Viet Nam War Hero McNamara's Honor Guard to Be Moved from Segregated Cemetery

SAN FRANCISCO - Feb. 14, 2014 - PRLog -- Armstrong Media Services 5214 F Diamond Heights Blvd #609, San Francisco, CA 94131

Media Advisory
Contact: Kelly Armstrong
415 525 0410

Viet Nam War Hero Connected to Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara
Final Resting Place at Arlington National Cemetery March 10, 2014 Fifty Years and A Day After His Death in South Viet Nam

Children of Sp5Wyley Wright Jr. to remove his remains from a segregated Florida Cemetery & Join them with his wife’s Ouida F. Wright for a final memorial.

Who: Jackie Wright (60) of San Francisco, Joe Wright (58) of Columbus, GA, Stanley Wright (55) of Orangeburg, SC and Phyllis Wright Cameron (50) of Antioch, CA (San Francisco Bay Area); Invited: Members of U.S. Military and interested public.

What: Reburial of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. of  (114^th Aviation Company of Fort Knox, Kentucky) and “the wife of his youth” Ouida Fay McLendon Wright at Arlington National Cemetery, who died respectively March 9, 1964 at the age of 31 and March 9, 1970 at the age of 35.  Wright died as Helicopter Crew Chief and Honor Guard for Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara along with PFC John Francis Shea (Volunteer from 560^th Military Police Company as Gunner) of Willimantic, CN (20 days before his 21^st birthday). (http://560mp.tripod.com/560MP/Shea.htm) The Army base in Vinh Long, South Vietnam, “Shannon Wright Compound” was named in part in honor of Wright and Lieutenant Kenneth A. Shannon bolth killed in March 1964.

Ouida Fay McLendon Wright died March 9, 1970 of Pancreatic Cancer, survived by her children who were 16, 14, 11, 6 years of age.  At the time of their father’s death, they were 10, 8, 5, and six months (Sp5 Wright had only seen a photo of his youngest child, Phyllis and never had a chance to hold her).  The Wright story is a “Love story, Civil Rights story, American History story, Black History story and Faith story.”

When:        3:00 p.m. March 10, 2014

Where:        Arlington National Cemetery (Exact Location TBD)

Why:          Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. served the United States as a military “lifer” and was a few years away from his dream of building a home for his family in Jacksonville, Florida and opening up his aviation repair company, when he died after completing his regular missions with honor, just two weeks before his scheduled return home.  The Wright Siblings believe their father has earned a place of honor and will exhume him from Mt. Olive Cemetery one of the segregated cemeteries of North Jacksonville that was not kept up as the City of Jacksonville had promised over the years.

Although Green Acres of Columbus, Georgia is a well-kept perpetual cemetery, the siblings concluded that their parents, who shared a deep love for each other, should be buried in honor together.  They have themed the occasion “Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor.”  The Wright siblings are fulfilling the basic Judeo-Christian principle, one of the Ten Commandments, “Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother.”

The Wrights thank soldiers of the 114th Aviation Company, Taylor Funeral Home of Phenix City, Alabama, Greene Funeral Home of Alexandria, Virginia, Carthage Funeral Home of Jacksonville,Florida, Wilbert Vault Inc. of Jacksonville, Florida, Green Acres Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia, Mount Olive Cemetery for their help.  The office of Commanding General H.R. McMaster of Fort Benning was of assistance along with Arlington National Cemetery.

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Related:

http://www.asianweek.com/2010/06/28/family-reunion-honors...

wrightthevisiononthewall.blogspot.com/2008/06/tribute-to-spc-5-wyley-wright-for.html

http://www.wrightnow.biz/apps/articles/default.asp?articl...=