In our last episode, we had been in historic Grants, NM to film the Ray family. After leaving Grants, we continued our trek east into Texas, first to Copperas Cove, located about an hour’s drive north of Austin. On October 8th, we had a fascinating interview with Mark Gary Todd, the grandson of Medal of Honor recipient Donald Gary. Mark and his wife Laura, both veterans, opened their home to us and we interviewed Mark on his back patio on a very pleasant afternoon. He talked about his famous grandfather, and also about his own distinguished service in the Air Force. Then they brought out Donald Gary’s Medal of Honor, which we filmed, and Mark kindly said yes when I asked for a photo:
The next day, October 9th, we went south about 40 miles to Georgetown, TX to the home of Carol Hensley. She and her family were very gracious even as we invaded their home to set up all the lighting equipment. During her interview, Carol talked about her father, John Bostian, an officer on the Franklin. It was Mr. Bostian who taught Donald Gary, when he was new to the ship, the escape route that Gary eventually used to lead men to safety from the lower decks where they had been trapped during the attack on March 19, 1945. Carol recounted how Donald Gary called her father every year on March 19.
After the interview with Carol, we continued even further south and stopped in Boerne to meet up with Amy and Kent Hathaway, the organizers of the 2022 Franklin reunion that was held in Fredericksburg, TX. They were quite generous, taking us to dinner for authentic Texas barbecue. We also picked up from them several Franklin artifacts to take to Corpus Christi – a bell, helmet and banner. Normally these items would have been in the bins of artifacts and memorabilia that Angel Barnes – the host of the next Franklin interview in February – took with her to Corpus Christi at the end of the last Franklin reunion, but we were using them in the filming suite while conducting interviews and so gave them to Amy and Kent after Angel left. It’s rather circular that now they are back with us and we will deliver them to Angel.
In the next update, I will recount how we came to the end of our journey and delivered the USS Franklin plaques to their new home. Until then…
Take care,
Andy
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