Larry & Susan Sajec

Larry and Susan Sajec (Douglas County, Wisconsin)
Larry and Susan Sajec stood in front of the Douglas County newspaper clippings of fallen Vietnam soldiers, part of the Wisconsin Historical Society exhibit. They were talking quietly and pointing to a couple of the articles, reporting the deaths of their former high school classmates.

“Superior Central High School in Superior, Wisconsin, class of 1965,” Susan said proudly. “We were the last graduating class.” John Bozinski and Roy Edelstein graduated with the Sajec’s in 1965. Susan lived one block from Bozinski, who she described as tall, thin and very sweet. She remembered Edelstein as a tiny guy with a beautiful, deep-spoken voice. They were both killed in Vietnam, ages of 22 and 20, respectively. Robert “Bobby” Erickson graduated one class ahead. He was killed in Vietnam in 1967 at the age of 21.

“We used to listen to Elvis music together,” Susan said. “He was my brother’s best friend.”

Like the other young men from Superior Central High School, Larry was drafted at the age of 19. “You know… when you’re 19, you don’t think anything of it. You just go and do it,” Larry said.

Larry was drafted into the Marine Corps, a rare placing. He joked about the spiffy uniforms in the Marines and the irony of his truck company’s station at Red Beach, near DaNang where they were surrounded by white sand. It was there that he rose to the rank of Lance Corporal.

After completing his service, Larry returned to northern Wisconsin. “[Susan] hung around until after I came home and we ended up getting married,” Larry said of his wife.

More than 40 years after Larry was drafted, the Sajec’s attended LZ Lambeau with their three children. The family toured the grounds and attended the LZ Lambeau Tribute Ceremony on Saturday night. Sunday morning, Susan and Larry took a moment to remember their classmates and friends from Douglas County.

“The news reports said how many were killed every week, but they didn’t name anybody like they do now,” Susan said. “Nobody had a name, they were just statistics,” Susan explained.

“58,235 people were killed in Vietnam, that’s a lot of people,” Larry added quietly.

Written and Photographed by Lauren Knoche.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 30th, 2010 at 18:08 and is filed under Essays, Quotes, and Notes, L.Knoche and tagged with Lauren Knoche, LZ Lambeau, Wisconsin Public Television, Wisconsin Vietnam War Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.