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Arlington National Cemetery Brings Antioch Resident Full Circle
February 27, 2014

Armstrong Media Services

5214 F Diamond Heights Blvd #609

San Francisco, CA 94131

 

 

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 LifeLove Reunited in Honor"

http://www.prlog.org/12284723-love-separated-in-lifelove-reunited-in-honor-mcnamara-connected-viet-nam-heros-arlington-reburial.html

 

Media Advisory-Sp5 Wyley and Ouida Wright Re-interment

http://www.prlog.org/12283135-viet-nam-war-hero-mcnamaras-honor-guard-to-be-moved-from-segregated-cemetery.html

Veteran & Family Honor Viet Nam War Hero Associated with Robert S. McNamara with Reburial at Arlington National Cemetery

http://www.prlog.org/12283465-family-honors-mcnamara-connected-viet-nam-soldier-by-removing-from-segregated-cemetery-for-arlington-reburial.html

Orangeburg, SC Man Honors Viet Nam Hero Father Associated with Robert S. McNamara with Reburial at Arlington National Cemetery

http://www.prlog.org/12285355-orangeburg-sc-man-honors-viet-nam-hero-father-with-reburial-at-arlington-national-cemetery.html

 

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


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