The death of a North Dakota naval officer was reported on this day in 1970. The officer, Seaman Apprentice Vern Richard Mattingly, served aboard the U.S.S. Hancock during the Vietnam War. The Williston native signed up for military service only a year earlier at the age of eighteen. He served actively in Vietnam until December of 1969, when he became ill with an unknown virus. Mattingly was taken to a hospital in Japan, but despite the efforts of the doctors there, he succumbed to the virus on January 11. While Mattingly was not killed in active military combat, his death was viewed as a result of his participation in the armed services. North Dakota lost a total of one hundred ninety-eight soldiers during the course of the Vietnam War, five of whom called Williston home.

Sources:
The Fargo Forum. January 13, 1970: p. 18.
www.archives.gov/research/vietnam-war/casualty-lists/nd-alpha.html

--Jayme L. Job

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