During America’s involvement in Vietnam, more than 58,000 U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives in the nation’s longest continuous period of combat before the 21st century, from 1959 to 1975. Among those honored for their service in the Vietnam conflict are men from the Whiting-Robertsdale community: USMC Corporal David G. Brown, a Whiting High School graduate born December 27, 1944, who served as a rifleman and died at the USAF hospital at Clark Air Base in the Philippines from small arms fire wounds suffered outside Da Nang in the Republic of Vietnam on September 3, 1965, at age 20; USMC PFC Richard F. Bubala, a Whiting High School graduate born December 2, 1945, who served as a rifleman and died during a night attack by the Vietcong near Phu Bai in the Republic of Vietnam on April 11, 1966, at age 20; USA PFC Teddy L. Hamel, a Whiting High School graduate born August 26, 1948, who died during a night defensive action near Song Be in the Republic of Vietnam while engaged against enemy forces on November 25, 1969, at age 21; USA Specialist 4 John R. Klapak, Jr., of Bishop Noll Institute, born November 18, 1948, who was killed in action near Lat Khe while engaged in combat near the Cambodian border along the Saigon River on May 4, 1969, at age 20; USA Corporal Michael J. Kurella, of Whiting High School and Allied Institute of Technology, born August 30, 1946, who was killed during a search and destroy mission in the Demilitarized Zone of the Republic of Vietnam on February 14, 1968, at age 21; USMC PFC Gerald F. Lenz, of George Rogers Clark High School, born April 23, 1949, who was killed in action while engaged in an operation supporting the Second Regiment of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam near Quang Tri on January 20, 1968, at age 18; USMC 2nd Lieutenant Dennis R. Muvich, of Bishop Noll Institute and Marquette University, born October 12, 1945, who was killed in Quang Tri province in the Republic of Vietnam while on patrol near the Demilitarized Zone on May 19, 1968, at age 22; and USN PO 1C Ronald P. Soucy, a Whiting High School graduate born January 18, 1937, who was officially declared Missing In Action and presumed dead after his helicopter went down during a search and rescue mission 50 to 75 miles off the coast of North Vietnam on May 23, 1967, at age 30.