California Vietnam War memorial to recognize locals among ‘Lost 74’

James Kerr grew up in Glendale in the ’50s and ’60s, delivering newspapers on his paper route, playing little league baseball and graduating from Hoover High School in the late 1960s.

But as an 18-year-old seaman apprentice in the U.S. Navy, Kerr never returned home after the ship he was stationed on, destroyer USS Frank E. Evans, was cut in half during a military training accident south of Vietnam in June of 1969.

At the time of the accident, when the Australian aircraft carrier, the HMAS Melbourne, cut the ship in half during a training exercise, the USS Evans had recently provided artillery support for ground troops in Vietnam before it joined many other naval vessels for the exercise.

In all, 74 of the 278 crew members aboard the ship perished as half the ship sank in less than three minutes off the south coast of Vietnam.

But for James Kerr and the 73 others who died, their names were never included in the Vietnam War Memorial at Washington, D.C. because the accident occurred outside combat lines.

But now there’s a new reason to include his name and the others: More than 20 names of the Californians who were among those who perished were recently added to the California state capitol’s Vietnam War memorial, after a years-long effort by family members of the “Lost 74” — as they are known — and survivors of the tragedy.

Fred Kerr, James Kerr’s younger brother of 15 months, and fellow Hoover graduate, said it was bittersweet seeing his brother’s name added to California’s memorial on March 29.

“The sweet part was that it will be there from now till the end times. That’s the good news. The bitter part is that it takes you back and reopens old wounds. At the time I was 17 years old,” Fred Kerr said, of his brother’s death, and now, he is the only one remaining of his family — his father, sister and mother have all passed away.

Still, for Fred Kerr, who lives in Atascadero with his wife Judy, with whom he grew up in Glendale, said the remaining challenge is getting his brother’s name added to the memorial in Washington, D.C., something he said that is waiting on approval from the U.S. defense secretary.

Each year, names are added to the country’s memorial in May, and Fred Kerr is hopeful his brother’s name, and those of the 73 others, including three brothers from Nebraska, will be added in 2016.

“I think it will be done,” he said, adding: “My brother was cheated as were the other 73. They were cheated out of the life they were living and the life they were going to live. That is the ultimate sacrifice… They put their lives on the line for us every day,” he said of service men and women. “Then when then they lose the life they had, [they lose] the one they never got to live.”

Glendale resident Randy Slaughter, who grew up in Dallas and joined the U.S. Navy, was 22 and stationed on the USS Kearsarge, a ship with a full hospital sent to retrieve survivors of the USS Evans. His ship later delivered the survivors to the Philippines.

Of the 74 men who died, only one body was recovered in the water, he said.

“When we went to the scene of where the front half of the Evans went down … I’ll just never forget looking at what was the Evans. We knew men had died,” Slaughter recalled.

A few years ago, he discovered a photo of the USS Evans and reached out to the survivors to give them a copy. Since then, he’s become a major supporter of the effort to get the 74 names added to the memorial in Washington, D.C. He was also present to see the 22 names of the Californians who died added to the state’s memorial.

“It was quite a day. I had to be there. When their names go on the wall in D.C., I will definitely be there,” Slaughter said, adding that he still enlists friends and supporters to write letters to congressional officials advocating for the addition of the 74 names.

“Every day, I try to think of some way... to get this done. It’s a passion of mine now. We just got to keep the pressure up,” he said.