Editor’s note: This is the fifth story in a five-part series that highlights five ISU veterans who are being inducted into the Gold Star Hall war memorial on Monday.

Thirty-eight years after his death, Private First Class Rickey Swaney still lives on through his writings. His loved ones still look through his many letters sent home from the Vietnam battlefield and remember what kind of person Rickey was.

Terry Swaney, Rickey’s older brother, remembers one letter he received while Rickey was in Vietnam.

“He told me, ‘Fighting for peace is like f—king for chastity,'” Terry said.

Terry said Rickey was against the war from the start but was drafted into service in fall 1968.

“Right before he left, he came to my place in Indiana and told me, ‘I don’t believe in this war. I don’t believe in anything about it. If I don’t go, then nobody has to go and we don’t have a country,'” Terry said.

Rickey was shipped to Vietnam in May 1969 and was part of the 4th Infantry. He started in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and his platoon went north to Kontum.

“He wrote to me all the time, he bought a camera before he left and took a lot of pictures,” Terry said.

Rickey mailed all of the film back to the United States for his family to develop into slides.

Terry said his brother was with the engineers making roads but wanted to get transferred to do something else. He was then transferred into the mortar patrol.

After three months serving in the Vietnam War, Rickey Swaney was killed in a mortar attack, near Kontum, on Aug. 14,1969. He was 21 years old.

Terry said Rickey was very articulate and loved to write.

“He wrote a lot of poetry and letters. He loved the literature and the people,” Terry said.

Rickey grew up in Grand Junction and came to Iowa State in fall 1965 to study journalism.

Terry said his brother wrote and took pictures for the campus magazine, Cadence.

Rickey was also a part of the Men’s Residence Association.

Terry said his brother was liked by everyone.

“Rick would always show the new kid around town,” Terry said.

Rickey stayed with Terry in Indiana while he was away from college on winter break.

“He worked in a big department store. He took Martin Luther King Jr. Day off before it was even a holiday because he knew it was important,” Terry said.

Rickey will be honored during a Veterans Day ceremony on Monday, along with four others who lost their lives in the Iraq or Vietnam wars. The Gold Star Hall ceremony will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall and will be free and open to the public.

Terry said this ceremony is a big deal for his family and friends.

“I think most importantly, all the guys he was with will be there to take a look at this thing,” Terry said.