Father Robert R. Brett, S.M., a Catholic chaplain and Navy Lieutenant serving in Vietnam, gave his life for God and country on Feb. 26, 1968, at age 33. He was killed in action by enemy mortar fire at the Khe Sanh Combat Base while waiting to celebrate Mass for U.S. Marines.

"Father Brett was a martyr in the true sense of the word - a witness to the eternal life offered to us by an Almighty Father through Christ our Lord," read his funeral program, written by the Marists.

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During a Memorial Day service held at ISAF headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan on Monday, May 28, 2012, U.S. Marine General John Allen read Sgt William Stacey's in-case-of-death letter. Sgt. Stacy was on his fourth deployment to Afghanistan when he was killed in action in the Helmand province on January 31, 2012:

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Washington D.C., May 18, 2012 (CNA)- U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) has introduced a bill to place President Franklin D. Roosevelt's D-Day prayer on the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. “On D-Day, courageous Americans risked and sacrificed their lives to preserve our freedoms and end tyranny abroad,” said Portman. “That morning, President Roosevelt asked our nation to come together to pray for the men overseas.”

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US Army chaplain Father Emil Kapaun stole, suffered and sacrificed his life for his fellow soldiers in a Korean prison camp. Six decades after his death, he is being considered for the Medal of Honor - and sainthood.
     On 2 November 1950, Father Kapaun made the decision that led to his death.
     The Korean war chaplain was in the middle of a firefight, with the American forces overrun by Chinese soldiers outside a crossroads town called Unsan in North Korea.

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