GLENPOOL, Okla. — In a FOX23 investigation, we've told you about a Vietnam Veteran fighting cancer who had been searching for the father he never met.
After a long and difficult search, FOX23 found him.
On top of that, FOX23 also found a whole new family he never knew he had.
In this update, FOX23 introduced the Veteran to his brother.
When he was only 17 years old, Allen Krueger joined the Navy, just like he knew his birth father did.
His birth certificate showed his father was a sailor.
“I thought about that. I never met my father, but we had one thing in common. We both served the United States Navy,” Krueger said.
Krueger wrote FOX23 a letter and asked to help him find a photo of his father.
Since he was a kid, Krueger's family had told him that his birth father died in the Korean War.
FOX23 found out what he'd believed his whole life wasn't true.
The first place FOX23 looked was through casualties of the Korean War, but his father’s name was not listed.
Turns out his real father, Darrell Russell Lewis, actually lived to be 79 years old. He died in 2012.
Previously FOX23 showed Krueger something he'd never seen , photos of his birth father.
FOX23 also told Krueger everything we learned about his father including his car.
“Wow, that was his car. I've never even seen a car like this before,” Krueger said.
FOX23 also showed Krueger photos of his father's other children, Krueger's half-siblings.
Rick, Gina, and the youngest sibling, Tim, all grew up in Kentucky.
His brothers enjoyed playing baseball growing up, which was something Krueger enjoyed too.
“I'm not bragging. I was good too. I was a little leaguer. I made the little league stars,” Krueger said.
His brother Rick played in the little legal league all-star game too in Kentucky.
“So they love baseball too, that's amazing,” Krueger said.
FOX23 showed him a picture of his brother Tim with his dad.
“This is amazing. This is gonna be on my mind for a long time. I'll probably not even get to sleep just thinking about all this,” said Krueger. "I wonder how life would have been if I grew up with all this. Brothers, my father, how things would have been.”
Krueger said he didn’t expect any of this, but what he was really not expecting was getting to talk to his brother, Tim, for the first time.
FOX23 set up a phone between the two brothers for the first time.
“Tim, this is your older brother Allen. I live in Oklahoma. I'm 72 years old,” said Krueger. “I have two daughters of my own, which one passed away. I still have a daughter that lives in Texas. Her name is Amy,” Krueger said.
Tim, who also lives in Texas, made the connection that he lives about 30 minutes away from Krueger’s daughter, Amy.
“Wow, that's unbelievable,” Tim said.
Tim said he, his brother and sister were born and raised in Ashland, Kentucky.
“Your father when he passed away he was 79. He had seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren,” said Tim. “He went by Russ my whole life, Darrell Russell. His mother started calling him Russ at a young age.”
Krueger asked Tim about their father's car.
“That's a 1988 Phantom. That's still in the family. That's still our car,” Tim said.
Tim helped connect the dots. How his dad, Russ, took a road trip from Kentucky to California where he must've met Krueger's mom. His birth certificate shows he was born in Los Angeles.
“I believe it was probably in 1950. They rode motorcycles across from Ashland, Kentucky, to the Los Angeles area. Evidently, that was the time he met your mother. So those are things that get lost in the wayside or buried or whatever,” Tim said.
Krueger told Tim that when he was only 13 years old, his aunt sat him down and told him the man he'd always thought was his father, wasn't and that his real dad was killed in the Korean War.
“I'll never know why I was told he was killed in the Korean War. I'll never know,” Krueger said.
In response, Tim shared a phrase that their father always used to say.
“I'll tell you a line that our Father used when I was growing up and a situation would come up that I couldn't understand. I’d always go to him because he always had all the answers. He said, ‘well, son, the Lord works in mysterious ways'. So here we go, you know, 60 years later, he's working in mysterious ways,” Tim said.
After talking for almost an hour, the two brothers got off the phone.
“We're gonna have to keep in touch,” Krueger said.
He gave Tim his phone number.
“I'm gonna put above it, my oldest brother, Allen,” Tim said.
It was all a lot for Krueger to take in.
It ended up being so much more than what he had originally asked.
“What did I say when I first talked about all I said is I want a small picture of my father. Do you remember that? That's all I wanted. I didn't expect all this, I really didn't,” Krueger said.
He shared what it was like talking to his brother for the first time.
“Wow, that's hard to explain. I kind of just talked to you like I knew him forever, you know,” Krueger said.
He also shared an interest to go meet his brother in person, especially since his daughter lives so close.
“Boy, that'd be so nice. I just hope I can get rid of this cancer,” Krueger said.
Krueger's been fighting stage three lung cancer.
He told FOX23 he wants to beat it so he can visit his daughter, Amy, in Texas and show her all the photos of her grandpa.
Krueger said he's continued to do his chemo treatments and actually had a CT scan recently, which will give his doctors a lot more information about his progress. He also said he's planning a trip to Texas in August.
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