Editor's note:On Dec. 11, 1816, Indiana became the 19th state in the Union. On Jan. 28, 1836, Porter County was created. A year later, on Jan. 18, Lake County became independent. As the state celebrates its bicentennial, the Post-Tribune will be taking a regular look back at the history of Northwest Indiana.

When Lamar Stofko's little brother, Cpl. Steven Michael Stofko Jr., 19, was killed in action in Vietnam in August 1967, his family lost “the best of us” and the town of Highland lost its first soldier to the war.

“Everybody loved him,” Lamar Stofko said during a phone interview from his Arizona home. “He was a very joyful type of person.”

Steven Stofko graduated from Highland High School in 1965 and went to work at Union Tank Car Co. before being drafted in March 1967. By August, Stofko was the first of six Highland soldiers to be killed in action in Vietnam.

By 1970, five others had lost lives. Four, including Stofko, graduated from Highland High School in 1965. PFC Fredrick Michael “Mike” Gilsinger Jr., 21, was killed in November 1968. Cpl. Fred Darrel Whitaker, 22, was killed in February 1969. Petty Officer Calvin Robert Gish, 23, was killed in July 1970. Cpl. Steven Blaskovich Jr., 20, graduated from Highland High School in 1967 and was killed in action in June 1970. Cpl. Thomas Charles Cisar, 20, graduated from Bishop Noll Institute in 1966 and lost his life in December 1970.

They were among more than 58,000 American soldiers killed in Vietnam, according to government data.

Northwest Indiana suffered the loss of 261 young men and Indiana more than 1,600, according to U.S. History teacher Tom Clark and his students. Their project, Lake Central Gold Star Honor Roll, seeks to put a face and a story to every Hoosier soldier who died in Vietnam and other wars. His students' research from the 1980s and 1990s provided military and background information on the six men from Highland.

James Cisar, speaking by phone from his home north of Spencer, Ind., said he remembers his fraternal twin brother Tommy as “a real bold person. He was athletic. He had a lot of friends. He was funny and would clown around in school in a pleasant way.”

The brothers along with their siblings, Nicholas, John and Christine all attended Bishop Noll in Hammond. James and Tommy graduated in 1968.

James recalled how Tommy could run as fast as the fastest boy on the Noll baseball team. Sometimes, Tommy would take a pair of boxing gloves to a public park and challenge people to a boxing match.

“He'd take all the money out of his pocket and put it on the hood of his car and see if anyone could beat him — they could take the money if they won,” James said.

As twins, the boys received letters at the same time, letting them know they would be drafted in June 1969.

“It was a lottery,” said James. “Tommy was getting impatient and he just boosted the draft and went in. I decided to wait.”

James was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, when news of Tommy's death hit the family hard.

“He died on my father's birthday, Dec. 12, 1970,” James said. “A U.S. official pulled up to the house and tells my father his son just died. It shook him to the bone. They drove to where my mother worked. She saw his face and just sank. She knew something happened. It really hurt.”

James, who was given a compassionate military reassignment to be near his family, has saved letters and photos from his brother.

Lamar Stofko recalled with emotion that his father took it very hard when Steven was killed.

“It took 10 years off my father. Steven and my father were very close,” Lamar said. “He was engaged to be married. They were supposed to go to Hawaii. He was supposed to have a leave to Hawaii and she was going to meet him there. But that never happened.”

Today there are 149,330 Vietnam War veterans in Indiana, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

One of them, Rick Bates, of Cedar Lake, graduated from Highland High School in 1963 and said he remembers most of the guys from Highland.

“We had a group that hung around together,” said Bates, who was drafted into the Army in 1965 at 19. “There weren't that many of us that went into the service (in 1965). Some had gone on to college. Some were married and they weren't drafting those people at the time. I didn't realize until I came home, how many had actually gone into the military.”

Bates said he knew Gilsinger best.

“He was pretty easygoing,” Bates said. “There were a bunch of us. Some were rowdy. Mike was middle of the road — nice guy — friendly to everybody.”

Nancy Coltun Webster is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.