Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Honors Disabled Veteran's Tribute To Black Vietnam Fallen Hero

SAN FRANCISCO - Feb. 20, 2019 - PRLog -- MEDIA ADVISORY

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner Honors White Soldier's Tribute To Black Fallen Vietnam Hero Fifty Years After His Death as Shown in Houston International Film Festival Award-Winning Documentary

With the backdrop of Black History Month, Mayor Turner will present a certificate of honor to Disabled Veteran and lifelong Houstonian George Moll whose kindness and determination "to leave no soldier behind" was commemorated in a documentary film.

Who:          The Honorable Mayor Sylvester Turner; U.S. Army Disabled Veteran  George Moll; Diana Moll; Dr. Steven L. Hall (USAF Retired), Director, Office of Veterans Affairs; Jackie Wright, Writer/Producer/Director of "Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor" and guests.

What:          Presentation of Certificate of Honor to George Moll, Photo Opportunity

When:          4:00 p.m. February 20, 2019

Where:          Houston City Hall, 901 Bagby, Third Floor, Proclamation Room 77002

Background:

During the 50^th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement, fifty years after the death of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. on March 9, 1964, his children exhumed him from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida and reburied him in a ceremony "Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor" on March 10, 2014 at Arlington National Cemetery. He was reburied with his wife, Ouida F. Wright, who had died March 9, 1970.

With less than two weeks notice, Disabled Veteran George Moll, who was a 19-year old when he served as a gunner on helicopter crew chief Wright's ship, came to the ceremony to honor Wright and comfort his children.  His children were 10, 8, and 5 years of age with the youngest six-months old when Wright died in a helicopter crash witnessed by then Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. Wright did not make it home alive to see his youngest child.

Moll had never met Wright's children until the day of the ceremony.  As a Disabled Veteran, who became severely debilitated in the '90's as a result of being ambushed on a tow-truck call by recently released prisoners, his sacrifice was even more significant.

Moll's actions explained in the short 15 minute documentary 'Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor" (winner of Gold Remi Award for Best Short Documentary at the 2018 Houston International Film Festival) directed by Jackie Wright and Jack LiVolsi of Jackson Street Media Partners, exemplifies the positive impact of President Harry S. Truman's Executive Order 9981 that racially integrated the U.S. Military.  Moll's actions also demonstrate soldiers' dedication to "leave no soldier behind" and take the motto to a new level as Moll honored the Wrights' father.  The Wrights had little knowledge of their father including the fact that the 114^th Aviation Company Military Base, "The Shannon Wright Compound" was named in honor of 1Lt. Kenneth Arthur Shannon and Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr.

Statement: " When I thanked George Moll for his kindness in paying tribute to our father, he replied, 'I just did what my family taught me to do, give honor where honor is due (a biblical principle). In these racially divisive times, Mr. Moll's actions are significant as chronicled in the documentary "Love Separated in Life...Love Reunited in Honor." Those kind valiant actions are a reminder of who we can truly be at the core of this nation."  Jackie Wright, Daughter of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. & Filmmaker

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Editorial note: George Moll, who worked as a tow truck driver, has a speech impediment and problems with mobility after murderous attackers beat him and cut his throat leaving him for dead during a false tow truck call ambush in the '90's.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/236990657


Info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6679790/

For Complete Media Advisory:
http://www.wrightnow.biz/articles_view.asp?articleid=83369&columnid=2898 (http://stylemagazine.com/news/2015/mar/13/beyond-selma-black-and-white-military-families-bon/?page=2)