Family of fallen Marine finds some solace in VFW naming

Helena Lukac carries around a stack of laminated cards, each bearing a photo of her 19-year-old son, John.

She hands them out to strangers. She wants them to know how proud she is of "Johnny" and his service to the country.

In the circular photo, his eyes peer straight-forward beneath the brim of his white service cap. He is wearing his freshly pressed, Marine dress blues. His lips are tight. His chin is solid and clean-shaven.

He was a proud Marine, she said. "John always tried to make a difference in his life."

"April 20, 1985 -- October 30, 2004. In loving memory," each card reads.

For Helena and her husband, Jan, and their son, Peter, their lives changed forever that autumn day in 2004 when they learned that John had been killed near Fallujah, Iraq. A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-packed Chevy Suburban into a truckload of Marines, killing John and seven other Marines. He was one of the first Nevadans killed in the Iraq War and the first buried locally.

On Thursday night, a group of Las Vegas combat veterans honored Pfc. John Lukac for making a difference.

The newly formed Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter named its post after him in a ceremony at Centennial Hills Community Center YMCA.

"We did quite a bit of research to find someone who went to school here and was killed in action," said Bill Aubry, commander of John Lukac VFW Post 12093.

"He was a Durango High School graduate and a Las Vegas resident. Why did I lean toward him? I'm a former Marine as well," said Aubry, who served in the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1967 and received a Bronze Star medal for valor.

Helena, Jan, and Peter stood before the group wearing white shirts emblazoned with John's photo and a large gold star above their hearts.

They reflected on John as the bright young kid who could say the alphabet at age 2 and could have gone to about any college with honors but instead joined the Marines as a teenager.

Across from them stood a larger-than-life cardboard cutout of John in his camouflaged, basic duty uniform.

At Durango High, he was inspired to join the Marines not only to rally behind his country in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks but also as a recognition of the freedom his Hungarian-born parents came to experience when they immigrated to the United States.

"This new John Lukac Post 12093 will help other comrades. Isn't it wonderful?" Helena Lukac said.

She held up two books that contain stories about John, "Faces of Freedom" and "The Lost Heroes Art Quilt."

"So that's my Johnny," she said.

Peter Lukac, who was 15 when his brother died and is now a student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told the post's 60 members, "This is amazing."

"This is an unimaginable honor. Not having John here anymore hurts but when you do things like this, it hurts less."

Said Jan Lukac: "The people here mean so much to us. They support us and it helps us heal."

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.