'Wall magic' brings together Vietnam vet, fallen comrade's family

Posted: Thursday, May 28, 2009 2:53 PM by Jen Brown

From Bob Dotson

After the Vietnam War Memorial story aired, something that ranks right up their with needles and haystacks happened.  The brother of one of the dead soldiers mentioned was watching the story.  That led him to read my column online and he left a note on the American Story Web page wanting to contact his brother's platoon leader, Bill Gray, one of the men we profiled.  I gave him Bill's contact info and they exchanged e-mails.  Below is Bill Gray's poignant reply to his fallen comrade's family, the family he mentioned in the spot, the one he wrote to tell of their loved one's death ... 40 years ago this month:
 

hello mrs. white, jenny, gail & dan,

i'm so sorry for the loss of your son, husband & brother.

dan, i received your note from bob dotson this morning just before i was heading out to baltimore for the day.  tonight i had a meeting at 6 p.m. & got home late.

i just broke down when i read your note, dan.  i can't imagine what you all felt when you heard me say gene's name & saw it on the screen.  what are the chances?? -- 58,200 plus names on The Wall.  you actually watching bob's piece.  not having a friend or relative seeing the story & calling you.  i said to laurie singer,the producer of the show, that she had done magic, putting the story together.  there is a term which the park rangers & volunteers at The Wall use -- "Wall Magic."  this truly is another case of "Wall Magic."  i've been told about it by a couple of volunteers, & have experienced it myself 2 other times, but nothing like this.

i've wondered about your family over the years.  i still have the letter you sent me mrs white, telling about the plaque & memorial trophy which was set up in gene's name at his high school.  i guess gene was quite an athlete if they set up this award in his memory.  i'm sure he told me about high school, but i'm afraid i don't remember after all these years.  i just remember how happy gene was to have gone to hawaii for r & r with jenny.  he came back to the boonies all smiles & was almost willing to put in the last month or so he had left.  your letter followed me to the hospital at camp zama, in japan, then to ft. devens, mass, where i received it, where i was stationed briefly, before coming to ft. meade, md, between washington & baltimore. 

over the years i thought maybe i'd get a rubbing of gene's name & send it to you in lansing, mrs white.  but i might have only thought of that in the mid-80's, & figured you might have moved by then.  i also talked myself out of doing a rubbing, figuring it might be too painful for you, particularly if i just sent it, without first contacting you to see if it would be o.k.  the excuses were plenty.  the action was not.  so, life got in the way, & i never dealt with making a rubbing of any of the men in my platoon. 
since i live only about 25 minutes from The Wall, i could visit gene & the other guys whenever i wanted. 

then along came "laurie singer, from the today show."  that's how she introduced herself when she first called, about 5 weeks ago.  she could hear my jaw drop.  a young reporter did a story about our vva chapter washing The Wall in a local paper, in april.  laurie saw the article, & followed up on it.  she called mike najarian, who in essence, is our p.r. guy for the chapter.  mike gave laurie my name & she said they were interested in doing a story about our chapter.  laurie is good, & persistant.  she spoke with both mike & me for at least 3 hours on the phone.  i realized that she was playing psychotherapist as she asked me to dig into the memory banks to retrieve thoughts & feelings long ago put under wraps. 

they filmed many hours to get the almost 5 minutes which was seen on t.v.  bob dotson is laid back & made it a bit easier to deal with riding a bike in the rain, & to sit down with him for almost an hour & answer questions he threw at me.  john, the sound man, & jim, pat, & randy the camera men, are all friendly, engaging, funny & talented in their fields.  the whole bunch of them made the process go smoothly, even in the rain.

have you had the chance to come to washington & to visit The Wall?  if not would you like me to make a rubbing of gene's name?  i want to talk with you, but right now i'm not ready.  i could not carry on a conversation without crying.  but please send a note when you can.   i have at least one slide of gene which i'll have printed for you.

thanks for contacting bob.

best regards.
cheers,
bill

EMAIL THIS