Vietnam vet meets family of hero who saved him

By PAUL LEIGHTON

Staff writer

BEVERLY -- The last time Stephen Walker saw a member of the Doane family, he was lying pinned down by enemy fire.

Lt. Stephen Doane saved Walker's life that day and sacrificed his own in the process.  Thirty-four years later, Walker met Doane's parents for the first time at the annual dinner/dance held by the Beverly Vietnam Veterans.

"It's really been overwhelming," Walker said Saturday night at the Vittory-Rocci Post on Brimbal Avenue.  "It's really hard to explain the deep feelings of meeting the Doanes."

The meeting between Walker and the Doanes was arranged by the Beverly Vietnam Veterans and its commander, Bob Gilbert.  Stephen Doane, who was born in Beverly, saved the life of Walker and two other soldiers on March 25, 1969.

As the three other men lay wounded, Doane attacked two enemy bunkers, killing or wounding the enemy soldiers in the first bunker.  In the process, he was severely wounded by grenade and AK-47 fire.  Then he pulled the pin of his own grenade, crawled into the second enemy bunker, and killed everybody in it, including himself.

His deed allowed the three wounded U.S. soldiers to be pulled to safety.

Doane was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the country's highest award for valor.  Plus, his name has always been remembered in Beverly - the local Vietnam vets named their post after him - even though he only lived here for six months after being born at Beverly Hospital.

But not until Saturday night had Walker met the parents of the man who saved his life.  Walker and his wife, Sharyn, flew in from their home in Arizona.  David and Marjorie Doane traveled from Tennessee.  They were joined by their daughter, Leslie Doane of Virginia, and their granddaughter, Barbara Doane of Dover, N.H.

The two families did not meet until Gilbert introduced them in front of the 300 people at the dinner/dance.  Walker, wearing his dress blue Army uniform, walked with his wife down the center aisle to the front of the hall, where the four Doane family members stood.  Doan's father, a doctor and retired Army colonel who is 81, also wore his dress blue uniform.

The two families exchanged hugs and handshakes as the crowd stood and applauded.  Later, Marjorie Doane called the moment "hard" and "emotional."

"But it was nice that we had the opportunity to meet them and know them," she said of the Walkers.  "He seems like such a nice young man."

Even though Walker is 53 and balding, Mrs. Doane said she couldn't help but refer to him as a "young man."

"I kept expecting him to be 21 years old, like Stephen was," she said.

David Doane said he was mostly worried about "what kind of man" Walker would be.  Walker stayed in Vietnam after Doane saved his life, and two months later he lost his left arm after being shot six times in the heart, back and arm.

"I wondered if he would be angry or bitter," David Doane said.  "But he seems like a very fine individual."

The Doanes noted their family's long history of military service, from Stephen's great-great grandfather fighting in the Civil War to their grandson now serving on a nuclear submarine during the Iraq war.  "We don't know where he is," Marjorie Doane said.

In his remarks to the crowd, David Doane said he never second-guessed his son for giving up his life to save others.

"We know his decision came from his sense of values and his sense of honor," he said.  "I'm not sorry he made the decision.  I'm sorry he was killed."

The Doanes and Walkers sat at the same table and ate dinner together.  Afterward, they planned to go downstairs to a private room to talk more about Stephen Doane, and in particular the time Walker spent with him in Vietnam from January to March of 1969.

"Steve is going to be able to share the last three months of our son's life that we didn't know about," David Doane said.