It was announced last weekend in accordance with celebrations for Veterans Day, the Lake Charles VA clinic would be renamed in honor of Kinder native Douglas Bernard Fournet.
“It’s a much deserved honor to have the Lake Charles VA Clinic named after Douglas Fournet, as a medal of honor recipient and one of Southwest Louisisana’s own,” said Eric Kuyper, commander of the Alvin L. Nevils Post 244 American Legion Hall in Kinder.
(There is a display for Douglas Bernard Fournet at the Kinder American Legion Hall, according to Kuyper.)
Wikipedia has a section on Douglas Bernard Fournet, who was born in Kinder on May 7, 1943. He was a recipient of the “United States military’s highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in the Vietnam War.”
Fournet’s family moved to Lake Charles where he grew up and graduated from Lake Charles High and then attended McNeese State University.
Kuyper explained this is an award you receive or is awarded to a person. Fournet received the award for an unselfish act he performed to save his men.
He entered the Army in 1966 and went through Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. He was serving as a first lieutenant in Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).
Wikipedia states, “During a firefight on that day, in the A Shau Valley of the Republic of Vietnam, Fournet was killed while attempting to disable an enemy Claymore mine. He shielded his fellow soldiers from the blast with his body, preventing serious wounds to everyone but himself. His squadron leader, Bill Krahl, recovered his body, for which Krahl was awarded a Bronze Star.”
This was three days before his 25th birthday. He was buried in Kinder McRill Cemetery in Kinder. He was survived by wife, Marilyn Grissett, and a son, Bill Fournet, who was born after his father’s death.
A portion of Insterstate 210 is named in his honor. “On July 3, 2010, he and four other Medal of Honor recipients with ties to Louisiana were inducted into the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame and Museum in Abbeville.”
Kyper said this is the cemetery where local veterans remember our local veterans each year for Memorial Day.
The facility is located at 3601 Gerstner Memorial Drive in Lake Charles.
According to a local media outlet, members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation introduced legislation in September 2018 to rename the facility in honor of Fournet. On January 3, 2019, President Donald Trump signed the legislation into law. The celebration was held Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019.
