Jack Cypher, a good friend of Ed “Kow” Kiezkowski, who was killed in Vietnam, May 28, 1969 holds a photo of Ed. On the table is Life magazine from the 1970s that featured 300 soldiers and sailors who were killed in action in Vietnam, including Kiezkowski. Above, Kiezkowski apparently wrote a message during his time in the service to someone special to him.

Those who knew Ed “Kow” Kiezkowski as a young man growing up in the tightly knit South Side of the 1950s and 1960s prefer to remember him as a fun-loving, popular baseball player and not the victim of a direct mortar hit in a bunker in the Kon Tum Province of Vietnam.

Kiezkowski served in tactical wire operations in the Army's 15th Engineers Co., 18th Engineers Brigade, during the Vietnam War until a Viet Kong rocket destroyed his bunker, and the hearts of those who knew and loved him.

One of Kiezkowski's best friends, Jack Cypher, grew up in a rural section of the Herman area, but often “thumbed” to Kiezkowski's house on Clinton Avenue to be around the shining personality of the blonde athlete.

“He was very happy-go-lucky,” Cypher recalled from his home in Monongahela, Washington County. “He loved to dance. He loved to sing. He loved to play basketball.”

He said Kiezkowski favored the Motown sound, and would belt out tunes by Smokey Robinson, the Temptations and others of that era.

“I can still remember him doing that kind of scream they do into the microphone and a 360 spin,” Cypher said, chuckling at the memory.

The group of teenage boys had fun together in their carefree pursuits, but that all ended when their draft numbers began being pulled.

“Eddie, myself, Dave Laurent, Bill Hortert, we spent a lot of time together,” Cypher said.

Cypher was in basic training, having enlisted when his number came up, when he learned Kiezkowski died in Vietnam.

“I never got to go to his funeral,” Cypher said, “so that's a sad thing.”

A few weeks after his friend died, Cypher got a letter from Kiezkowski.

“He said how bad things were,” Cypher said. “He said it was really getting bad.”

Cypher still carries a laminated picture of Kiezkowski in his wallet that he cut from a Life magazine in the 1970s. The magazine had published a feature on 300 soldiers and sailors who were killed in action in Vietnam.

“I carry it out of respect,” Cypher said, choking back the emotion that comes with remembering his friend.

“He was one of the most fun-loving guys ever, and he never got to be a dad, never even got to drink a legal beer at Jakes,” Cypher said, referring to the former beer garden on Center Avenue remembered by hundreds of county residents of a certain age.

The boys who were candidates for service in Vietnam had fathers who served in World War II, so no one questioned answering the call in the 1960s, Cypher said.“To this day, it was such a stupid, senseless war,” Cypher said. “We were lied to.”Cypher hopes the memorial flagpole and bronze plaque near Father Marinaro Park honoring the service of Ed Kiezkowski remains in place long after those who knew him are gone.He said the late Harry Leyland lived across the street from the memorial and maintained it when needed.“To me, it would be very sad if all of a sudden that were demolished,” Cypher said.Jim Nocera was about six years younger than Kiezkowski, but grew up next door to the family's home. Many elder boys would tend to ignore or scoff at the younger set, but that was not the case with Kiezkowski.“He was such a nice kid,” Nocera said. “Really popular, a great athlete and really good with the younger kids in the neighborhood.”Nocera recalls Kiezkowski sharing his boxing gloves with the younger kids and giving them boxing tips in his parents' side yard.Nocera was almost 16 years old when the entire neighborhood fell into a state of shock in late May 1969 at the news Kiezkowski had been killed.“I can still remember when the (Army) car drove up because we were home,” he said quietly. “My older brother was friends with him and it affected him very deeply.”Nocera recalls a prolonged somber atmosphere throughout the South Side after one of its brightest lights was extinguished in Southeast Asia.“We were beside ourselves,” Nocera said. “It was a very difficult time.”Nocera still lives on the South Side, and he and his wife pass the Kiezkowski memorial flagpole on their daily walks.In addition to Kiezkowski, he recalls the playground directors at each city park who organized volleyball, softball and basketball games. Kiezkowski was the standout in every game organized.“He was very well-liked,” Nocera said.He recalls adults conversing about the Vietnam War, with some in favor and some against the conflict.“It was hard for kids my age,” said Nocera, who was in college when the war was winding down. “But we survived it.”

Here is a photograph of Ed “Kow” Kiezkowski, a resident of Butler's Southside neighborhood who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1969.