For the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. Baltimore chapter, this Veterans Day is going to be an extra special one.
The organization announced it worked with and made a donation to the Edward A. Myerberg Center in order to name the center’s annual Veterans Day event after Paul D. Savanuck, a Baltimore native who was the only reporter for the military newspaper Stars and Stripes killed in the Vietnam War.
Local representatives of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. have participated in the event at the Myerberg Center in one fashion or another for the nine previous years it has been in existence, but it was high time to do something more, said JWV Post 888 commander Barry Steelman.
“I think it’s wonderful because, in Judaism, we say as long as your name is remembered, you’re still living. That’s why we do yahrtzeit. As long as you’re remembered, you’re still here. So I think that a lot of people know his story, but hopefully more people will ask who he was,” Steelman said. “And as long as people know his name and keep asking, his memory’s alive.”
For Steelman, these efforts are personal. As a Naval Academy graduate who did two tours in Vietnam and Post 888 commander, he said that a fellow Baltimore Jew’s story of heroism is one that he cares deeply about preserving.
“He always wanted to tell stories about the truth. He saw going to Vietnam as a calling. They sent him to Germany instead, and he petitioned a congressman for six months to get a job in Vietnam. He finally gets it, he’s assigned to Stars and Stripes as a photojournalist and a reporter there, and 14 days later, he was killed,” Steelman said.
Steelman knows Savanuck’s story well, but said that the event at the Myerberg will help others know it, too. He will have time to speak about Savanuck at the event in November, and he’s also asked Rabbi Zevi Lowenberg of Beth El to say some words, as well.
Steelman said that a key part of Savanuck’s story is his willingness to take action. Savanuck was a senior at University of Maryland in 1967 when he left college life and pursued a career as a journalist with the expressed purpose of going to Vietnam to report on what was going on. For Savanuck, what was a terrifying premise to a lot of people was necessary and in favor of the common good.
Steelman said that Savanuck was opposed to the Vietnam War and wanted to document what was going on there by talking to the rank-and-file soldiers who were experiencing it firsthand.
“It’s an amazing story,” Steelman said.
Steelman has spoken to Savanuck’s family a number of times, and said that his brother lived not far from them in Pikesville. Being in such close proximity to Savanuck’s loved ones is another reason that the story feels so personal to Steelman. Most of all, though, it’s just because Savanuck was a similar age to Steelman and died a brave man in Vietnam.
“He was in his dream job for 14 days,” Steelman said. “He was with an armored division, and they were going up near the demilitarized zone. They were ambushed at night. He didn’t have a gun on him. He was there to take pictures and write about it. He was trying to save a wounded soldier. He was [posthumously] promoted to staff sergeant and given the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.”
This Veterans Day will be a full-circle moment for Steelman, who has spent much of his time furthering and documenting the story of Paul D. Savanuck. One of the first things he did after leaving the Navy and moving to Baltimore was joining the Jewish War Veterans organization, and the first meeting he ever attended was at Savanuck’s parents’ house.
“He was a very brave guy,” Steelman said.
aguckes@midatlanticmedia.com
