Where There's A Will...

By Lt. K. Carlson, Seoul, South Korea

(originally printed January 16, 1972 in American GI)

They were going home. After twelve interminable months, they were going home. Or at least the survivors were going home. The men just kept repeating it to themselves, they were going home, as I keep repeating it in this column, they were going home. This is the story of a group of men who came to Viet Nam together, some of whom are going home together.

The phrase seems so innocent, going home; people say it all the time. They're going home from work, from school, from dinner out on the town. Yet for most of the men from Echo Company, it was an anthem - they were going home.

To these men going home doesn't mean the end of the day or a social occasion. It means the end of fighting an enemy they could not see. It means the end of sleeping for only two or three hours at a time. It means the end of getting diseases doctors could not name, let alone cure. It means not seeing friends die.

Far too many men from Echo Company have gone home early. Too many went home early missing an arm, a leg, their sight, their hearing, or their sanity. Too many went home in a green body bag, with a cold, cruel number stenciled to a tag tied to their toe - or whatever remained in a piece large enough to identify.

These men first met each other just over a year ago at Fort Bragg, where they went through boot camp together. Some had volunteered, others had been drafted. They were young, idealistic, and ready to do their duty for their country. After six weeks of boot camp they didn't think there was anything they couldn't handle.

They discovered they were wrong. Nothing could prepare them for fighting in Vietnam, where most of the countryside is jungle, and most of the people they were supposed to be fighting for actually hated them. Nothing could prepare them for Hell. Nothing could prepare them for the shortages of food, toilet paper, medicine, clothes, sleep, everything except ammunition and death.

The men of Echo Company are no longer young or idealistic or sure that they can handle anything life may hand them. However, they are sure that they will be going home, leaving behind a nightmare that can only be experienced, a warped reality that can't be imagined.

I asked some of them what they planned on doing when they got back to the States. Most of them had to stop and think very hard. To a man, they told me how alien life outside of the rice paddies now seemed. However, they were going home.

Chris Blackford said, "I'm going to play with my kids, and then I'm going to take my wife to bed and sleep for a week."

"I'm going to grow a beard, check into the most expensive hotel in Chicago and sleep and eat for a month," grinned Sam Foster.

Tyler Calhoun told us he was going to find an NFL scout and show him just how fast Nam had taught him to run.

"I'm going back to New York and drink champagne, eat caviar, and romance as many women as I can," bragged Dane Enfield.

As in any war, not everybody will be going home. Listed below are the names of some of the men from Echo Company who will not be going home:

Matt Allens
Roger Burke
Lt. John Carruthers
Sgt. Leroy Johnson
Tom Latton
Jim Mathewson
Peter Owens
Lt. Wayne Tolliver
Mark Vizzano

They may not be going home, but they will be remembered by their families, and by their friends from Echo Company.

By Charles McCutcheon Driving up to the Carruthers' mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, you see the kind of elegance that only an old Victorian estate can display. Large, well main tained grounds, gingerbread woodwork, and a porch larger than many houses. Some things just never change, and they shouldn't!

Inside, you are led to the large dark mahogany paneled study. The room is filled to the brim with books, pictures, plaques, papers, paintings, sculptures, and other exquisite works of art. The room isn't really messy, but it is clear that real work gets done here. You picture the owner working late, rather than in the traditional smoking jacket drinking sherry. That's just the way Millard Wilberforce Carruthers III is - not just some well-dressed gentleman, but also a smart businessman who works hard.

As we were shown in, he was hard at work. He must be very busy, the head of a large corporation - The Carruthers Group. "Yes," he agreed as he put down his papers to concentrate on me.

"It does keep me off of the streets." This after-hours work is something different, a little birthday surprise for his wife of many years, Emily Williams Carruthers. Somehow, he doesn't seem to trust our close family of readers to share in the secret.

"I know she suspects something - but it won't be this," he says with a twinkle in his eyes. The tycoon is also a dedicated family man. He has known Emily, "the love of my life," since they were children. Their families grew up together, sharing many of the same social circles. Despite this background, it is clear that they are not snobs.

Carruthers' father, Millard Jr., was moderately wealthy. He died in 1928, leaving Millard scattered blocks of stock. Millard's mother wanted Millard to attend college "to get a proper education," but he saw himself as the head of the household and Wall Street beckoned. Carruthers had very little experience with high finance, even though he had worked during the summers for his father in and around Wall Street. Not many of the financiers took him seriously, and not all of his early investments were sound. In 1929, he noticed strange signs in the market.

"Nobody really saw what was coming, but I saw signs that something was about to break. The market was going crazy, up and up! My father worked too hard for that money, and I had to take care of Mother. I reinvested in ways that I thought were more predictable. It was just common sense."

His common sense told him to rearrange his father's holdings, finally liquidating all of the stocks just a week be fore the Crash. His common sense meant that his fortune remained intact as nearly everyone else's dissipated.

Emily's father was the well-known Massachusetts politician Tyrone Williams. Williams did not do as well in the Crash. While he was not exactly left penniless, he became quite pleased at the prospect of a successful son-in-law. So pleased, in fact, that he gave his large Victorian summer mansion in Newport to Emily and Millard for their wedding present "to save it from the tax man and to keep it in the family." Carruthers was particularly delighted with the rumors that the mansion was haunted.

"I always liked a house with character. Emily said she was spooked at first by the mysterious happenings as a child, but she got used to them after several summers. I've done research to try to find out who these ghosts are, but we're not quite sure. Her father wasn't the original owner of the house. Rumor has it that the first owners were newlyweds who somehow died tragically. Although I've never seen the ghost, [his daughter] Phoebe has tried several seances to get in touch with them. So far we haven't had any luck."

For a honeymoon, the Carruthers' went on a long grand tour of the world, focusing on Europe and the Middle East. They bought artwork, tapestries, medieval manuscripts (including the famous Mallingham Hours, currently ensconced at Millard's Manhattan office), and other historical artifacts.

"I've always been a history buff. America is so young. Two hundred years is nothing compared to other countries. More importantly, if we don't pay attention to history, we will fall into the same traps others have before us."

Carruthers started The Carruthers Group in 1938. He began by investing in small businesses, and, finding them doing well, invested even more. Before long, he had gained a controlling interest in some of them. Fortunately, Carruthers had hired Calhoun Barclay as a high level manager. The two of them proved to be an unstoppable team.

After the US entered World War II, Millard made Calhoun a full partner and then went off to join the war effort in the US Army Corps of Engineers. Barclay, who couldn't fight because of polio, was up to the task.

"I had seen Europe less than ten years before," Millard explained. "All of the beautiful cities Emily and I loved so much. Bombed. Under siege. Many of the art treasures were lost, destroyed, or looted. It almost broke my heart."

He returned briefly after the War, only to go back to Europe to aid the reconstruction with The Carruthers Group resources.

"I couldn't believe the spirit of the Europeans after being bombed or occupied for so many years. Also, I felt that I had to help restore things to the wonderful way I remembered them. But, things were never the same as before that war..."

The Carruthers' raised four children - three daughters and one son. He refers to his wife Emily as "the only woman I could ever love." She is quite active in various community charities and being the wife of a successful businessman. It is quite clear that the two of them are still very much in love.

Strangely, only Daphne has shown much interest in their father's empire, and that has just occurred recently. Long ago, Millard recruited daughter Olivia's first husband, Nicholas Thornton III. Barclay's son Jeremiah has an executive position with the company. This causes Carruthers to joke that, until recently, he had "no nepotism!"

"My family prefers to spend my money, rather than help make it."

Eldest daughter Phoebe is the successful author of half a dozen well-received Gothic romance novels.

Daughter Daphne "ran off to join the circus," helping her husband, the "Amazing Winston" on stage with his magic act. Now in semi-retirement, Daphne has started working with her father.

"Finally, I get some help with the business," Millard chuckled.

Youngest daughter Olivia has already been married three times. "She's trying to get her inheritance early, in dowries," Millard joked.

Millard has several grandchildren to spoil, and admits hoping that one day some of them will join the business.

One of the tragedies of Carruthers' life was the untimely death of his son John in Viet Nam, less than a year ago. While Carruthers has had many difficulties in his life, he prefers to talk about the happier times. His son's death is an exception.

"No parent should ever go through the loss of a son in an undeclared war which we weren't even trying to win. We had no business there. I continue to work hard to prevent such catastrophes from happening again."

Millard Wilberforce Carruthers III has always been a pacifist (especially after seeing what happened to Europe in the war). The death of his only son has made him a peace activist. He has been selling or reorienting various parts of his profitable defense related industries.

"I find it very fulfilling," he explained, "to turn a company that was dealing with armaments and death into one that uses the same technologies for healing and life. There's plenty of profitable and ethical business to be had out there."

His employees are more loyal and supportive than one typically finds, even in the best run companies.

"Millard and Calhoun are great leaders. They're a team that forges their companies into a strong and enthusiastic team," said Arnold "Bud" Thorpe, Chief Executive Officer of Thorpe Aerospace. "We were going to go under before The Carruthers Group came along. They worked miracles."

"I thought I was going to be out on the street," remembered Luis Alvarez, now plant manager at Thorpe Aerospace. "My second son had just been born and I desperately needed to keep working. When Mr. Carruthers and Mr. Barclay came in, they promised that no one would be laid off. They retrained a lot of us. That gave me the incentive to go back to school at night, which they also paid for. That's how I came to this job. Loyal? I owe them for giving me so much opportunity. Of course we're loyal."

An unusual and interesting gentleman, one only wished that there were more like Millard Wilberforce Carruthers III around.

The alter-ego of the bitch we all love to hate from the steamy nighttime sudser The Nights are for Loving has written the story of her life to date. Ashley Ravenswood, the force behind soap vixen Bethany Haversham, has a life as interesting off-stage as her character on stage.

The book is a fascinating read, from her early years as Alice Redmond fighting her parents to see her lover, all the way to Hollywood and soap stardom, with its bittersweet rewards. Along the way, we meet her husband, the dashing Dr. Morgan Enfield, caught up in the demands of a flourishing medical career, the lover who never knew of the sons she'd carried until years after they were born.

Son Henry, known as "Hank," is a many-time decorated veteran fighter pilot, missing in Viet Nam for several agonizing months. Her other son, the "Wizard of Wall Street" Dane, is now serving time in prison for illegal financial manipulations. Not to be outdone, her daughter Eugenia, the only "legitimate" child in the family, continues a battle with drugs and alcohol. Each member of the family could fill an entire book with their story. The Days Are For Living weaves all of their tales into an incredible whole.

The book contains the expected juicy bits that everyone would expect from someone who has fashioned "Bethany Haversham" into a notable landmark in entertainment. There are the Hollywood incidents that never made the tabloids. There is an interesting explanation behind the coincidences that led to the tabloids' year-long blizzard of "headlines" about her supposed cancer. There are affairs, from the nameless "masked man" of Manhattan, to the well-known local socialite Kevin Schoolcraft.

The book goes on sale soon. To whet your appetites for a sure best-seller, here is an excerpt...

By Michelle Kimberly The West Wing of the Carruthers Mansion of Newport is about to have a major face-lift. This historical house, thought to be a haven for Prohibition rumrunners, was once owned by Massachusetts political "boss" Tyrone Williams, and is still rumored to be haunted by the ghosts of 19th century newlyweds. Its distinctive architecture stands out in a community filled with famous and infamous mansions.

"I wanted to see the little details of the West Wing restored to the way they were in the 1920s," said Millard Wilberforce Carruthers III, the patriarch of the family that lives in the mansion. "When we renovated that part of the mansion for the first time back in 1934, we modernized it. At the time, we didn't think we were losing anything. Now we know better."

"Besides," joked Mr. Carruthers, "we're still looking for the rumored cache of the rumrunners!" Tales of a set of hidden chambers used to store liquor during the Prohibition once brought a squad of Untouchables to the Estate. "We're pretty convinced that there aren't secret rooms. We've been looking for them for fifty years."

Renovation expert Matthew Chambers has been given the orders to spare no expenses to restore the oldest portion of the mansion. He's been poring over old photographs and blueprints for weeks already. When he hasn't been doing that, he's been in the libraries and other mansions of the area.

"We want to restore an era. It's a monumental task." Pieces are already coming together, from some unexpected places. A set of ornamental fixtures were discovered in Iceland. The original one-of-a-kind stair bannister was located in a bar in Boston.

"It's almost a shame," Chambers mused. "The West Wing has an ambience all its own. You can learn a lot about the flavor of the 1930s just by walking down the main hallway."

"It was a difficult decision," replied Carruthers. "But, when we open the wing again about Thanksgiving, we'll know it's all been worth it."

"We take the past for granted, covering it over and redoing it for our own purposes. I'm giving my children and grandchildren back the legacy of their past."

Sunday Scene has been given a chance to come back in November when the work is complete. Stay tuned!