Lynn brothers help make a lasting tribute to fallen comrades in arms

LYNN – On a January day in 1968, two Marines from West Lynn took a few moments away from the terror and death of Vietnam to catch up and talk about old times. Then they hugged and John Evans lifted his hand as he walked away.”It wasn’t a ‘see you’ later wave, it was a ‘goodbye’ wave,” said Richard Donahue.Evans was killed on Feb. 2, 1968 when his Marine engineers unit came under heavy fire. He was 22 years old. Richard Donahue was 20.”I cried for days, it was tough. You just sucked it up and moved on,” Donahue said.On Saturday at noon, Donahue and his brother, Larry, a Vietnam Army veteran, will dedicate the corner of Curwin Circle and Holyoke Street to Evans and James J. Hazard, a West Lynner killed in Vietnam on May 20, 1970.Evans, Hazard and the Donahue brothers grew up on Curwin Circle playing cards and CYO ball. Evans and Dickie Donahue slept in the same bed when they stayed over at each other’s homes and Jim Hazard had a Sunday newspaper route in the neighborhood. All four, as well as Dickie and Larry’s brother, Ken, went to Vietnam.Richard Donahue was with the 3rd Marine Division when the Tet Offensive unfolded.”It was a terrible time. My unit was pinned down for 30 days. You were taking your life in your hands just climbing out of the foxhole.”Larry Donahue went to Vietnam in 1969 and served with the 1st Infantry. Hazard was the 1st Cavalry Division. He was killed on May 20, 1970 at the age of 20.”The last time I saw him I gave him a ride home. We said we’d get together in a couple of years but it didn’t happen,” Donahue recalled.In the years after Vietnam, the brothers talked about honoring their friends and comrades but it was a reunion last May with fellow Curwin Circle friends that galvanized their efforts to remember Evans and Hazard.Veterans Director Michael Sweeney and Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development employees helped the Donahues make arrangements for dedicating their childhood street corner.”You hear the words ‘supreme sacrifice’ but it really hits home as life moves on and you get to enjoy your grandchildren,” Larry Donahue said.For Sweeney, Saturday’s ceremony is a chance to make good on the commitment that defines his job.”This is something that shows when we say we’ll never forget veterans’ service, we’re not kidding.”