On Memorial Day: Gaining Recognition for a Fallen Brother
Specialist William Gabrielsen who died on March 10, 1970, from injuries sustained during the Vietnam War. Gabrielsen’s name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 2014.
By Michael Papa
Sun contributor
In the early morning hours of August 12, 1968, Specialist William Gabrielsen and Lieutenant James O’Connor prepared for a reconnaissance mission to track enemy troop movements across the DMZ in North Vietnam. Recognizing there was no film drive in the infrared sensor camera, O’Connor sent Gabrielsen into the dark and driving rains of monsoon season. Within moments O’Connor heard a crashing sound. He jumped from the aircraft, and walked around the nose of the plane where he saw Gabrielsen lying on the ground bleeding from a deep gash in the back of his head. Gabrielsen had walked into a rotating propeller.
Gabrielsen—a native of Frankfort, Michigan—was treated at several Army hospitals before he wound up at the Veterans Hospital in Ann Arbor. Having never regained consciousness, he died on March 10, 1970.
What followed was a decades-long quest to have Gabrielsen’s name added to the roll of the honored fallen in Vietnam.
Discovering the Story
I was sitting with Bill Hollenbeck in a small coffee shop in Glen Arbor.
Two men in their late 70s approach. One had just returned from Vietnam to visit some of the places where he served during the war. They all shared stories of their service and how it shaped their youth. “I should go see if I can find some of my grandchildren,” one joked. “We all have tales to tell,” said Bill. I had never heard Bill talk about Vietnam before in the 14 years I knew him. I would soon find out why.
One week later in the same coffee shop Bill sits down across from me. He tells me of the 25-year process of fighting to add Gabrielsen’s name to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.—known as the “Wall.” “This is a story people need to hear,” I said. “I did nothing remarkable,” said Bill. “I just did what needed to be done.”
Bill Hollenbeck, also a native of Frankfort, enlisted in the Air Force and served in Vietnam from July 1970 to July 1971. He flew 161 combat missions as a crew member on a surveillance plane and was a recipient of a Distinguished Flying Cross Medal.
Bill’s Work to Add Gabrielsen’s name to the Wall
In his home office located on a country road in Leelanau County, Bill starts tapping away on a typewriter in 1988. In those early years of letter writing he would drive to the post office, and then wait weeks for a response. Starting in the late 1990s and onward he would sit at his computer sending e-mails, again often waiting weeks for responses because of the crawling pace of bureaucracy. Bill was a close friend of Ed Gabrielsen, the younger brother of William Gabrielsen. They played football together at Frankfort High School. Although he knew Ed’s older brother, they were not close friends.
Bill continued working for 25 years, writing Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senators, and contacting officials at the Defense Department, the Department of the Army, the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund, and various Veteran’s groups around the country.
Bill received a steady stream of rejections. Some of the reasons offered were:
“The injuries were not combat related,” said Col. Hoherz, U.S. Army. “He committed a thoughtless mistake,” and Gabrielsen’s family was pursuing, “a less then honorable course of appeal” by seeking outside assistance, said Phil Coleman, Senior Librarian of the Vietnam War Electronic Library. Most biting of all, Coleman said, “I do not believe it is Bill’s (Gabrielsen) desire to have his family agonizing over a few inches of granite.”
Despite these setbacks, Bill Hollenbeck pressed on. Explaining his motivation Hollenbeck said, “Imagine the long arm of the government comes, grabs your son, and you never see him again. Then you’re told his sacrifice isn’t enough.”
Breakthrough
Gabrielsen’s story and others begin to filter up through the Defense Department. Based on a discussion between Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Undersecretary David Chu, a Department of Defense Instruction (DODI) is issued clarifying the criteria by which a service member’s name may be added to the Wall. This DODI opened up the opportunity for Gabrielsen’s name to be added to the Wall. Commenting on the change in criteria, Chu explained: “This policy clarification was very much a tribute to the American public’s desire to recognize those who served.”
In 2013 Hollenbeck is put in touch with Jan Clay a program analyst working for the Army. Part of her job was working on cases to add names to the Wall. “She was a Godsend,” said Hollenbeck. Eventually, Gabrielsen’s case was reviewed by the Office of the Surgeon General. In October 2013 Hollenbeck received a letter from Mary Snavely-Dixon of the Department of Defense. She approved Hollenbeck’s request to add Gabrielsen’s name to the Wall. Writing to Jan Clay, Hollenbeck said, “I just received the official notification. I have to tell you that I literally sat down and sobbed.”
For 25 years Hollenbeck had ill feelings toward the memorial and refused to talk about his service in the war. “I now feel as if I have a light heart and truly want to embrace the memorial and all it stands for. As a Vietnam Veteran, it’s such a great feeling.”
Resolution for a Family
Hollenbeck takes a trip to Colorado to visit his best friend Ed Gabrielsen, brother of the fallen soldier. He had not told him of the news. They met at a diner outside of Boulder, Colorado. Hollenbeck slid the Department of the Army letter across the table. Ed put on his reading glasses and read as the tears dripped down his face falling on the letter.
On Sunday, May 11, 2014, Ed Gabrielsen, Bill Hollenbeck, and Jan Clay attended the ceremony at the Memorial Wall where Specialist William Gabrielsen’s name had been added to the Wall. They all hugged, overcome with emotion. Weeks later, in an e-mail message sent to friends Ed said, “Those of you who knew my brother knew his kind gentle spirit and would want this long overdue recognition for the ultimate sacrifice he made for our country. After all this time I can finally say, ‘Bill’s name is on the Wall’.”
