PORTLAND, OREGON
November 10, 2000

KATU - Spirit of the Northwest

Vietnam veteran's daughter finds resolution through other vets

By Paul Linnman

She's now a regular visitor to the Oregon Vietnam Veteran's Memorial now, but several years ago, Stephanie Hanson was at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. when she was unexplainably overcome.

Given up for adoption at birth, she suddenly knew somehow, her birth dad's name was on the Wall. She felt deep down that her father died in that war. "It was absolute and I knew it in my heart to be true," she said.

Stephanie managed to locate her birth mother, who confirmed her father had been killed in action. A Navy medical corpsman, Gary Young of Portland, died in a helicopter crash in 1969. But Stephanie wanted to learn more.

She went to the Internet and through veteran's websites and asked for the information. The response she got was incredible. Thousands of vets, most of whom did not know her father but knew what he'd gone through, and wanted to share it with Stephanie.

Finally after two years, she was contacted by two men who had served with her dad. She then learned that he was very much like her. "And it's like seeing part of myself, and it healed a part that I never even knew needed to be healed."

She didn't stop there. Stephanie has since helped other veterans connect with the children of their fallen friends. Along the way, she met Ray Felle, also a former Navy corpsman, who's now made contact with the family of his best friend, who died in Vietnam.

Ray says sharing his memories of Young are important for helping his family heal. "And if we don't get this information out, it's going to be lost," said Ray.

If Stephanie Hanson hadn't searched for years, and been contacted by veterans who knew her dad, she would have never known that every day as she drove to work, she passed her father's grave.

Now she often stops, but knows the story can't end here. "These guys went there to do their best, and they came come. And it's time for us to learn what they went through, and to say thank you, and also, welcome home."