Wright Has Endured Her Share of Heartache

Ann Wright can be forgiven if she celebrates the beginning of the new year somewhat more joyously than most people.
That's because she's endured more than her share of heartache in the month of December. Not only did she lose her son Ricky in the crash of the DC-9 airliner in Gander, Newfoundland, Dec. 12, 1985, but her younger brother was killed in an auto accident three days before his 20th birthday on a Northwest Florida highway on Dec. 15, 1962. Her father had died a year earlier and her first husband was killed in Korea.
Mrs. Wright was more of a mother than a sister to her brother. Thirty years after his death and seven years after losing her son, this mother's love is still very much alive.
"It is a very bad time of the year for me," she said. "Time does make it easier to deal with, but it doesn't take any of the hurt away. This time of year, you can't help but think about it."
She said there was a special relationship with Ricky, because he had dyslexia. When the other students and teachers would belittle him, he would often rely on his mother for emotional support.
Mrs. Wright thinks the fact that she never saw the body of her son or her brother has made it tougher to accept,
"I know some people will think I'm crazy, but the phone can ring and I will think it's Ricky in my mind for a moment," she said. "It's very hard for us mothers to give that child up. My brother's been dead 30 years and there are still times I'll think he's going to come by."
She is the mother of seven children. In addition to Corporal Wright, there are also Teresa Nichols of Andalusia, Dianne Barody of Pace, Fla., Louise George of Dothan, Walter R. Wright of Waynesville, Mo., William D. Wright of Ozark, and Billy Joe Wright, who lives next door to his parents.
Mrs. Wright says some things have helped her, such as the Gander Wall she and husband Walter erected in the memory of their son and his fellow 247 soldiers who died in the Gander crash.
The Wrights also visited the crash site and traveled throughout the country trying to get a bill passed that would give soldiers an option in not boarding an aircraft they may feel is unsafe.
Mrs. Wright developed a close relationship with another mother of one of the deceased soldiers - Margaret Ferguson of Kingsport, Tenn.
Her and Buddy Ferguson's son Mark was Ricky Wright's friend since going through basic training together. After the crash, Mrs. Wright contacted Mrs. Ferguson to find out if her son was also on the plane.
"They were roommates through basic and AIT," Mrs. Wright said. "They both went to Fort Campbell together, were in the same unit, went to Sinai. They came back together and they got killed together. They were friends throughout their military careers."
Their mothers followed their example. The friendship that was born out of the worst nightmare a parent could have has grown into something more. Mrs. Wright says she thinks of Mrs. Ferguson as a sister.
"Since then, we've been in constant contact with them," Mrs. Wright said. "They come down three or four times a year. She'll call me and we'll talk for hours. When we visit my husband's family in Tennessee, we'll stop and see them.
"We just share a lot. We don't have to talk about the crash. We don't necessarily have to talk about Mark or Ricky. We can talk about anything."
The government has closed its books on the investigation of the Gander crash for 70 years, but loving mothers like Mrs. Wright and Mrs. Ferguson haven't given up on their search for answers. They still want to know why and how it happened. They also want to ensure that it never happens again.
"Nobody wants to pry into it," Mrs. Wright said. "Nobody wants to find out what happened to that plane. Why did that plane go down? We know there was something wrong. There was a lot of ammo on that plane that wasn't supposed to be there.
"Being a military family, we know you're not supposed to ship ammo on a plane with troops. And when we were in Newfoundland, we heard some people who went to the crash site saying they couldn't have gotten in there, if there had been any survivors, because of all the ammo going off.
"We will never give up, as long as there are some of the families still living. There's always going to be a probe going on. The day I buried my son, I stood at his grave and swore I'd never rest until I found out what happened to him," Mrs. Wright said.
For a long time, Mrs. Wright used her efforts working with other families, as well as her own, to avoid thinking about her loss. This year, she believes she has begun to face her son's death without denial.
"A lot of people don't want to talk about it," she said. "I think that's terrible because burying your head in the sand like an ostrich isn't going to change the fact that they're gone. We can't bring them back, but we can look at the cause of the crash and make sure if it's terrorism, that we put better security on there.
"If it was a bad plane, we can have better planes for our boys to ride on. If it was anything like that, we can counteract whatever we find out. What we can't understand is why our government would seal the records on that plane crash for 70 years. My grandchildren will be old and gray. But you don't give up hope as long as there is any hope at all."

Gander Wall Memorializes 248 Soldiers Killed in Crash

Somewhere above, Walter and Ann Wright believe their son Ricky may be proudly smiling at what they've done for him at their home in Daleville, Alabama.
In the memory of Cpl. John Richard (Ricky) Wright, who died with 247 fellow soldiers in the crash of a DC-9 airliner in Gander, Newfoundland, Dec. 12, 1985, the Wrights dedicated their memorial, the Gander Wall, on the seventh anniversary of the tragedy.
"I think he would have been awfully proud if he could be looking down and know what's going on," Mrs. Wright said.
Corporal Wright was a member of the Screaming Eagles of the Task Force, 3rd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Ky.
He graduated from Daleville High School in 1982 and was a member of the school's Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He was 23.
The soldiers were on their way home for Christmas after completing a peacekeeping mission in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Camaro Corporal Wright left with his mother while stationed at Fort Campbell has been converted into a "rolling memorial."
the name of every crew member and soldier who died in the crash is listed on the Gander Wall, which cost the Wrights almost $6,000 to build.
A plaque that hangs at the entrance of the sidewalk leading to the wall reads: "Erected in the memory of Cpl. John R. (Ricky) Wright and 247 of his fellow service members plus a crew of eight. 'The day the Eagles cried,' Dec. 12, 1985."
A fountain sits directly in front of the wall. Behind it are various flags - American, Canadian, Alabama, Newfoundland, Gander - and the flag of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division.
The parents of two other soldiers, including one from Pike County, were among those attending the Dec. 12 ceremony at the Wright home. The Wrights didn't know he was in the Pike County High School JROTC until they met Spec. Carl Simmons' mother, Mary Frances Simmons, of Banks, at the ceremony.
The memorial is open to the public. Guests should call Mrs. Wright at 598-3332 or knock on the carport door if they wish to see the Gander Wall.
Members of the Daleville JROTC color guard presented the colors at the ceremony and two songs were played for those in attendance - "Going Home for Christmas" by The Inspirations and "A Sad Day in Gander."
The latter song was written by a man named Eric Waterman. He talked with many of the soldiers in the airport before the fateful takeoff. He wrote the song and sent it to Mrs. Wright after the crash. He later wrote another song about the memorial to the soldiers in Gander.
Among the speakers at the ceremony were Lt. Col. Jimmy R. Duhaime, commander of the Daleville JROTC, and Frank Moore, superintendent of Daleville City Schools. The memorial was unveiled by Jason and Adam Barody, two of the Wrights' grandchildren, as The Inspirations' song played.
Although the dedication service naturally brought on some painful memories, it was part of the "healing process" for the Wrights.
Wright said he "felt emotional for a few minutes."
"Then, you feel better," his wife added, "because you know you're doing something. They're not just forgotten. We don't want them forgotten."
"I said I would build my own," Wright said. "It's within 20 to 30 feet of the first fort Ricky every built anyway. We have a picture of him and his brother Billy building the fort when they were 8 and 9 years old."