COLUMBIA, Md. — A father and daughter duo are working to cement the legacy of a Vietnam War veteran.
Thomas Howard joined the Marine Corps in the summer of 1965.
"We knew we was going to be going to Vietnam because that was the major thrush, then because the Vietnam War was becoming a hot fighting war," said Howard.
He risked his life on numerous occasions as part of the Delta Company 1st Battalion 26th Marines.
"So, my whole military experience was training, preparation, fighting and than when it was all over, I was discharged and I was able to come back home," said Howard.
While Howard survived, not everyone was as fortunate.
Lance Corporal Randall Lake, who served in the same company, caught malaria during a special landing operation in 1966.
"It wasn't until sometime four months later we heard that LCpl Lake had died. The word came from the headquarters group, so I carried that memory for years."
While Howard didn't personally know Lake, serving in the same company bonded them for life.
As a fellow marine, Howard was bothered about Lake not being listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
The Department of Defense specifies a person must have died under certain circumstances in order to be included on the wall.
"I did not know what I was going to do, but I tried to learn more and more about the circumstances and the history of our company," said Howard.
Later, Howard found out death by malaria would qualify for one being placed on the wall.
"4-years ago, I learned about malaria being included on the wall, so I began to outreach to the Marine Corps, writing letters and things like that, to learn what I had to do to get him recognized.
He reached out to his daughter, Kelly Kesler, for help.
Kesler once sat on Howard County's Commission for Veterans and Military Families.
"We were able to connect with an author who had done some research around Vietnam Veterans and malaria, and working with my dad to contact them to say hey, what do you know, who would we ask," said Kesler.
They even connected with Lake's son.
While the process has been time consuming, Kesler says it's important fellow veterans who paid the ultimate price are remembered.
"It's kind of like this idea of no one left behind, that he died in service with his marine brothers, and those that died, the 13 marines that died in that particular time period and those particular days, that there names are there and we're not leaving him behind," said Kesler.