COLUMBUS, Ga. — Five-month-old William Danley wore blue corduroy overalls with a white shirt and red-tipped socks to the National Infantry Museum. His family dressed him in those patriotic colors for National Vietnam War Veterans Day, which fell on Good Friday.
They visited the museum for the dedication of a newly renovated replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. It bears the name of William's great-grandfather, Maj. William Callinan, along with more than 58,000 other U.S. service members who died or were reported missing during the war.
An Army aviator, Callinan was killed in a helicopter crash on Nov. 11, 1966, after helping rescue and resupply besieged friendly forces in Vietnam's central highlands. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism.
Three generations of his family attended Friday's ceremony. The infant's mother, Meagan Danley of Columbus, cradled him in her arms as she watched the ceremony beside her husband, Mike, and their three other children, Charles, Zoe and Jack.
“For all of our kids, we wanted them to think of him and remember him and say his name,” Meagan Danley said of her grandfather. “We just wanted to keep his memory alive and for our kids to consider the sacrifice. Today being Good Friday, it is kind of a beautiful thing with remembering people who have given everything for us to be able to live the lives we live.”
Like the original memorial wall in…
