"Randy" Jefferson enjoyed singing in church and dancing, but people were his greatest love. "His sense of duty and obligation to other people is what led him to enlist," a cousin said. He became a Marine in March 1967, and was sent to Vietnam on his 18th birthday. The private first class, a paratrooper, mortar man and rifleman, was assigned to Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division. Jefferson died on July 17, 1968, in Thua Thien Province. He was 18 years old. He had attended Thomas Edison High School. Survivors included his father, three brothers and two sisters.