Honoring lives cut short

After two vets came home and raised families, they still died from service in Vietnam

Two Vietnam War veterans from Naperville who died decades after the war ended in Southeast Asia will be honored this week because that war was the reason their lives were cut short.

On Monday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., John E. Dawley Jr. and Dennis C. Hickman will receive posthumous honors for their service and their sacrifice.

The pair will be remembered in the 12th annual In Memory ceremony, which will honor 97 American war heroes who did not die during service but who died prematurely from effects of the Vietnam War, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

Both Dawley and Hickman were affected by the herbicide and defoliant Agent Orange, which was used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War. Studies have linked Agent Orange to birth defects, deformities and deadly diseases, including cancer. -->-->-->