Local

Veterans Day 2019 Brother MIA in Vietnam for nearly 50 years — and still missed at home

Elizabeth Elliott | Catholic Herald Staff Writer

COURTESY 1st Lt. Lawrence E. Lilly’s helicopter was shot down in Cambodia March 17, 1971, during the Vietnam War. His remains have never been found. COURTESY

CROP_LR_LillyLE_2.jpg

Many soldiers go to war. Some do not return. That is the case for
1st Lt. Lawrence E. Lilly, who went missing March 17, 1971, during the Vietnam
War. Lilly was a co-pilot of a Bell Cobra attack helicopter doing visual
reconnaissance near Seang, Cambodia, when his helicopter was shot down.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, more than
81,000 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam
War, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other conflicts.

For nearly 50 years, Lilly’s family and the U.S. Department of
Defense have looked for him. But time has not dulled the pain.

“It’s still raw because it’s still unsettled,” said his sister,
Susan Harvey.

Harvey, a parishioner of Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria,
said her brother first considered the priesthood, entering the Maryknoll
Seminary in Glen Ellyn, Ill, as a high school junior.

“During Larry’s time in the seminary, the Vietnam War was
escalating,” said Harvey. “Larry had aspirations of becoming a priest and at
the same time thought about how he could serve his country. Our father had
served in WWII and the Korean War.”  

Lilly transferred to The Catholic University of America in
Washington and joined the U.S. Army after graduation.

“He then was assigned to Vietnam where our father in the Air
Force also was assigned,” said Harvey. “So, father and son got to meet up in
Vietnam.”

“I think faith probably pulled (my brother) through some tough
times,” said Harvey.

Harvey and her family have relied on faith, though for years they
attended Mass in silence with their grief.

“We weren’t supposed to talk about it per the Department of
Defense,” she said. “We weren’t supposed to be in Cambodia.”

Though his remains are far away, Lilly’s name can be found
locally in Arlington National Cemetery, the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and the
Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Alexandria, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in
Washington. His name also is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the
Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii.

Lilly’s name will be read among 67 other Alexandrian veterans who
died or remain Missing in Action at the 18th annual Veterans Day Ceremony at
the Captain Rocky Versace Plaza Nov. 11 at 1 p.m.

Harvey doesn’t want anyone to forget the veterans. She said she
appreciates it when the church remembers veterans in their prayers.

“Any mention of veterans is positive,” she said. 

Related Articles