"Mike was a kid with a lot of heart," Bingham's brother said. He weighed only 145 pounds and had two teeth knocked out first day of football practice, but went on to become a starting player on Cardinal Dougherty High School's varsity team. After graduating in 1963, Bingham was a shipping clerk at Sears, Roebuck and Co. He was drafted in the Army in October 1965 and got married 15 days before Joining Company A of the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry in Vietnam. Bingham loved children and wanted to work with retarded youngsters after he got out of the service. He gave Vietnamese children dolls and toy trucks sent by his wife. The private first class, a rifleman, died near Cu Chi, 20 miles northwest of Saigon in Hua Nubia Province, on June 28, 1966, nine days after his 21st birthday. He was survived by his wife, parents and a brother who was a Korean War veteran.