interviewer: july 4, 1968, when his helicopter was shot down in the mekong delta. tell me about how you learned about his death. katherine: oh. well, i had not seen my parents in -- gosh. four years. and -- oh, this was an awful time. interviewer: i'm sure. katherine: that was almost the first thing that came over west's desk. as chief of staff. so, he had to wait until they acknowledged it, and then my older brother, who was class of '46, he was in washington. so, we flew down to fayetteville, where my parents were, and of course i had not seen my mother in, i guess, three or four years. and she was so happy to see me, and then i just shook my head -- interviewer: she did not know yet until you got there. that must've been difficult. katherine: well, and we drove around fayetteville because carolyn, my brother's wife lived there, and i didn't know where she lived, and my brother didn't either. we just had an idea. i said to van, we've got to tell his wife before we tell our parents. it seemed like the right thing to do. and we couldn't find her. it turned out she