A Guitar Named Hero

By Edna Peirce Dixon

September 20, 2024 – The rest of the story, July 3, 2025

Musicians do not always give their instruments names but when they do it’s because they have a special story to tell. In this case, Hero happens to be a 1962 Teisco Del Ray Model ET- 200 Guitar and the mysteries of his convoluted journey certainly beckon us to follow.

Hero’s story begins in 1976 when Jack and Edna Dixon and their children travelled from Texas to visit family in South Carolina. Always full of surprises, Aunt Matt took her young visitors to her storage shed filled with all kinds of interesting stuff and invited them to each pick out anything they’d like to have. Twelve-year-old Eric selected an electric Teisco Del Ray guitar in a black case with a red lining.

Back in Texas when Eric was unable to get any sound from the guitar, he removed the electronics thinking he might fix the problem. When that failed Eric returned the guitar to its case and moved on with being a kid. A few years later the family moved to Tennessee and for the next 45 years the guitar sat in the basement, the missing parts lost over time amid a child’s belongings.

Fast forward to 2019, when Eric’s mom, Edna and a man named Steven Walks On The Grass were introduced via email by a mutual friend. Steven’s late mother, Judi and Edna had the same maiden name so Edna did a little genealogy research and discovered that indeed they were distant cousins, sharing a common ancestor more than 300 years back. So from this link of kinship, a friendship grew and eventually even before they met in person, Edna and Steven would adopt one another as family.

Ever since he was a young man, Steven, had been a professional rock vocalist, poet and lyricist. Even before Edna actually heard Steven sing, she had been moved by the depth and intensity of his talents and the powerful language Steven used in his songs to evoke the deepest and darkest pain and human suffering even unto death. Steven had been away from his music for a few years, but after moving back to Illinois, he and his wife, Janice, enjoyed going out to open mic nights at local bars just to sing and jam with musicians in their community. Eventually they opened Wrekless Rabbit Studios a small recording studio and Steven began searching for like-minded musicians interested in developing an album of all-original music.

In early 2024, Steven and Janice made their first trip to Tennessee to meet Edna and family  face-to-face. Edna had heard about the amazing guitarists Steven was working with and felt this was the time for the old Teisco sitting in her basement to find a new home. Steven soon found someone with the skill and knowledge to find replacement parts to restore the old instrument. In the process of researching sources, some remarkable discoveries helped to trace the guitar’s history.

The manufacturer had been out of  business for years but existing records named the original buyers of custom-made instruments listed by serial numbers. What a discovery! This guitar was originally purchased as “made to order” in 1962 by a man named David Scott Greiling living in southern California. Finding David Scott Greiling, known as “Scotty” to his friends, suddenly brought a whole new meaning to the historical journey of the Teisco Del Ray guitar. There is no way of knowing how many times it may have changed hands before it showed up in South Carolina fourteen years later.

Several old documents told a bittersweet story: Scotty Greiling trained with the U.S. Navy in jet aircraft for carrier operations and received his master’s degree in Nuclear Science from the Navy post-graduate school at Monterey, California. We can only surmise Scotty’s musical tastes since his special order Teisco Guitar was specifically designed for surfer music. We also know that Scotty and his wife, Nancy were married on December 19, 1964 in Monterey, California.

Other military records for David Scott Greiling succinctly reveal the rest of the story:

• Promoted to Lt. Commander 1 Apr 1966.
• Deployed to Vietnam April 1968.
• Died on a combat mission 24 July 1968.
• Listed as MIA/POW and later KIA.
• Memorialized on Vietnam Vets Wall Panel 51 W.

 “When he shipped out to Vietnam,” his friend said, “He took with him his determination and idealism. He wanted to serve his country.”

https://www.virtualwall.org/dg/GreilingDS01a.htm  Comments from Shipmates and Military Families

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By September, 2024 Scotty’s guitar had been fully restored. “It might be a lowly rambler,” Steven said after hearing its magical riffs for the first time, “But it holds the power of all that it represents – the power that compels us to play music, the power of love that compels warriors to fight and die for their country.” Thus, in honor of America’s warriors, Steven gave the name, “Hero” to the lost pilot’s guitar.

Janice, herself a veteran of the Vietnam era, had been a volunteer Patriot Guard Rider for several years. She is keenly aware of the millions of stories that must never be forgotten. Together Steven and Janice determined that ultimately Hero must be placed in the hands of a worthy musician deserving of the honor.

About this same time, Tom Love, a young disabled veteran, had just started venturing out on open mic nights to enjoy listening and joining in jam sessions with the other musicians. Tom soon found new friends and none were more insightfully understanding than Steven and Janice when he began to share his story. Tom’s early years were difficult; some lived in a children’s home. Though he struggled in school Tom always had an ear for music and excelled in boxing and wrestling. After graduating high school, like many young men in his position, he enlisted in the military in 2009.

Tom soon found himself deployed to Iraq where he would serve in Operation Enduring Freedom. His story puts a real-life face on familiar wartime news reports and statistics. Tom and his buddies were travelling in a PLS HEMTT truck when the radio suddenly came alive. Tom leaned in, trying to understand the flurry of urgent messages. That’s when the mortar round hit the truck followed by a hail of small arms fire. Several of his friends were killed and Tom, scarcely more than a boy, survived with a prefrontal lobe brain injury…and a future lifetime of cognitive limitations and traumatic memories.

Twenty-five years later, Tom lives alone; every day facing his own struggles while humbly doing all he can to mentor other young men who lack focus and direction. Tom’s home is his haven complete with a baby grand piano and his guitars which he taught himself to play. Sometimes his friend Dylan Woods, a brilliant young blues guitarist, comes by and the two enjoy jamming together. “Music has the power to transform emotions,” Tom reflected, “Especially when played with other people.” 

Though he denies being a hero, to Steven and Janice and all the other musicians who have come to know him, Tom is the epitome of a courageous warrior. So on a June evening in 2025, Tom’s friends gathered with him at a local bar for a jam session. In a surprise ceremony, Steven presented Tom with the “Guitar Named Hero” in the black case with red lining. The music went on into the evening with Hero in the hands of a musician who is truly worthy to love, play and treasure all that he stands for.

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When Steven first learned the story of Scotty Greiling, his heart longed to sing out for the legions of warriors who came home from America’s wars only to be treated with utter contempt or ignored in the communities they returned home to. Many millions of young men having witnessed horrors of war that no mother’s son should ever see, have been denied adequate compensation, work opportunities and even access to the emotional and psychological support they so desperately needed. Even today, a large percentage of America’s homeless are forgotten veterans of America’s wars still suffering from PTSD, addictions and mental illness from the unspeakable violence of war.

Once inspired, suddenly there was this:

I’m Never Coming Home  © by Steven Walks On The Grass September 17, 2024