“Let’s play the Feud!” Soon Coach Lemoe Tua and his family will hear this famous catchphrase as they will be playing Family Feud on March 17 and 18. 

They will be traveling to Los Angeles to tape the show so they can see Mrs. Tuaʻs fatherʻs name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Her Father, Lawrence Oliveira of Nāhiku, passed away five years after the Vietnam War at the age of 29, obtaining the rank of captain and a Purple Heart through his service.

He graduated from St. Anthony School in 1963 and had five daughters before he died.

Oliveira survived the war but died due to shrapnel in the upper left side of his body. His daughters wanted to see his name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also known as the Vietnam Wall.

Since he didn’t die in the war, his name had been previously left off the wall, but his daughters campaigned to get it on, and he is now one of the few exceptions on it.

By playing Family Feud. The family is hoping to raise money to go to Washington, D.C., to see Oliveira’s name on the wall.

 “We needed some kind of fundraising,” Coach Tua said, “It just so happened that the Family Feud was auditioning in Honolulu.”

Last year Coach Tua, his wife Lisa, her three sisters Julie, Judy, and Momi, and his daughter Teilissa (‘09) auditioned for Family Feud as a way to raise the money needed for the trip. 

“They wanted to see the most vivacious, the most animated, humorous, loud family there,” Coach Tua said. “It didn’t even matter if the answers were correct or not. It was just basically, you just want to be very animated.”

Coach Tua’s family was one of the few who made it to the second meeting, which meant that they were finally nearing the end.

“We had to contain our excitement right there because everybody there would be like, ‘What are they so excited about?ʻ” he said.

For the second meeting, they went to another room around the corner where they were asked about the funniest moment in their lives.

“Being a P.E teacher, kindergarteners, when they first see me they’re scared of me,” he told them, “but after that first day, I’m a moving tree because they love me.”

They got their spot on the show and will be traveling to Los Angeles over the upcoming spring break.

“Of course you tape, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s going to make the TV,” Coach Tua said.

The family is studying previous episodes of the show to understand the kinds of questions they might be asked.

Family Feud is a popular television game show that pits a family of five against another family. They try to guess the answers to survey questions.

“It’s kind of nuts, but at the same time, it’s very exciting and, you know, it’s something new,” Coach Tua said.

He will be serving as an alternate for his family because his wife and her three sisters will be there to raise money for the trip to see their father’s name on the Vietnam Wall.