Shaffer's mother died when he was four years old. As the oldest of three children, he shouldered more responsibility than most youngsters his age, his sister remembered. Shaffer never spoke of his mother, but tears filled his eyes when others did. When his belongings were sent home after his death in Vietnam, a large picture of his mother was among them. He was kind and compassionate, the sister said. "His friends filled the house . . . I still talk to him and I know he hears me." Shaffer had attended John Bartram High School before enlisting in the Army in July 1964. He had planned to complete high school and enter college after the service, and had been mailing money home from Vietnam each month to be saved for his education. The specialist four, an automatic rifleman, was stationed in Korea for 13 months before being sent to Vietnam and assigned to Company B of the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). Shaffer died near the Cambodian border on Feb. 18, 1967, four days after his 20th birthday. He was survived by his father, a brother and a sister.