Gold Star family member and Minden resident Jeff Evans tells this year’s audience at the March 29 Vietnam War Veterans Remembrance Day of his father, uncle and brother who died in combat.
Two men, two different paths in life.
Minden resident Jeff Evans and Col. Jackson Doan, commanding officer of the Marines’ Mountain Warfare Training Center north of Bridgeport, California, were among the speakers at this year’s annual Vietnam War Remembrance Day Ceremony at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno.
On the anniversary when combat troops left South Vietnam to return home to the United States and the North Vietnamese government released prisoners of war on March 29, 1973, the local remembrance day focused on the theme of “Honor and Sacrifice” and what it meant to each speaker.
In addition to Evans and Doan, other speakers included Brig. Gen D. Rodger “Dan” Waters Nevada’s adjutant general; retired Brig. Gen. Michael Peyerl, TMCC’s vice president of Finance and Government Relations; and Dr. Spring Melody Myers, community engagement coordination of the Veterans Administration in Reno.
J.R. Stafford, president of the Sierra Nevada Chapter 989 Vietnam Veterans of America, and his wife Brigette began the first local remembrance day in 2019 that featured retired Brig. Gen. Robert Hayes as their keynote speaker. For the past six years, the national VVA has stressed the mantra of “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
“We reaffirm out remembrance of those who have served and remember the Gold Star families who suffered the losses,” Stafford said.
Evans is one such individual who has suffered the pains of war as a Gold Star family member, one who has lost a loved one in service to their country. Evans said being a Gold Star family member is “is a club you don't want to belong to.”
Members of the Patriot Guard Riders placed wreaths to honor veterans at the March 29 Vietnam War Veterans Remembrance Day.
Steve Ranson / Nevada News Group
“My family has made the ultimate sacrifice three times,” Evans said. “I am proud of my family and our service and sacrifice.”
Evans’ father died in Vietnam as did an uncle. His brother died in Iraq a generation later.
On Oct. 24, 1968, his uncle Spec. 4 David Evans, a 19-year-old door gunner with the Army’s 117trh Assault Helicopter Company, was killed in Long An province while on a rescue mission taking special operations soldiers back to Bien Hoa.
“The helicopter was shot down, and as solders ran into the jungle, my uncle stayed on the helicopter with the machine gun providing cover fire,” Evans said. “My uncle was shot and killed. He was 19 years old, the average age of those killed.”
Norman Evans, Jeff’s father, died two years after his brother on a reconnaissance mission with the 156th Aviation Company. He said his father and three other soldiers were killed when a South Vietnamese helicopter collided with the smaller aircraft.
“Dad was 23 (years old), mom was 23. I was 2. Dad had only three weeks on his second tour before he was able to come home,” Evans said.
Evans said his father and uncle were among 31 pairs of brothers who were killed in Vietnam. A brother, David Evans, enlisted in the Army because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. He died shy of his 42nd birthday from his injuries after an IED exploded in Iraq.
To gain closure, Evans and his family took what he called the trip of his lifetime. They traveled to Vietnam where they visited the locations where his father and uncle died.
Doan, who is midway through his command at the MWTC, escaped Saigon aboard a helicopter with his brother, sister, mother and father on April 30, 1975.
“I was a little refugee who had no idea what was going on,” he said, realizing he wasn’t returning to Vietnam again.
When they were evacuated from the top of the U.S. Embassy, they wore the clothes on their backs plus some garments they carried aboard the helicopter.
Looking back, Doan said still thanks the Americans and their allies who fought to keep South Vietnam free.
“There are so many who died for you, so many who put their lives on the line,” he said.
Once they left Saigon and flew to Guam and eventually to southern California as refugees, Doan’s mother later told her children when they were older to do something with their lives. The children excelled in school, and Doan graduated from high school and attended and graduated from the University of California.
Unsatisfied with an engineering position, he wanted to give back to the soldiers and Marines who fought in Vietnam.
“So, I go and joined the Marines,” said Doan, who received his commission as a second lieutenant after attending officer candidate school.
His anguished mother expressed her unhappiness with her son enlisting.
“They are a fierce group of men. You will die,” he remembers his mother saying. She cried for days.
So far during his military career, he has deployed to combat areas in Afghanistan and Iraq eight times.
“In Vietnam, they (the army and Marines) put down their lives for me. The only thing I can do is to continue to serve and honor their legacy,” he explained.
Looking back at the events a half century ago, Doan thanked what the United States did for his family by giving them the opportunity to succeed.
Now, as a Marine colonel, he still carries that thought of helping others.
J.R. Stafford, president of the Sierra Nevada Chapter 989 of the Vietnam Veterans of America, delivers the opening remarks at the March 29 Vietnam War Veterans Remembrance Day. From left are Brig. Gen. Daniel Waters, Brig. Gen. Michael Peyerl, Col. Jackson Doan, commanding officer of the Marines Mountain Warfare Training Center, Dr. Spring Melody Myers and Jeff Evans.
Steve Ranson / Nevada News Group
“We always put ourselves in a position that wherever we walk, we take of others,” Doan added.
On the other hand, Myers told her story of sacrifice and serving during her 21-year career that saw he rise through the enlisted ranks to become an officer. She enlisted in the Air Force after struggling to complete three years of college.
“Evidently, they did not give you a degree for three years of partying,” she said, drawing some laughter from the audiences.
Myers completed her basic training at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas, and instead of being assigned to a base in the continental U.S. like she wished, she was sent to an air base at Incirlik Air Base, a joint Turkish/United States installation. While at Incirlik, she gave birth to a child.
Eventually, she left the military and received her college degree, but as her daughter became older, Myers decided to return to the military by attending Officer Candidate School where she received her commission.
During her career, she also served in Germany, Japan, Guam, South Korea and in Iraq on a with a combat tour.
Yet, it was a tragedy that put life into perspective for Myers when her mentor, flight doctor Col. Carl Martin, died with five others after their B-52 crashed into the Pacific Ocean after taking off from Guam's Andersen Air Force Base.
Two other speakers, Waters and Peyerl, gave their accounts of honor and sacrifice. Waters read a proclamation from Gov. Joe Lombardo that recognizes the dedication of service for those who came before the current members of the armed forces and those who are serving and will serve.
“We focus our thoughts and prayers on the families of the 58,000 individuals who served our country and never returned home,” Lombardo’s proclamation stated.
Peyerl, who retired as a brigadier general with the Nevada Army National Guard, said service to the country is important to him by protecting the freedoms and values afforded to the country’s residents. He had a grandfather who served in the European theater during World War II on a B-29 Liberator. The Germans shot down the plane which was on a bombing mission over Austria.
“I never got the opportunity to know him and never did my father,” said Peyerl, who grew up in Fallon and attended the University of Nevada, Reno.
Peyerl said he has several documents from his grandfather’s service which he keeps in a place to honor and remember. He displays the documents because they remind him of the call of duty.
Peyerl’s father served for 23 years in the Navy, and his mother spent six years, also in the same military branch.
During his military career, Peyerl deployed to Afghanistan in 2011-2012.
Prior to the speakers, the Patriot Guard Riders placed wreaths for the Gold Star families, veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Vietnam War and to all veterans. Veteran Outreach tables were available for attendees to talk to individuals or pick up brochures or other information.
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Col. Jackson Doan, commanding officer of the Marines Mountain Warfare Training Center, delivers the keynote speech at this year’s Vietnam War Veterans Remembrance Day on March 29.
Steve Ranson / Nevada News Group