Dying Vietnam vet gives away home to veteran without one

Veteran gives home to fellow vet for Christmas

By KATHIE BASSETT
The (Alton) Telegraph

ROSEWOOD HEIGHTS, Ill. — A Vietnam veteran is spending Christmas in the first home he ever has owned, thanks to the generosity of a fellow soldier from that war.

Retired Army Sgt. First Class Frederick Evanik, who is dying from lung cancer, decided to deed his trailer home to another veteran of the conflict, Steve Brown, who had been renting a room in a nearby trailer at Oak Ridge Trailer Park for several years.

Serving in Vietnam from 1968 until 1971, Brown had been a specialist in the Army; he drove fuel trucks. Although Evanik and Brown served in both Vietnam and Germany, they did not meet one another until about four years ago.

"It's amazing that he would do this for me," Brown said. "I was fixing to be in the streets once Gary (Paulding), the owner of the trailer I had been living in, put his up for sale this spring."
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Veteran gives home to fellow vet for Christmas