A Beautiful and Sad Ghost Story
As told to Jo-Anne Christensen in the book Ghost Stories of Texas
Published in 2001
In 1969 an Alpine, Texas, woman named Jane Giddens received one of the most welcome messages of her life – from a ghost.
It was a hot July afternoon, and Jane had hung the ‘’closed’’ sign on the front door of her beauty salon early. She was tired and wanted to go home for a nap. Jane needed to rest her body and her mind, which had been consumed with worry about her son Butch, a sergeant with the 196 Light Infantry Division in Vietnam.
Butch’s wife had given birth to their first child, a daughter named Jamie Lynn, only weeks before. Still, he was not scheduled to return home until October. The fighting was particularly bad, and, in his letters, it became increasingly clear that Butch was beginning to doubt that he would make it back to his family. As Jane lay down on the couch to rest that Late July day, she was wishing that there was some way he could come home sooner.
As Jane slept, she began to dream that there was a party taking place in the house. Many people milled about, laughing and talking. None of them seemed to notice when the front door opened and a young man in army combat clothes walked in. He wore pants, boots and an ammunition filled vest. The fellow was deeply tanned, and Jane was struck by the contrast between his bronze skin and beautiful white teeth. He smiled at Jane and crossed the room to meet her.
‘’Did you know that Butch will be coming home the 20th of August?’’ the young man whispered the words directly in Jane’s ear. She woke immediately filled with joy and great confidence that her dream would come true.
Jane was so certain that the message was real that she told everyone she knew about it. She called Butch’s young wife, Janice: she told her customers at the salon: she even shared her story with butch, the next time she wrote to him. when he replied, it was in a brief note dated August 21st.
I’ll be home soon, he wrote. They picked me up out of the battlefield on August 20th, saying I had orders to go home. your dream came true, thank God!
Butch’s orders were the result of a clerical error, which was discovered by the time he had reached Da Nang. When he showed Jane’s letter to the superstitious officer in charge, however, the man decided to let the order stand. By September 3rd Butch was back on Texas soil. The family reunion was absolutely joyous. Butch was at last able to hold his tiny baby girl and spend time visiting with each of his loved ones. Jane, grateful to be with her son, listened to every word of his stories and when he brought out photos that he had taken in Vietnam, she examined each one of them, one in particular took her breath away.
‘’ That’s the boy from my dream,’’ she explained, pointing to a tanned young soldier with a brilliant smile. Butch looked at the picture and grew pale. That was Wendell, he explained. He was a friend and a fellow tank commander. Because of the dangerous landmines that they faced every day, the two would take turns leading the tank column. There had been only one occasion when they didn’t adhere to this arrangement.
It was the day after I got the news that Jamie had arrived, said Butch. I was scheduled to leave that day but, but Wendell insisted on going first. He said you’ve got something to go home for now with the new baby.
It was a generous favor that cost the young Soldier his life. Wendell’s tank exploded a mine that day, and he was killed along with two of Butch’s other Army buddies. The young man had sacrificed himself. It may have been the ultimate Act of friendship, but it was not his last. Wendell’s final kind gesture took place the day his Spirit visited Jane, easing her mind with the good news of her son’s safe and imminent return.
RIP Butch’s buddies Thomas and Wendell
Thomas Barr 5/12/1969 home Anchorage Arkansas 4/31 HHC
Wendell Westin 5/12/1969 home Warren Vermont 4/31 HHC
Willian Scott 5/12/1969 Jacksonville North Carolina 4/31 HHC
Preston Tribble 5/12/1969 Atlanta Georgia ( not sure)
