Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of nine articles honoring the 32 casualties and one MIA veteran from Grundy, Hardin, Marshall and Tama counties during the Vietnam War. Nearly 3 million service men and women served. The war claimed the lives of 58,220 Americans of which 868 were Iowans. And an estimated 250,000 South Vietnamese troops were killed, according to military archives. As a tribute, the Times-Republican is listing at a minimum – the rank, full name, branch of service, hometown — and if available date of birth, death, age and burial location of all Central Iowa men who perished. The information was obtained courtesy of Vic Hellberg of the Central Iowa Vietnam Veterans Involvement Committee, findagrave.com, Dan Gannon, a retired Marine combat veteran who served in Vietnam, the Iowa Vietnam War Memorial Directory of Names, the Marshall County Historical Society and Kennan Seda, historian of the Sons of the American Legion of Tama County. Additional information, photos and exhibits were submitted by family and friends. The third installment – published May 2 – featured six fallen veterans and one MIA from Marshall County. Today’s installment features an additional four Marshall County veterans who perished.

Sgt. Randy L. Mast — Sept. 27, 1948-June 5, 1970 – Army – age 21 — Marshalltown

Burial: Rose Hill Memorial Gardens and Park, Marshalltown

“My brother grew up in Beaman and graduated from the former BCL (Beaman Conrad Liscomb – now BCLUW) High School,” said his sister Mandy Mast Martin.

“He enjoyed fishing and was a member of the wrestling team,” she said. “He was not the best wrestler but he tried extremely hard. In his senior year he placed third at the conference meet and was awarded a medal. This medal was incredibly special to him. He carried it in his pocket all the time. After high school he attended trade school for computer programming. He was employed at a Cedar Rapids bank when drafted. The medal was in his pocket when his body arrived home.”

Lt. Donald Nixon Norris – Died Nov. 4. 1964 — Navy – Marshalltown

Buried at sea

Norris, also known as “Nick” to family and friends, was a jet fighter-jet pilot who crashed into the aircraft carrier USS Midway while attempting a night landing while returning from a mission classified as secret, according to his father, Paul Norris – the longtime former owner and publisher of the Times-Republican. The Midway was deployed in the Pacific Ocean.

He is considered a “Vietnam-era” casualty.

Nick graduated from Marshalltown High School and was a member of the football and basketball teams.

His father wrote in his book “Memorable People”: “‘How sad when he had so much to look forward to,” people say of an untimely demise. “Accidents like Nick’s are common and involve an element of luck no skill can overcome. His records and his mates confirm he was a skillful pilot.” He had made night landings before under equally adverse conditions.

Mechanical mistakes are also involved.

“His death at least had purpose as so many of today’s youthful tragedies do not. Nick was not a martyr. Nor was he a hero. He would have scorned either appellation. He was just a guy doing his job that he liked and knew someone had to do. This is a cost of freedom that transcends personal loss. And more Americans will pay for it. Because thousands like him are equally willing to make a similar sacrifice, our world is maybe a little better.”

Pfc. David Lynn Rutgers – Nov. 19, 1946 – Feb. 25, 1969 – Marines — age 22 — Marshalltown

Burial: Riverside Cemetery, Marshalltown

On Feb. 25, 1969 during a night time enemy invasion of Fire Support Base Russell in Quang Tri province, South Vietnam, Rutgers was fatally hit. He had been in the Marines for 11 months, and in Vietnam four months.

Marshalltown High School classmate and friend David Westen said “I was stationed in Germany and received word that David had been killed in action. I learned that he was off duty but taking coffee to the ‘forgotten’ troops in the Perimeter Guard Towers when the mortar got him. David was the kind of guy who was always thinking of others and how hard things were on them. He was always willing to help those who, in his mind, were forgotten, less fortunate than him, alone or troubled.”

David’s parents made the decision to establish a memorial scholarship to support a South Vietnamese student at the Trinity Evangelical Seminary in Deerfield, Illinois. They felt it was one way to honor his death in that faraway place where he was defending the Vietnamese way of life.”

2Lt. John Edward Slater — Sept. 26, 1946 – Dec. 15, 1968 — Marines — age 22 — Marshalltown

Burial: Rose Hill Cemetery, Grundy Center

Slater was awarded the prestigious Bronze Star medal posthumously for his courage and valor under fire during combat operations. Despite being under heavy fire from North Vietnamese troops in superior numbers, Slater calmly directed his troops to an evacuation point where they were removed without one single casualty.

Slater fearlessly provided effective cover fire until the last member of his company was safely on board. While being loaded into a helicopter, the hoist broke and Slater fell to the ground where he suffered fatal wounds.