LYMAN — Two Bridger Valley residents are the Wyoming veterans who will be inducted into the ‘In Memory’ Program for 2020.

Both men took the oath, both men served in Vietnam and both returned home. Later to suffer illnesses brought on by their service in Vietnam and being exposed to Agent Orange. These two Mountain View men, graduates of Mountain View High School, returned home to live out their lives where they had grown up and build a life after the military.

They are Louis Allen Hamblin, who served in the U.S. Army, and Leland Jay Stoddard, who also served in the U.S. Army. Hamblin was 73 when he died and Stoddard was 70.

Allen served in the US Army in Vietnam. He was assigned to intelligence and went to Texas to learn Vietnamese. While in Vietnam he worked covertly to interrogate and identify the enemy. He received several commendations for his expertise.

Stoddard played football, basketball and participated in track for the Mountain View Buffalos while in high school. He served in the Brazil Sao Paulo Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, before joining the Army and going to Vietnam.

Nearly 600 veterans nationally were inducted in the “In Memory” program for 2020. The program honors Vietnam veterans who returned home and their lives were cut short as a result of their service after they returned home.

Both Mountain View men died the fall of 2019, but the ceremony was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.