Woman finds cross country connection to late soldier father

April 29, 2005

By DON DARE
6 News Reporter

MARYVILLE (WATE) -- Although she never knew him, a Maryville woman is teaching her children about their grandfather, a Green Beret killed in Vietnam who later received a prestigious medal. And she found help from a man across the U.S.

On April 29, 1975 America's most controversial war was almost over. In the streets of Saigon, there was panic.

Early on April 30th, Marines at the U.S. Embassy departed the South Vietnam capitol. Hours later, North Vietnamese soldiers drove through the streets, right into the presidential palace. The war was over.

Suzette Donovan wants her children to learn about the father who was lost to her. First Lt. Eugene Majure was sent to Vietnam just months after Suzette was born in 1965.

"To be a Green Beret was a really special thing. You were an elite soldier," she tells her son, P.J., as they look at pictures of her dad.

Suzette has a picture with her in the center of her mother, father and two older brothers. The family photo is special to Suzette. She recently learned her dad proudly showed it off to his fellow Green Berets. "Just knowing that my dad had pictures of me in his wallet...I know that sounds trivial but it was a good thing."

The year 1966 was a bloody one for American soldiers in Vietnam. Thousands died, including Suzette's father. She was seven-months-old.

Now, P.J. reads about the bronze start posthumously awarded to his grandfather. "First Lt. Majure distinguished himself by valorous action on the 18th of August, 1966." With complete disregard to his unit, Majure left his own position to reorganize and rally the unit.

Suzette's father had been a special forces advisor to a South Vietnamese unit when it was overrun by the Viet Cong. "It was during this courageous action that Lt. Majure was fatally wounded," P.J. reads.

Suzette never knew much about the man she admired. His sudden death devastated her mother. "We weren't allowed to talk about him, which was really difficult. If we did talk about him, my mom would always cry. It just upset her."

The father Suzette never knew haunted her until she went to a virtualwall.org, a web site visited by Vietnam veterans. Appealing for information, she posted a picture of her dad and wrote a note that reads, "If it weren't for his courage and strength, my freedom, as well as the freedom of our country might be jeopardized. You are the strongest man I never knew."

Retired Army Maj. Lance Brewer, wrote back to Suzette. He knew her father. She even traveled to California, meeting with Brewer and his wife. "He made him seem real," she says. "He filled in the gaps. Everything I do now has more meaning."

An etching of her father's name traced at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington has a special spot in Suzette's heart. "There are over 58,000 names on that wall and every person that is on that wall, they are heroes and there's my dad."

Recently, 6 News called Brewer at his home in Palmdale, California. Meeting Suzette was special for him, too. "I don't know. I just felt very comfortable with her from the start. It filled a gap for me also. He had been on my mind ever since the war because he was the closest friend I had that was killed over there."

Thirty years later, the Vietnam war still affects people.