‘I’m No Senator’s Son’: Hen Hud Alumni Memorialize Fallen Classmates

By Nora Lowe

Brian Russell, Hendrick Hudson High School Class of 1968, was killed in the Vietnam War. Now, two of his high school classmates Bruce Fulgum (1967) and Guy Van Benschoten (1970), are embarking on a project to make sure his memory and those of others aren’t lost as well.

They are fundraising to construct memorial benches for their fallen schoolmates at Steamboat Park in Verplanck.

The benches will be dedicated to five Hen Hud students who were killed in action during the Vietnam War: Henry Bethea (Class of ’67, Army), Frank Guichaud (’65, Navy), Patrick McGuire (‘66, Navy), Douglas Mowbray (’64, Navy) and Russell (’68, Army).

A few years ago, Fulgum, a restaurant owner and bus driver, raised money for Bethea’s headstone in the Montrose Sunset Cemetery, something he had wanted to do for nearly 50 years. Bethea, who was a foster child, was Fulgum’s best friend.

“I’ve always tried to keep his memory alive because there really was no one to keep his memory alive,” Fulgum reflected.

Fundraising for the headstone yielded excess funds, which he then used to erect a memorial bench at Steamboat Park.

“One day I saw that there was a bench dedicated to a West Point cadet that had passed away in a helicopter accident, and I thought that this would be the perfect spot for a bench for Henry,” Fulgum recalled.

The ceremony for Bethea’s bench was so successful, with emergency services personnel and community members in attendance, that he decided to raise additional funds to install benches for Guichaud, McGuire, Mowbra and Russell. That’s when Fulgum teamed up with Van Benschoten.

Together, they reached out to Sean Murray, president of the William J. Boyle American Legion Post, which agreed to receive donations for the Memorial Bench Project. The pair hope to raise $8,500, and are currently about halfway to their goal, aiming to install the benches on Veterans Day this year.

Van Benschoten, who retired as an assistant fire chief in 2016 after serving 41 years as a professional firefighter in Ithaca, was classmates with Russell.

“We rode the same school bus together back in the day,” he said. “I can still picture him getting on the bus.”
Van Benschoten’s draft number was high enough that he wasn’t called like Russell was. Fulgum also counts himself lucky.

“I went to college, and these guys went to Vietnam. It didn’t seem very fair,” Fulgum said.

He hopes the memorial benches will serve as a spot for “quiet reflection,” a place to “think about their commitment; young high school graduates, in their prime of life, who gave their life.”

Fulgum said he thinks of it as a way “to memorialize their names permanently for posterity.” Keeping the stories of these fallen soldiers alive is the primary purpose behind the project, he said.

One such story was shared with The Examiner by Russell’s brother, Mike. He recounted Brian’s first deployment to Vietnam.

“Him and his squad got off a helicopter and were immediately ambushed…Brian was severely wounded; he had a hole in his chest from the explosion.”

Brian survived by pretending to be dead, “laying on the ground with his eyes wide open.” The rest of his squad were killed by bayonet, but Brian was spared by his ingenuity. He feigned death while “they (the guerrilla soldiers) took off his Hendrick Hudson High School ring.” They even opened his mouth to see if he had gold teeth.

He was medivacked to Japan shortly after, seriously wounded, but alive. After returning to the U.S. and recuperating, he was transferred to Fort Worth, Texas, where he struggled with infections before receiving orders to return to Vietnam, orders that Mike later discovered violated numerous regulations. Mike tried to persuade him not to go, but Brian believed that staying behind would jeopardize his dreams of becoming a state trooper. So he went back to Vietnam, where he was killed.

Hendrick Hudson is part of a small, working-class community and the stories of these fallen soldiers reflect that.
“The blue-collar kids. Those are the ones who fight the wars and die,” said Mike Russell, who served in the Navy Honor Guard. “As the Creedence Clearwater Revival (song) says, ‘I’m no senator’s son.’”

Brian earned a Purple Heart, but Mike notes that’s not the whole story.

“I want people to know what kind of person Brian was,” he said. “I want people to know how heroic my brother was.”
One of Brian’s high school friends even named his son after Brian.

Mike said “nothing could please me more” than having the benches installed. Memorializing his brother and others will preserve their story.

“And it’s a hell of a story.”

Anyone interested in donating to the project can make their check payable to the William J. Boyle American Legion Post and send to P.O. Box 726, Verplanck, N.Y. 10586. Please include Memorial Bench Project in the memo.