Beloved veteran from Hāna honored on Vietnam memorial after extraordinary efforts by survived family

Several years ago, a family came to Janna Hoehn, the president of Maui County Veterans Council, to ask for help. Their father—the late Captain Lawrence “Larry” Robert Oliveira—didn’t get killed in Vietnam, but died as a result of war wounds four years after being sent home to Hawaiʻi.

“It’s very difficult to get someone’s name on the wall that did not die in Vietnam,” said Hoehn, referring to the Vietnam Memorial Wall and The Wall That Heals, the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which prepares to depart Maui today.

It is not only rare to have a new name added, but because the names on the Wall are listed in chronological order by date of death, with the first (1956) and last (1975) meeting at the center of the memorial, it is challenging physically to fit new names between the existing ones, of which there are over 58,000.

Capt. Oliveira was omitted from the original inscriptions of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C., because, when the wall was erected in 1982, eight years after his death, the criteria was that the names were added only if the veteran died in Vietnam.

“We were told about how ‘many families spend years and years trying to do this’; ‘it’s not possible’; ‘it’s going to be an uphill battle’,” recalled Julie Oliveira-Payton, one of the five daughters survived by Capt. Lawrence Robert Oliveira.

Before their mother died, she had attempted to obtain medical records to get her late husband’s name added but had difficulty processing vital memories due to her age. “She always lived by the motto that ‘God always has a plan.’ And, boy was she right,” Julie said about her mother.

Starting around 2017, the five Oliveira sisters spent hours upon hours learning about military terms, DD-214s and discharge papers with the help of their uncles Tommy and Mel. It was their goal to get their father on the memorial.

“Week after week, month after month, uncle Tommy and uncle Mel would ask, ‘Any news yet?’ ‘Did you hear anything?’ ‘Did they make a decision?’ Like they had done for our dad in Officer Candidate School many years ago, they motivated us to keep going,” Julie said.

“We gathered volumes—over 200 pages—of our dad’s paperwork,” she said. “I work in a surgical specialty department and was able to have a top surgeon in Hawaiʻi review his autopsy reports. Judy [Oliveira] works with the Vietnam Veteran’s Associations and was able to ask them for guidance with who to contact. Momi [Oliveira’s] flight benefits allow her to fly for free and she was able to go with me to Washington D.C. to talk with the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund staff. Lisa [Oliveira] was able to provide all the vivid details of what happened during his multiple hospitalizations.  And, Laurielyn [Oliveira], who was only three months old at the time of his death, was our beacon of light and hope with her messages of faith and humorous texts. 

Two years later, the sisters had collected enough evidence not only to prove that their father died due to his war wounds, but also to justify that he belonged on the memorial.

As a result, their father, Cpt. Lawrence Robert Oliveira, was one of the three names added to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in 2020. Then, just months ago, his name was added to the memorial’s replica just in time for its first-ever visit to Maui. It was a special moment for the family, who was born and raised in Hāna.

“They made their dad proud,” Hoehn said.

“Our dad’s name needed to be on the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C. but for other reasons: For all the hidden heroes of the Vietnam War; For all the Vietnam veterans who were not celebrated; and for all the Vietnam Vets treated with disrespect upon their return coming home,” Julie said.

“To our fellow adult children of veterans, before it’s too late, and we lose our heroes forever, please help your heroes tell their stories,” Julie said. “If it’s too difficult, we can help.”

She and her sisters now belong to a group called Sons and Daughters in Touch. “It is a group to not only help us heal, but to connect Veterans with the adult children of those they served with.”

“I can’t tell you just how priceless these stories are,” Julie said. “In telling your story and in us hearing it—we all heal. It’s time to share. It’s time to care. It’s time to celebrate coming home.”

Cpt. Lawrence “Larry” Robert Oliveira grew up in Nāhiku, Hāna, on Maui. He joined the Hawaiʻi Army National Guard in 1962, a year before graduating high school. He was in Company C, 1st Battalion, 299th Infantry.

He graduated from St. Anthony High School in 1963. After successfully completing Officer Candidate School in 1966, he joined the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Brigade—currently known as the 25th Infantry “Tropic Lighting” stationed at Schofield Barracks on Oʻahu. He was deployed to Vietnam in 1968. 

In May of 1969, his right shoulder was blown off. Transported to Honolulu, he had multiple surgeries, but shrapnel lodged close to his heart persisted until his death in 1974, on his 29th birthday.