Valley Forge High School

Alumni Association, Parma Heights, Ohio

We remember our classmates who gave their lives protecting ours.

The Greater Cleveland Veterans Memorial (GCVM) website was created as a living memorial to honor those Greater Clevelanders who lost their lives in the wars of the 20th Century.   We are proud to honor our classmates who are memorialized there.  For more information, visit their website at: http://www.clevelandvetsmemorial.org.

 

Sources tell us that we did not lose any VF alumni during the Gulf War.

 

As we get more information, we will include it here.

THOMAS JOSEPH ZELENKA                                                               Class of ‘66

U.S. ARMY—SP5; 41ST ENG CO 92ND ENG BAT 159TH ENG GR 20TH ENG BDE

 

Army SP5 Thomas Joseph Zelenka, son of Joseph C. and Valeria (nee Hadam) Zelenka, 7524 Kenilworth Avenue, Parma, was killed in non-hostile action July 6, 1969. His family was informed that the bridge erection boat on which he was working sprang a leak and sank, taking him with it and he drowned while at work on the Saigon River. He was a member of an Army Engineer port construction unit stationed at Long Binh. Born August 20, 1948, Specialist Zelenka was a 1966 graduate of Valley Forge High School and was drafted in 1968. He went to Vietnam on May 28. His parents said he had hoped to study oceanography upon completion of his military duties. He and his fiancee, Nella DiBenedetto, were planning to be married in September of 1970. He was the brother of Ronald and the grandson of Mrs. Stella Hadam and Mrs. Mary Zelenka.

 

Specialist Zelenka is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery.

Information as gathered from the Cleveland Press & Plain Dealer, July 17, 18 & 21, 1969.