Soldier's Son

17. If You Value Freedom, Seek Justice

1 1 IF YOU UflLUE FREEDOM. SEEK JUSTICE Masontown, Pennsylvania It reads like any carefully composed, respectful letter of sympathy. But it was an unusual letter, written by a reticent young man who never mailed it to the surviving widow. Following Uncle Ben's death, his former law partner, John Remington, wrote a letter of sympathy to Aunt Frankie. In this very long epistle, Mr. Remington summed up the qualities of the man he knew so well and revered so much. For unexplained reasons,he never mailed the letter until after Aunt Frankie's death, when {243} { 244 } IF YOU VALUE FREEDOM, SEEK JUSTICE he sent it to her and Uncle Ben's daughter, my cousin Deb. I saw it when Deb, touched by Mr. Remington's deep respect for her father, passed it on to my sister. Anyone who knewBen,knewwhat a fine person he was, but manyprobably never recognized what a wonderfully skilled attorney he was. Ben always gave the impression, I thought, of the wilyold country lawyer who was not quite up to speed on the issue at hand, yet nothing could have been further from the truth. He loved the law,relished it, studied it, understood the value of preparation, and never,ever,as far as I knew,did anything halfway.... In addition to his other fine qualities, Benwasthe most honest and compassionate individual I haveever known—in or out of the legal profession. It is an honor and a privilege to haveknown him There is no person, aside from my parents, who has had a greater impact on mylife and thought—no one I respected more than BenWright—he wasa friend, a mentor, and a guiding light. There is no wayI canever live up to the standard he set, but I can certainly love and appreciate the Standard Bearer.Ben will live forever in the hearts of those who knewand loved him and, in the long run, that is all anyone can ask. Born in 1920, Benjamin Franklin Wright, my namesake uncle, also had a namesake: Old Ben, his paternal IF YOU VALUE FREEDOM, SEEK JUSTICE { 245 } grandfather, who had been born Up East in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, in 1846.Uncle Ben,the baby of the family, was a jovial and bright youngster with energy to burn. Uncle Benand his first cousin Ebenezer LloydLewis grew up as best buddies. While stories about their youthful pursuits abound, one involvesTommyDick as an unwitting informant. As a grade-schooler, Tommy Dick routinely came home for lunch and returned for the afternoon session. One day he loitered about until Grandma asked if it wasn't time for him to get back to school. "Oh, I want to stick around and see what Ben and Eben are going to do." "What do you mean?" "Well, when I was coming home, I saw them jump out of one of the high school windows. So, I thought I would wait to see if they came here." With that knowledge, Grandma told Tommy Dick to hightail it back to school that minute. She hurried through the alley to her sister's house where theyfound the two truants, happily occupying themselves in the garage. The sisters escorted their two rascals back to school and had a good laugh about it on the wayhome. In high school, Uncle Ben excelled in literature and languages, and he acquitted himself honorably in pub- { 246 } IF YOU VALUE FREEDOM, SEEK JUSTICE lie speaking, becoming captain of the debate team, and—showing that the Wright pedigree extended all the way down to him—he carried his debate team to victory in the state championship. Following his oldest brother's path to college at nearby Waynesburg, he would soon make his own wayin life. On that fateful Sunday—December 7, 1941—when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Uncle Ben and Eben decided to enlist in the army together. Thinking that they could serve in the army side by side, just as they had lived their lives in Masontown, Eben and Uncle Ben drove that Sunday afternoon to the army recruiter's office in Uniontown, which was open, despite it being Sunday, because of the aggression on our Hawaiian Islands. Atdaybreakthe next morning, so the family story goes, when Uncle Lloyd and AuntSally were leaving their home in Waynesburgfor work,Uncle Ben was sitting on the curb with all of his belongings packed, waiting to hitch a ride with them...