Callinan family shares the pain and triumph over tragedy as they gather in Columbus for replica Vietnam Wall dedication
COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — The Vietnam War impacted millions of Americans. And many families suffered unspeakable loss.
One of those families was right here in Columbus.
The Callinans were a large but typical Army family that lived here in the mid-1960s.
On Veterans Day 1966 Army Maj. William Callinan lost his life when his helicopter crashed in Vietnam.
He left a wife and seven children.
Mike Callinan and his five younger brothers and younger sister were at the National Infantry Museum Friday morning for the dedication of the replica Vietnam Wall. They came from as far away as Houston to be here.
They listened intently Taps. He first heard it in November 1966 at Arlington Cemetery when his father, Army Maj. William Callinan was laid to rest.
Mike and his brother, Tom, remember November 1966. Not all of the siblings do.
““We lost our dad on Veterans Day, 11-11, 1966. I was 11 — the oldest,” Mike said.
The siblings, almost like a roll call, remembered their ages that fateful day.
Tom Callinan: “I was 10.”
John Callinan: “I was 9.”
Margo Callinan Truitt: “Eight”
Daniel Braski: “Four.”
Patrick Braski: “Two.”
William Francis Braski: “Nine months.”
Mike and Tom vividly remember the knock on the door – though each has a little different piece of the moment that changed their family.
“I recall it was the Army sedan driving up to our house that Saturday morning,” Mike said. “And I remember Saturday because my brothers and sister were all watching cartoons that morning. And I had walked up and I saw my mother looking out the window. And I walked over and I saw the sedan. And my other, uncharacteristic, uncharacteristically, really asked me to kind of step away.”
Tom added: “I actually opened up the door and the guys came to my parents. I mean to my mother. When I opened up the door, she turned around behind me and I could hear her voice bawling. I had no idea what was going on. … But I opened the door and that was very, very traumatic when I saw what happened to my mother. I have never seen her like that before.”
Margo, who is the only one who still lives in Columbus, was the lone girl and had a special relationship with her dad.
“I was his little girl,” she said. “And our birthdays were only two days apart. So, we celebrated our birthdays together. It was the 6th of October, and I was the eighth. So, we had birthday parties together.”
After her husband’s death, their mother, Marilyn, soldiered on.
“She was this amazing woman because after my father died, I remember she sat me down and she probably did you two and everyone elsec,” Tom said. “And she said, ‘Tom, I need you to help me. You know these younger brothers and your sister are here. I need your help with your strength and our strength. We can do it. We can take care of this family.”
Marilyn later remarried and the three youngest were adopted by their step-father, Frank Braski and they carry his last name.
William Francis, named for his dad, was the baby when his father died. But his mother paid him the highest compliment near the end of her life.
“She actually told me that my personality in the way that I am is almost very, almost identical to how our real father was and how could that possibly be becuase I was nine months old when he died?” he said. “And I think it obviously has to do with what I learned from my brothers that they couldn’t be. Maybe it’s genetics as well, who knows? But , I think that that obviously is something that that was passed down to me. And then I think it’s from them.”
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