Not in vain; War hero's parents to meet man their son saved

By PAUL LEIGHTON

Staff writer

BEVERLY -- Stephen Walker said March 25, 1969, started out "pretty much like any other day."

But since this was South Vietnam, in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by rice paddies, there was hardly any comfort in the prospect of a regular day.

Walker was a 19-year-old infantryman walking the point on a "sweep and destroy" mission in the HoBo Woods northwest of Saigon when the enemy began spraying machine gun fire from a bunker up ahead.

Walker and the two soldiers with him were hit. As they lay on the ground, trapped now by enemy fire from three locations, Walker saw two lieutenants moving from their position behind the fallen men and heading toward the enemy.

One of the lieutenants was from another platoon, and Walker didn't know his name. The other was his own platoon leader, and Walker recognized him right away. It was 1st Lt. Stephen Doane.

Walker is 53 years old now, retired and living in Arizona, but he doesn't even have to close his eyes to conjure up the image of what happened next.

Of how 1st Lt. Stephen Doane crawled his way to one enemy bunker, tossed in several grenades, and fired his M-16 into the hole. Of how a grenade thrown from the next bunker exploded near Doane. Of how the wounded Doane crawled to that bunker anyway and was hit by AK-47 fire.

And of how Doane pulled the pin of a grenade and threw himself into the bunker, destroying the enemy and allowing his three fellow soldiers to be pulled to safety.

A first meeting

That story will be told again on Saturday night when the Beverly Vietnam Veterans hold their annual dinner and dance at the Vittori-Rocci Post in Beverly. Walker and his wife will be there as invited guests. So will Doane's parents, David and Marjorie Doane.

For the first time, the family of Lt. Doane will meet one of the men whose lives were saved by their son.

"It's going to be a real emotional time," Walker said. "You don't always get to go full circle like this."

Stephen Doane spent only six months of his life in Beverly, but the city's Vietnam veterans have claimed him as one of their own. Their organization is called the Beverly Vietnam Veterans 1st Lt. Stephen H. Doane Post 1, and their Web site includes Doane's Congressional Medal of Honor citation and photos of him as a child and a young soldier.

Doane was born Oct. 13, 1947, in Beverly Hospital, where his father, who grew up in Swampscott, worked while attending Tufts Medical School. Stephen Doane graduated from the Tilton School in New Hampshire and spent one year at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania before he was drafted into the Army at the age of 19.

"He was a big kid," said his father, Dr. David Doane. "He wrestled heavyweight in college. He was 6-3, 210 pounds, without an ounce of fat. That's probably why he was a good Ranger. But he was very gentle. He was the oldest of our five children, and he was totally in charge.

"He was a lot of fun. I know I'm prejudiced, but he had no particular vices. He played football, he wrestled, he was in the band. He had an Austin-Healey car. He had a lot of girlfriends. He enjoyed life."

Taking care of his men

Doane was trained as an officer and a Ranger before heading off to Vietnam in January of 1969. "The last thing he said before getting on the plane was, 'Dad, I'm not going to come back a dead hero. I'm going to take care of my men,'" his father said.

Doane spent only three months in Vietnam but won seven medals for bravery. Two weeks before he died in the HoBo Woods, he had saved the life of another man, an act that later earned him the Silver Star.

David Doane is now 81, a retired U.S. Army colonel who lives with his wife on a 20-acre farm in Jonesboro, Tenn., where they raise thoroughbred horses. He watches the live coverage of the new war in Iraq and the interviews with the families of U.S. soldiers and says, "What people don't realize is that you never 100 percent get over it. It's a normal thing to bury your parents, not to bury your son."

David Doane has never spoken with any of his son's fellow soldiers. He said he is looking forward to meeting Walker this weekend in Beverly.

"I hope he's done well with his life," he said.

Wounded again

Walker stayed in Vietnam for two more months after Doane saved his life. On May 21, 1969, he was ambushed again, taking one bullet in the heart, four in the back and six in his left arm. He lost his arm and spent three weeks in Japan and 1 1/2 years in a hospital in San Francisco before returning home.

Walker said the soldier on his left was cut in two by the machine gun fire. The soldier on his right lost both legs and an arm but is still alive. "I'm just glad to be anywhere," he said.

Walker went on to work for General Electric, arranging corporate travel for NBC executives out of an office in Phoenix. He has been married to his wife, Sharyn, for 24 years and they have a 22-year-old daughter.

Walker was treated for post-traumatic stress syndrome after returning home from Vietnam and still sees a therapist once a week.

"I'm doing pretty good," he said. "It makes it tough with what's going on now (in Iraq)."

Walker said it took him awhile to put in perspective the events of that day when 1st Lt. Stephen Doane died to save the lives of his men.

"I was 19," Walker said. "I didn't think of how important or how great his actual actions were. Now I look back on it, if it wasn't for him, none of us would be here today."