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Antioch Residents Pay Tribute to Viet
Nam Fallen
War Hero Father Associated with Secretary
of Defense Robert McNamara
With Arlington National Cemetery Reburial
For Immediate Release Media
Contact: Kelly Armstrong, 415 525 0410
February 27, 2014
Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. will be moved from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida and rejoined
with his wife,
Ouida F. Wright from a Georgia cemetery for reburial at Arlington National
Cemetery,
"Love Separated in Life..Love Reunited in
Honor.”
Antioch, CA-
Antioch resident Phyllis Wright Cameron, 50, and husband Woodrow Cameron, 51, are
preparing to pay tribute to Mrs. Cameron’s parents by having their remains
moved to Arlington National Cemetery for a March 10, 2014 ceremony in Arlington,
Virginia.
Spearheaded by the oldest
child of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. (December 10, 1931-March 9, 1964) and Ouida
McLendon Wright (January 10, 1935-March 9, 1970), after a family reunion in
Jacksonville, Florida, July 4th weekend in 2012, the siblings
Jackie, Joe, Stanley and Phyllis agreed to find out what it would take to move
their father from a segregated cemetery to Arlington National Cemetery.
As Woodrow and Phyllis
Cameron launch "The WRight Place for Seniors” in Pittsburg, CA, the history
behind the commemoration of the Wrights, is shedding light on the passion
Phyllis, an insurance executive with a real estate background, has around
providing housing for elders and emancipated foster youth. "I am finding that the parents I did not know
had a strong loving relationship and very generous hearts with deep concern for
others; so I guess it’s in my DNA to do this sort of thing. This commemoration illuminated where these
feelings of concern come from. It’s
inspiring to my husband as well without whom I could not begin to get this home
started.” Woodrow, worked for more than
a decade at the American Cancer society until recently and is now a
professional services business consultant focusing on systems alignment and
efficiency.
"I learned from my older
siblings that our Dad, died in Viet Nam at the age of 32 after completing all
of his regular missions with honors, just two weeks before returning home as he
served on an additional mission as honor guard for then Secretary of Defense
Robert S. McNamara,” said Phyllis Cameron, 5O, the youngest child of the
Wrights. "It appears over the years, the City of Jacksonville did not up keep
the segregated cemeteries in northern Jacksonville as the news reports and articles
said they would do. Our war hero father
is buried in one of them, Mt. Olive Cemetery.”
Mrs. Cameron was six months
old when her father died. He did not
have the opportunity to hold her but did carry a photo of her sent by his
wife. When Phyllis was in first grade at
the age of six years, her mother died of pancreatic cancer at the age of
35.
When the Wrights started
their journey to have their father honored at Arlington, they began to realize
that it would be an appropriate honor to pay tribute to their mother as well
who is buried in Green Acres Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia that by contrast is
a well-kept historic cemetery.
"Hearing my siblings talk
about family history, I believe there was a great bound of love between my
father and mother who both died on Monday, March 9th six years
apart. We’ve talked over the years about
whether we would be here today, if it had not been for media, said Mrs. Cameron. By the coincidence of one of my father’s
fellow soldiers returning from the Korean War, dropping a photo of our mom,
then "Miss Frederick Douglass 1952” and my father picking it up, we are here
today. With love at first sight I am
told he said in his heart "this is my wife,” so we four siblings stand as their
offspring and now our parents have great grandchildren although they were in
their early thirties when they died, six years apart,” added Mrs. Cameron.
"I am pleased to be able to
support my wife as she commemorates her parents,” said Woodrow Cameron. "This
is a part of Black History, American History, Human History, Civil Rights
History and a love story that we can share with our daughter, Jessica,” he
added.
The Cedar Hills subdivision
in Columbus, GA, bordering Fort Benning, GA, is where the Wright children grew
up at 1103 Bedford Avenue, a home built for them by their mother Ouida Fay
McLendon Wright from proceeds from their father’s insurance. The home at the corner of Bedford and Dawn
Court, a distinctive structure built of Tennessee stone by one of few Black
contractors at the time, Ed Stovall, is now a facility for the elderly owned by
Katie and Robert Morris, cousins of the Wrights, who live across the
street. Most identify the former Wright
home with a similar structure that was built after it, M.L. Harris United
Methodist Church, at the corner of Bedford and Cusseta Road that is also made
of Tennessee stone.
The Wright Family says that
it all seems to be coming in full circle.
Ouida Wright, often spoke of their home as being for extended family and
friends in need and now it is serving as such after the Morris’ bought the home
to keep it in the family after foreclosure from a predatory loan in the mid
1980’s. Now, the youngest sibling, Phyllis
and Woodrow are weeks away from opening "The WRight Place for Seniors.”
"I am really proud of my
cousin Fay’s children for doing their best to make it through life without benefit
of their parents,” said Katie Morris, a real estate agent, who was a nurse at
the time on the floor of Martin Army Hospital where Ouida Fay Wright died. "From Jackie working her way through the
University of Georgia raising her teenage sister and her daughter, Tiffanie who
was in elementary school at the time, to Joe serving in the U.S. Army, to
Stanley now owning his own "Done Wright” trucking company in South Carolina and
now Phyllis following our family tradition of service to others, I believe they
have proven to be salt of the earth people doing the best they can do with the
circumstances they have faced,” added Morris.
Family members will be
gathering from around the country in Arlington for the reburials. Stanley Wright, with wife of 29 years, Viola
Barnes, the daughter of SFC Romie L. Barnes and Margaret Guest Barnes, a
military family also, with their three adult children from Orangeburg, South
Carolina; Phyllis Wright Cameron, with Woodrow Cameron, her husband of 26 years
and their 8 year old daughter from Antioch, CA near San Francisco, Jackie
Wright of San Francisco, with daughter Tiffanie Chiles-Mitchell and her husband
of 14 years, Carlos Mitchell with their three children, 9, 8, and 4 years old
coming from Dallas and from Columbus, Joe and Brenda, who will be gathering
their three adult children from Atlanta
and Oakland, CA with their grandchildren 14 and 6 years old coming from Atlanta
and Miami. Members of the extended
family and friends who can attend have been invited to the memorial celebration
titled… "A Tribute to Sp5 Wyley Wright
and Ouida F. Wright, Love Separated in Life… Love Joined in Honor.”
"This has been an unexpected
honor for us to manifest the Judeo-Christian principle "honor thy father and
thy mother” in this way, said Jackie Wright, 60, who at 20 years of age began raising her ten year old sister. "The Internet led me to some soldiers who had
served in my father’s military unit the 114th (One-Fourteenth)
Aviation Airmobile Company, where he served as crew chief, who knew of him
because the base in Vinh Long, Vietnam was named in honor of him and a captain
and many had served there. I found out
about the Shannon-Wright Compound. I
found out the Cobra Helicopter was a result of my father naming their unit "The
Cobras.” When we found out the cemetery where he was, was segregated and no
longer honorable, as a family we decided to move him to Arlington to be near
where his name is inscribed in "The Wall,” added Jackie. "Our Dad had served 15
years in the U.S. Army, was five years away from retiring when he died. He did not give a segregated service to this
country. He gave all. He gave his life!”
When thinking about following
up on death certificates, excavation companies and three different funeral
homes in three states, three cemeteries in three states, the Wrights are not
taking this as a sad occasion but an uplifting one in the face of their
loss. The memorials and memories are a
significant part of life as birthdays and other celebrations. They consider the
faithfulness of God that they as the children of Wyley and Ouida Wright have
lived longer on earth than their parents and that even some of their parents’
grandchildren have outlived their time on earth. As added significance, Stanley
Wright will celebrate his 56th birthday on March 8th and
Jackie Wright celebrates her daughter’s 14th wedding anniversary on
March 11th, as she will keep her three grandchildren for the couple
to enjoy their day.
The Wright Family would also
like to extend condolences to the Shea Family as they note the loss of PFC John
Francis Shea, a Roman Catholic from Willimantic, Connecticut, who was twenty
days shy of his 21st birthday when he too died serving as a door
gunner in the helicopter crash that claimed Sp5 Wyley Wright’s life. Shea was a
volunteer from the 560th Military Police Company. Helicopter/Incident 62-01961 is recorded in
the Gold Book (http://560mp.tripod.com/560MP/Shea.htm). The family of Lieutenant Kenneth A. Shannon,
who died five days after Wright and Shea, is also thought of at this time. The Wrights are honored to note that
Shannon’s widow, Mrs. Ginger Shannon Young, who married the Commanding Officer
of the 114th Aviation Company, then Major George J. Young, 38 years after
Shannon’s death, will be at the March 10th commemoration. Mrs. Shannon
met retired LTC Young, 31 years after her first husband, a helicopter pilot,
was shot down over enemy territory.
The Wrights thank the
soldiers of the 114th Aviation Company, Taylor Funeral Home of
Phenix City, Alabama, Greene Funeral Home of Alexandria, Virginia, Carthage
Funeral Home of Jacksonville, Sconiers Funeral Home of Columbus, Georgia,
Wilbert Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida, Green Acres Cemetery in Columbus,
Georgia, and Mount Olive Cemetery of Jacksonville, Florida for their help. The office of Commanding General H.R.
McMaster of Fort Benning, GA was of great assistance in providing information
along with Arlington National Cemetery.
The services will be at 3:00
p.m., March 10, 2014 at Arlington National Cemetery. A reception will follow at a location to be
determined.
In lieu of flowers, those
wishing to express sentiments of commemoration and congratulations to the
family can do so by contributing to the "Wright Place” Senior Facility that is
being launched in Pittsburg, CA by Wright sibling Phyllis Cameron and her
husband, Woodrow Cameron. Via PayPal on
the Internet, email Phyllis.thewrightplace@gmail.com
or mail contributions payable to The WRight Place for Seniors to P.O. Box 1022,
Antioch, CA 94509.
For other background on the
family’s journey of honor, see the following links:
"Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor"
Media Advisory-Sp5 Wyley and
Ouida Wright Re-interment
Veteran & Family Honor Viet Nam War Hero Associated with Robert S. McNamara with Reburial at Arlington National Cemetery
Orangeburg, SC Man Honors Viet Nam Hero Father Associated with Robert S. McNamara with Reburial at Arlington National Cemetery
Asian Week Article 2010 on San
Francisco Reunion
http://www.asianweek.com/2010/06/28/family-reunion-honors-the-legacy-of-a-dad-and-vietnam-war-hero/
News Release 2010 on San
Francisco Reunion
http://www.wrightnow.biz/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=67401&columnid
Gold Book Describing Death of
Sp5 Wright and PFC Shea on March 9, 1964
http://560mp.tripod.com/560MP/Shea.htm
Battalion History of 114th-
"Knights of the Air”(First Army Aviation Unit in Viet Nam) outlining the
difficulty of missions: http://www.145thcab.com/History/NL29HIST.htm