2 Recall Lonely, Gay Sailor Who ‘Came Out,’ Was Slain : Inquiry: O.C.-area friends who pushed Allen Schindler’s name to U.S. prominence suggest a cover-up by the Navy.

Valan Cain went to Sasebo, Japan, last year to entertain U.S. troops and vacationing Japanese who flock to the seaport for rest and relaxation.

Under contract for five months, the singer and dancer figured that his stint in Sasebo would provide him with plenty of good stories to tell back home in Irvine.

But the story Cain became embroiled in wasn’t at all what he had in mind--the brutal slaying last October of 22-year-old Seaman Allen R. Schindler.

Slashed and beaten beyond recognition Oct. 27 in a Sasebo public restroom, Schindler has, in death, become a central figure among advocates and opponents of the proposed lifting of the ban on gays in the military.

Cain was one of three gay entertainers--all from Southern California--who befriended Schindler in the last few days of his life, just a few weeks after he had “come out” to his commanding officer and word of his sexual orientation had spread throughout the Belleau Wood, an amphibious assault ship.

With Cain and the others, Schindler had finally found what he was so desperately seeking--fellow gays to whom he could entrust his most intimate thoughts, ranging from a crush he had on one of them, to his difficult life aboard the ship he had nicknamed the Helleau Wood.

“No one was gay around him,” Cain said. “We were his outlet. He attached himself to us every moment he could. We talked three or four hours a night. He was so hungry to be around people who would understand him.”

Five days after he had met the entertainers, Schindler was killed--his skull was crushed, all but two of his ribs broken, and his penis was lacerated. His head was repeatedly rammed into a porcelain and metal urinal, according to an autopsy report.

In the wake of the killing, the three entertainers are widely credited with pushing the Schindler slaying to national prominence.

After reading in a Sasebo newspaper that the U.S. Navy claimed the murder resulted from a “difference of opinion,” the men penned a letter to the military newspaper Pacific Stars and Stripes on Nov. 2, suggesting that the Navy was covering up a gay bashing.

Their letter unleashed a firestorm of controversy that is still flaring. By mid-December, the Navy acknowledged that Schindler’s sexual orientation might have been a factor in the attack.

“He could not be identified except for his tattoos,” said one of the three, Eric Underwood, an actor and model who lives in New York and Los Angeles. “I realized Allen was a victim of a hate crime. . . . This wasn’t something the Navy should sweep under the carpet. . . . He was a good guy. He would never do anything to warrant such a horrible, horrible end.”

The men signed the letter Acting Up in Japan, a reference to the AIDS activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power).

The Navy--which has arrested two of Schindler’s shipmates--said Thursday that the case is still under investigation and that gay bashing has not been ruled out as a motive.

Airman Apprentice Terry Helvey, 20, will face a murder trial, while Airman Charles A. Vins, 20, has been convicted for failing to report the attack and resisting arrest. The men were identified by eyewitnesses to the alleged murder.

“We are aware of the fact that Seaman Schindler was a homosexual, and we are looking into the aspect of homosexuality being a motive,” Lt. Cmdr. Betsy Bird said Thursday.

Rod Burton, 27, of Brea said he, Cain and Underwood wrote the letter “so Allen didn’t die in vain.”

Illustrating that many heterosexuals in the military already accept gays in their midst, the entertainers say they were introduced to Schindler by several straight sailors who were concerned about his welfare.

“They said, ‘We have a friend we want you to meet,’ ” Cain recalled. “They said he hadn’t probably talked to a lot of people who were gay in a while and probably would like the conversation and companionship.”

Cain and Schindler were then introduced outside Captain’s bar--a karaoke bar in Sasebo.

The entertainers said Sasebo didn’t have a gay bar.

Immediately, Schindler struck up a conversation with Cain, ecstatic that he was about to be discharged from the Navy because of his homosexuality.

“He hated the ship. . . . He called it a floating prison,” Cain said. “He was really, really looking forward to getting out.”

But Cain added that, unlike another gay sailor aboard the Belleau Wood whom Schindler didn’t know, he “never felt threatened. He never feared for his life.”

Schindler did tell the entertainers that shipmates sometimes used epithets.

“He said there would be times he’d be walking down the corridor and people would say, ‘Do you know there are faggots on this ship?’ as he was passing by,” Cain recalled. “He did say he felt lucky that he was not hurt . . . for being gay because he knew that other people had been.”

Schindler was transferred to the Belleau Wood in December, 1991, having served before on the aircraft carrier Midway. He had enjoyed serving on the Midway so much that he recommended it to his brother, who was considering enlisting in the Navy.

Once on board the Belleau Wood, Schindler heard a story that a young gay sailor had been burned after someone poured lighter fluid on him and lit it because of his sexual orientation.

The victim never reported the attack “because he didn’t want it to come out that he was gay,” Schindler told Cain.

Navy officials on Thursday could not confirm the alleged attack.

Schindler also told Cain and Underwood about the day he revealed his homosexuality to the commanding officer of the Belleau Wood, Capt. Douglas Bradt.

“It was tough for him to do that, but he knew he couldn’t bear that situation any longer,” Underwood said. “When he told him, Allen said, ‘If I can’t be who I am, then who am I?’ ”

Ironically, Underwood had danced for 3 1/2 years in “La Cage Aux Folles,” a Broadway musical about two men who raise a child. One of the men tells his son: “I am what I am.”

Schindler, who was scheduled for a discharge soon, told the entertainers that he maintained a low profile aboard ship but word was spreading that he was gay.

“He was never loud about it, but I think the wrong people got ahold of the information,” Cain said.

Schindler, who was from Chicago Heights, Ill., spoke to Cain mainly about the problems he had being a gay sailor. He shared more of his personal life and his aspirations for his post-military career with Underwood, the object of Schindler’s crush.

Schindler had fallen in love with a picture of Underwood that was being passed around a Sasebo bar one evening. When Schindler discovered that Underwood and Cain were friends, he begged Cain for an introduction.

“He was just enamored of Eric,” Cain said. “He thought Eric was this beautiful, beautiful guy.”

Underwood, who was laid up with a knee injury at the Fuji International Hotel in Sasebo, and Schindler quickly became friends, although Underwood had to explain that he was in a long-term relationship and was only interested in a platonic relationship.

The crush, Underwood now thinks, was a pleasant distraction for Schindler.

“For him, it was an escape,” Underwood said. “I think it was a good thing for him to think about something other than the struggle and the misery he was going through on the ship.”

Underwood was happy to indulge Schindler’s questions about show-business life. Though a bit embarrassed, he even agreed to sign one of his modeling pictures after Schindler asked for it.

“The first night, we mostly spoke about me,” Underwood said. “He was really fascinated because (my life) was so different from anything he’d ever come into contact with before.”

Over the next few evenings, Schindler shared more of himself--he showed Underwood his cartoon drawings, talked about the time he acknowledged his homosexuality to his mother, and shared photographs of a gay-pride parade.

“Allen was an easygoing, gentle, good guy,” Underwood said. “He had a certain zest for living. He wanted to find out what the rest of the world was like. . . . He was very curious. He had a lot to live for.”

Schindler showed “before and after” photos of himself to Underwood, taking pride in a recent weight loss of about 25 pounds. Underwood said Schindler looked “All American” and had “beautiful blue eyes.”

“The color of his eyes were like robin egg blue,” Underwood said. “Very pretty. I had never seen eyes that color before.”

On the second night, Schindler emptied a duffel bag’s worth of pictures and drawings. He showed Underwood his sketches of a Beta fighting fish and 10 or 15 photographs he had taken of floats at a gay-pride parade in Long Beach. And he told Underwood about the time he went to West Hollywood and tipped a go-go dancer there.

“He was thrilled,” Underwood said. “He was enjoying his homosexuality. It was like a big coming of age thing with him.”

But it caused him problems, too, and not just in the military. Schindler shared with Underwood some of the pain he felt when he had come out to his mother the year before.

“He said she didn’t really understand what it meant or what it was all about,” Underwood said. “She thought maybe he was joking.”

The Belleau Wood was getting ready to leave Sasebo and Schindler was reluctant to leave Underwood’s room, trying to stretch out the goodbys.

“I did hug him and said what a great guy he was,” Underwood said.

The next night, Schindler was killed.

Cain had gone to the public restroom where Schindler was slain and found blood all over the walls and inside the urinals. By the next day, someone had left a bouquet of flowers on the floor.

“You could see blood streaks almost to the top of the roof,” Cain said.

He called Underwood with the bad news.

“I was completely shocked when I found out,” Underwood said. “I cried for three days in a row, off and on. Knowing Allen and knowing what potential he had and how he was trying to get his life together and pick up the pieces after the military experience, I just knew it was such a great loss.”

Now a poster soldier of sorts--at least among gay activists--Schindler would be “thrilled” to know his death might help reverse the ban on gays in the military, Underwood said. He added:

“He wasn’t ashamed of who he was.”