Hardship Discharge One Day Late

Company A

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

Hardship Discharge One Day Late

Copied from a Newspaper Article published in 1970 about the death of Randy G. Kittleson and another area soldier
By Svein Gilje

Randy G. Kittleson, 22, was killed in a helicopter over Cambodia Friday.
Saturday, his application for a hardship discharge from the Army came through: Application Approved.
Kittleson, a helicopter gunner, was one of two soldiers from this area reported by the Pentagon as killed in action in Cambodia - the first combat deaths reported in Cambodia since President Nixon ordered troops in there last month. Specialist 4 Daniel J. Yadock, 21, of 625 S. 17th St., Renton, was killed May 11.
Kittleson, at private 1st class, had sought a hardship discharge after his mother, Edna Kittleson, 44, and two brothers, Jeffrey 11, and Monte, 6, died February 26.
Mrs. Kittleson and her two children were found in a car in the garage at the family home by her husband. The medical examiners office said a garden hose was attached to the car's exhaust pipe and led into the vehicle.
"He came home on an emergency leave," a sister, Mrs. Richard Eames, recalled at the family home, 123 N. E. 166th St.
"He and Kris got married then - two months and four days ago."
Kristine A. Kittleson, the young widow, wore her husband's jacket from Roosevelt High School. It read "Randy" and "67" on it.
"Randy finished his senior year at Roosevelt," Mrs. Eames said. "My family had moved here from Montana.”
He was born in Vancouver, Wash.
Mrs. Eames came from her home at Dallas, Ore., to be with her father, Kelmer Kittleson. Also surviving are two brothers, Mike and Kris Kittleson, at the family home, and a sister, Mrs. Royce Clay, Whidbey Island.
"Randy was one of the first to go into Cambodia," Kristine Kittleson recalled.
Kristine and Randy met last year when he was home on leave from Vietnam. His mother, who worked for the same firm as Kristine, introduced them.
Randy Kittleson enlisted in the Army upon graduation in 1967. He went to Vietnam in June 1968. He was planning to leave the Army and settle with his bride in Oregon.
The Home Undertaking Co. will direct funeral arrangements.
A native of Namticoke, Pa., Yadock entered the Army a year ago and went to Vietnam in February. The Army seemed a logical choice; his father, Joseph A. Yadock, is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve.
Surviving, in addition to his parents, are a brother, David Yadock, and a sister, Patricia Yadock, both at home, and his grandmother, Mrs. Stella Rosolowski, Namticoke.
Military services will be in Namticoke.

Download a PDF file of the original newspaper clipping.