The story of this family begins with service. For about two and a half centuries, through wars, deployments, moves, and long separations, members of this family have served, some on battlefields overseas and some at home.
The earliest branches of our service tree reach back to 1776, when Thomas Wildey and his son Joseph took their farm muskets to Chatterton’s Hill at White Plains and did not come home. In the Civil War, James Beckwith rode with the 2nd Ohio Cavalry through the Wilderness and Spotsylvania. Their stories, researched and written by Chris Beckwith, close this book in the section called Foundations of Duty. Generations later, young men from this family enlisted on the eve of World War II. They went on to land gliders behind German lines, make amphibious assaults under kamikaze attack, patrol deserts, and later fight in Korea. Their children served in Vietnam, some in Special Forces, others advising South Vietnamese units or flying Air Cavalry missions just above the treetops. Others served during the Cold War in NATO commands, Pershing missile operations, and strategic air wings.
Service in this family was never only military. Two grandmothers and a mother worked for the Red Cross while raising sons who would go to war. A mother-in-law went to work each morning at the FBI building in Washington. Others spent careers at the Department of Defense.
The next generation included B-52 pilots, Navy intelligence officers, corpsmen caring for sailors and Marines, crane operators aboard nuclear sub tenders, and federal employees in national security. It also included a retired minister who fought in Korea and later served his community in an election decided by a coin toss. One member of the family still serves in classified work. That story can only be told in part for now.
This book does not rank one person’s service above another’s. Family members served in different eras and in different parts of the world. Some received many medals. Others never spoke about what they saw. Some came home and built careers and families. Others came home with wounds that stayed with them for the rest of their lives. Spouses raised children alone while their partners were deployed overseas, and children grew up knowing that home was temporary.
You will notice that Part II, my father’s story, is the largest section of this book. That is because it is the story I was closest to personally. I only wish I had spent more time talking with those who are no longer with us, but that is the very reason I had to get this down on paper. Time is passing, and history is only known if someone writes it down.
The chapters that follow are about these people more than about the wars they served in.