Atkinson began a family tradition when he enlisted in the Army in November 1965: three of his four brothers followed his lead by joining the Armed Forces, The 22-year-old specialist four, a medic with Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 56th Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division, was on his second tour of duty in Vietnam when he died on Feb. 23, 1969, in an attack on the Dau Tieng Base Camp, Atkinson saved his sergeant and refused to leave wounded comrades before he lost his own life. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. The former Overbrook High School student was survived by his parents, four brothers and three sisters.