With renaming of Fort Benning, reporter recalls heartbreaking story of soldier killed in Vietnam

When she was a reporter for The Daily News in Batavia, Ginny Kropf wrote about Sgt. Jack Gell, a Rochester native. Gell was killed in the Vietnam War on November 14, 1965. His death was portrayed in a book and movie “We Were Soldiers Once and Young.” He was stationed at Fort Benning, which has just been renamed Fort Moore in honor of Gell’s commanding officer Lt. Col. Hal Moore and his wife Julia.

The other night just before Memorial Day I sat down to watch the national news and caught the end of a feature about the renaming of Fort Benning, Ga.

I heard the name Hal “Harold” Moore and the fact his widow had been horrified to learn spouses were being notified by telegram when their loved ones were killed in action, and she set out to do something about it. Because of her, loved ones are now notified in person, and for her efforts, Fort Benning on May 11 was officially renamed Fort Moore.

My story begins with my husband Al’s and my best friends Bob and Fran Eigenmann. They are both gone now, but the times we shared were priceless. One of those times was meeting Fran’s sister-in-law, Rebecca Gell Workentine, and her connection to Col. Hal Moore.

Fran and her brother Jack Gell grew up in Rochester. Fran and Bob had a cottage east of Shadigee for many years near Lyndonville. Jack has a nephew Togo DeBellis of Le Roy and a niece Linda Johnston of Batavia.

Jack joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Benning, Ga. He and Rebecca “Becky” had three children, the youngest of whom was a baby when Jack left for Vietnam. They were in the car to take Jack to the bus when he said he had forgotten something and went back in the house. On the bathroom mirror, he wrote “I’ll always love you, Beck,” with her lipstick. She still has that mirror and I wanted to cry when I saw it.

I had the pleasure of meeting Becky, her children and new husband John Workentine, whom she married nine and one-half years after Jack’s death.

Becky said she drove Jack to the bus and she cried so hard on the way that the stack of diapers on the front seat was soaked.

Jack was a member of the 1st Battalion, 7th Calvary, Alpha Company. On Nov. 14, 1965 they were in the Ia Drang Valley, which would become the bloodiest battle of the Vietnam war. Jack had volunteered to carry the radio for company captain Romano “Tony” Nadal.

I interviewed Tony by phone in March 2002 and he told me 400 American soldiers were surrounded by 2,000 Vietnamese troops. He had gathered his men in a creek to go look for a missing platoon. A round of machine gun fire burst out and Jack, who was on Tony’s left, became the battle’s first casualty. He was 24 years old. Two lieutenants on his right were also killed.

After the war, Lt. Col. Moore wrote a book with journalist Joseph L. Galloway, called “We Were Soldiers Once and Young.” Later, a movie “We Were Soldiers” was made, with Mel Gibson playing Moore and Barry Pepper playing Galloway. In the book, Jack’s death is described, and as he was dying, he whispered to a buddy kneeling by his side, “Tell my wife I love her.” Until the book came out in 1992, the family never knew Jack has uttered those words. Jack wore his baby daughter’s pacifier around his neck and locks of his two other children’s hair and family photos were in his wallet.

The entire family, including Fran and Bob, were invited to the launch of the book and to the set of the movie. They met Lt. Col. Moore on the set.

When I talked to Tony Nadal on the phone, I asked him what he thought of the movie. I still hear his reply.

“I really wasn’t prepared to see him die again. Seeing Jack Gell get killed is one of the worse memories of my life. It’s a burden I carry around.”

The news of Jack’s death reached Becky by Western Union. The employee arrived in a black car wearing a black suit. Becky told me as she sat in my living room it was very foreboding and her knees shook like jelly.

“I knew it was an ominous thing and I debated whether to open the door, but knew I had to,” she said.

She was trembling so much, she couldn’t hold the pen and the man signed for her.

Jack was the first soldier from Vietnam to be buried at Fort Benning and his funeral was on national television. CBS newsman Walter Cronkite asked Becky if she would be photographed meeting the train with Jack’s casket, but she declined.

I also had the honor of talking to Lt. Col. Moore on the phone and he said it was a superb movie and he was happy it dealt with the closeness between the soldiers and their families and the heartbreak on the home front.

“It captures the action of the soldiers fighting and dying for each other,” he said. “It shows their respect for the men and their capabilities.”

The renaming of Fort Benning pays tribute to Lt. Col. Moore and his wife Julia.

I have visited Fort Benning and Jack’s grave with Fran and Bob. I later learned Lt. Col. Moore also visited his men’s graves and wanted to be buried with them, but there were no plots. So Becky, who had a plot next to Jack, gave it up so Lt. Col. Moore could be cremated and buried there and, when the time comes, his wife with him.

“He will be with his men,” Becky told me.