The Sage Brothers

The Sage brothers' names are not on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. The Evans had supported ground operations in Vietnam weeks before the collision, but in May 2017 the Pentagon declined to add the 74, holding that the accident happened outside the Vietnam combat zone. The brothers' mother, Eunice Sage, had wanted their names there; she died in 2010. Nebraska's own memorial did not wait. In June 2024 the Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Papillion recognized all 74, among them the three Sages and Gary Hodgson, after a fight led by Greg Sage's wife, Linda Va.

What the plaque says

The Sage Brothers On the night of June 2, 1969, while on maneuvers in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier Melbourne was in collision with the destroyer USS Frank E. Evans. The impact cut the Evans in two, the bow section sinking almost immediately. Seventy-four American seamen were lost, including three brothers from Niobrara, Nebraska; Gary, Gregory, and Kelly Sage. The brothers, 22, 21, and 19 years of age respectively, were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Sage, and had been stationed together aboard the Evans at their own request. This tragedy was perhaps the greatest single loss suffered by any Nebraska family of the many who have contributed their sons to the service of the Nation. At memorial services in Niobrara on June 11, 1969, the Governor of Nebraska eulogized the brothers saying that "Every generation of Americans has answered the call to the colors . . . So it was with the Sage brothers who were serving in the finest tradition of the American fighting man. In the truest sense, they gave up their lives that we might continue to enjoy the fruits of freedom . . ." Benner-Lawrence VFW Post 4834 Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ponca Tribal Museum and Old Ponca Agency — 3.4 mi
  The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska's museum, powwow arena, talking trail and bison herd at the old agency near Niobrara, on homeland the nation was forced from in 1877.
• Santee Sioux Nation Museum — 11 mi
  The Isanti Dakota nation's museum and research room beside its headquarters at Santee, with census rolls from 1866, the mission school's photographs and a Dakota-language newspaper that ran for 68 years.
• Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park — 24 mi
  A watering hole in Antelope County where ash from an eruption in Idaho buried rhinoceroses and horses about twelve million years ago, now uncovered in place under the Hubbard Rhino Barn.

More markers nearby

• The Ponca Tribe — 1.7 mi
• Lewis and Clark Campsite — 15 mi
• Replica Bon Homme School — 16 mi
• First School in Bon Homme — 16 mi