News-Info-Alerts

Re: DNA Identifies Vietnam MIA

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: July 09, 2002

"DNA sample proves body is of Barstow man lost in Vietnam
By Chuck Mueller
Staff Writer

The remains of Eugene F. Christiansen, a soldier from Barstow who has been missing in action since 1969 during the Vietnam War, have been identified through DNA sampling, family members said Friday.

A granite monument was erected in Barstow in his honor in 1990 when local Vietnam War veterans and civic leaders dedicated the Eugene Christiansen Memorial Plaza.

"You are not forgotten," declares a tribute on the bronze plaque fronting a granite stone at Main Street and Third Avenue.

With the recovery and identification of his remains, Christiansen's family plans a memorial service June 25 at Eagle Point Cemetery in southern Oregon, said Susan Christiansen, his sister-in-law.

Barstow-area Vietnam War veterans also want to conduct a service at the downtown Barstow plaza the same day, said Jack Brumit, past president of the veterans group.

"It is very fitting for this young man to be honored once again upon the return of his remains," Brumit said.

Christiansen, born Feb. 16, 1949, grew up in Barstow and graduated from Kennedy High School in 1966.

"He was the sixth of nine sons and one daughter and loved to spend free time riding a motorcycle in the desert," said Susan Christiansen, a former Barstow resident who lives in Gold Hill, Ore., near Medford.

"He entered the Army after learning that his older brother, David, had been drafted and was being sent to Vietnam," she said. "Eugene volunteered to take my husband's place. Our whole family tried to talk him out of it, but Eugene insisted that his brother should be with his wife.

"David and Eugene served together in different parts of Vietnam for a short time David near Saigon and Eugene at the American base at Da Nang."

Susan Christiansen said her husband visited Eugene before coming home in October 1968.

"He was the last family member to see Eugene, who was listed as missing on Feb. 16, 1969," she said.

Eugene was listed as MIA on his 20th birthday.

According to a report from the Army, Eugene Christiansen was a door gunner aboard a UH-1H Huey helicopter with six other men on a supply mission.

The helicopter's pilot, 1st Lt. David Padgett, radioed his base that he was returning due to poor weather conditions. But the helicopter never arrived, and a seven-day search was fruitless.

"For many years we anguished, hoping hoped Eugene was alive and perhaps was a prisoner," Susan Christiansen said. "After the Vietnam War ended and the United States was allowed to search for MIAs, the wreckage of the helicopter was found" a few years ago.

"It took a long time to sift through the wreckage and to conduct DNA sampling," she said. "All of the remains and personal effects were identified and were taken to Hawaii."

Last year, the Army was making plans to conduct a possible group burial at Arlington National Cemetery for the men who died aboard the helicopter. But the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 changed those plans.

Meanwhile, David and Susan Christiansen had four children.

"We planned to name our fourth one Eugene if it was a boy," Susan Christiansen said. "It was a girl, however, and we named her Eugena."

She said the four children have deep respect for their uncle, who went to war so their father could return home early.

"I've told my children that they owe their lives to Eugene," Susan Christiansen said. "If it wasn't for him, my husband might have died in Vietnam."

Chuck Mueller can be reached at (909) 889-9666.
Copyright © 2002 Los Angeles Daily News"