho Chi Minh Sister City Delegation visit.

The hour-long multicultural reconciliation documentary "Journey to Healing: Soldiers Old Stories” will show the impact of war on the so called "collateral damage.”  It will show that the impact of war is ongoing. It will show steps to healing.  It will be information to help the surviving families hurt by the Iran and Afghanistan Wars to not wait until after forty years to deal with the pain of their loss. It will show the communication between generations to highlight history from the perspective of everyday people.  It will be used to help community partners such as the San Francisco 100 Black Women, Good News Today Youth Media Program, the Northern California Interreligious Council, San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, Asian Week Foundation and other community groups with their "non violence” programs as some inner-city neighborhoods experience war-zone like effect from violent sudden deaths and the ensuing grief.  The documentary will be produced, written and directed by three-time Associated Press Award-winning journalist and Emmy Award winning producer, Jackie Wright. For sponsorship, underwriting and other marketing opportunities contact Jackie Wright at 415 525 0410 or jackiewright@wrightnow.biz.  Donate Now!