I really love your avatar.  In fact, I was doing a search for images on Memorial Day and Vietnam, and I actually came across it.  What I read about that avatar was so sweet, a veteran.... and his son pointing to his grandfathers name on the wall who was MIA... Then I noticed the name on the wall that he was pointing to. Gary G. Wright.  So my question is... is that you in the picture? That is an absolutely beautiful picture.  And I found a site with more of the same.  They are all so great I just had to ask.

The picture was taken at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC by a Cambodian Refugee named Seny Norasingh. He was there taking pictures for a project called A Day In The Life Of America. I was there that day helping out with a Veterans Vigil and Seny approached me and asked if I minded if he took some pictures and explained to me what it was for. I was like "Sure! but I can tell you your wasting film because America does not care anything about Vietnam Vets!"  A short while later, my family came down and as we always did, we walked down to the Wall to see my dad who has been Missing In Action since January 1967.

I really did not give any thought as to where Seny was or what had happened to him. When we visited my dad, we always concluded the visit with me holding up my son & two daughters so they could kiss his name and then they would lean their faces against his name on the black granit to give him a hug.  Seny went his way later that day & I figured I would never hear or see anything of him again.

3-4 months later, while stopping at a convienence store to get drink & ice to take with me to help out at the vigil, the magazine rack was stuffed with Newsweek magazines with the picture you see on my avatar as the cover! Two days later my wife was in Nordstrom's at the mall and she came home and got me to take me back & show me the 10x6 foot double sided picture of us hanging from the ceiling! Over the next year, that picture was in People, Time, Life, US News & World Report, Readers Digest, The cover of Newsweek & the cover of at least three books including one about the Vietnam Memorial named The Wall.

The photo is as close to a three generation shot we will ever get. It is Me, Gary Wirght Jr, holding my son Gary Wright III up to kiss his grandfather Gary Wright. My dad was shot down while flying a mission 18 miles SW of Hanoi. I went in theNavy when I was 17 in early 1973 & served on Aircraft Carriers as an Aviation Ordnanceman. The last two cruises of the USS Oriskany, which I was on are considered Vietnam Cruises.

Thank you, Gary.  For the story, and just for everything.

I know what you are saying Brandy!

Here is my dads site on Myspace I have been working on:

MySpace

Oh my, Gary. That is such a moving story. I just read it to my husband, and could barely get through it. The way we treated our Veit Nam veterans is a black mark on our nation's history. I am ashamed that so many in "my" generation were responsible for that -- but then again, maybe not "so many" -- maybe it was the vocal few that made it seem like so many. I have always been proud of ALL our veterans. My father was a POW in Germany in WWII, and I appreciate the sacrifice that all soldiers and their families make. For a while my father was MIA, but then discovered as a POW. I cannot imagine the pain of having a loved one MIA -- the uncertainty, the not knowing. Thank you for the sacrifice your father made and the sacrifice you and your family have endured. And thank you for continuing that service to country with your time in the Navy and afterward on the police force. YOU AND YOUR FATHER are what thiis holiday weekend is all about. God bless you!

Gary, I hadn't heard this story before. So touching. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks all, I appreciate it!

Some years back there were two photos found in the Military Museum in Hanoi that were dated 1-17-67 the day my dad was shot down. These photos clearly showed the wreckage of an RF4C Phantom, which is what my dad was flying. The Air Force had sent me the photos as the date correlated to my father, yet they did nothing else. I "Begged" them for three years to follow up on the photos, afterall, we had people working in Hanoi at this time on the POW MIA issues. The three years really got to me because according to Persidential Proclamation by every President since Gerald Ford... This Is A Matter Of The Highest National Priority!

I went to Washington DC at the end of that three years to attend a Sons & Daughters Fathers Day at the Wall. At a meeting covered live by CSPAN I got up and directly asked the then Under Secretary Of Defense "Why If This Is A Matter Of The Highest National Priority Am I Begging Still After Three Years For Photos That Are Likely Of My Fathers Crash Site Not Being Followed Up On By The Very People Who Sent Them To Me In The First Place???"

He said he was going to Hanoi the next week & if I gave all the information to his aid he would personally look into it. So about three months later I get a letter from him and he says that as soon as they landed, he went unannounced to the museum and the photos were gone!  But... he enclosed a really nice color brochure of the museum he thought I would like!

Need I say what he could have done with said brochure?

Wow, Gary, beautiful, I just caught up on this.   *wow*................................

I just saw this. totally AWESOME!