Terry Lynn Martin: The Namesake

Terry Lynn Martin, a Milwaukee native, was only 18-years-old when he was deployed to Vietnam in December 1968. With his whole life in front of him, he unfortunately only lasted about six weeks before falling in battle on Jan. 20, 1969 in Tay Ninh, Vietnam.

However, unlike so many, his legacy has lived on for over 46 years—through another Terry Lynn.

The events of the 1960’s, a decade described as a time of innocence and hope that morphed into episodes of anger and violence may seem to lose significance with the passage of time. Many people tend to forget about the men and women who fought for our country in the Vietnam War. It was a devastating war, with so many lives lost at such a young age. Many never made it back home and little remains of their existence today.

As a young boy growing up in the city of Milwaukee, Martin was always running around with his best friend Richard Steldt, who lived right across the street from him.

Martin and Steldt were inseparable, and they were more than friends; they were brothers, Steldt’s sister Sandi recalls.

But, that day Martin was killed in Vietnam would change their relationship forever.

“Terry had a feeling that he was going to be killed because shortly before he was killed he wrote a letter to my brother,” Sandi Steldt said. “My brother was home, and I remember my mother having to sit my brother down, handing him the letter, since he didn’t get the letter until after he was killed, and telling my brother that Terry had been killed.”

Sandi Steldt said she never saw her brother that emotional prior to him find out about Martin.

“I’d never seen my brother take something so hard,” Sandi Steldt said. “He was absolutely devastated, absolutely devastated. My brother wasn’t the type to show emotion, but he did. He was just shocked.”

Richard Steldt, a Vietnam veteran himself, made it his personal mission to honor Martin the rest of his life because he didn’t want him to be forgotten Sandi Steldt explained.

“My brother was very patriotic,” Sandi Steldt said. “Every Memorial Day he would go to visit Terry at his grave.”

Soon enough Richard Steldt wasn’t the only one attending Martin’s gravesite each year, as Richard Steldt would take his son—Terry Lynn Steldt—with him.

This Memorial Day tradition lasted until Richard Steldt’s surprising death, when he was involved in a motorcycle accident, nearly two years ago.

Richard Steldt’s love for his friend and his country showed as he named his first son after Martin in order to honor him and to make sure that he was never forgotten.

“That is nice to know that my dad was respectful enough of his friend to do something like naming his son after him,” Terry Lynn Steldt said.

Terry Lynn Steldt currently resides in Newburg, Wis. with his wife and children. He and his dad were really close, and he mentioned that it wasn’t always that way. However once Terry Lynn Steldt started to get older, they began spending more time together. He would help his dad with work around the house or they would just play chess or go on a motorcycle ride.

Now only Terry Lynn Steldt remains to carry this tradition on, but he said that he didn’t visit Martin’s site last year, and he doesn’t know if he ever will again.

“He asked me to visit his site after he passes to keep it going,” Terry Lynn Steldt said. “I thought that was a little bit much, but that is how my dad was. Will I probably continue to visit his site—I doubt it. It is respectful enough that I am named after him. I don’t feel like I have to visit the site every time.”

Richard Steldt didn’t mention much about Martin to his son besides that he was named after him and how they were great friends Terry Lynn Steldt said.

Regardless if Terry Lynn Steldt visits Martin’s gravesite in the future, he acknowledged that he is proud to be named after him.

“I am not proud because he was a veteran who died. I am proud because my dad named me after his best friend who passed away tragically and it meant a lot to my dad. It means a lot to me that it meant a lot to him. That is why I am proud of the name I have.”