Father: Herman Eugene "Pete" Ward

Adopted By: Walter R Kalb Sr was born on March 14, 1930, in Roundup, Musselshell Co, MT, He had two sons and one daughter with Cathlyn Lorraine Rucker. He died about 2013, in Sacramento, CA, at 83.

Mother: Cathlyn Lorraine Rucker was born on February 21, 1928, in Chico, Butte Co, CA. She died on April 4, 2016, in Carmichael, Sacramento Co, CA, at 88, and was buried in Chico, California.

Children:
Loretta J. Kalb
Walt R. Kalb Jr.

Lance Cpl. Dale Michael Kalb

June 1, 1947 - Mar. 16, 1968

Chico

Michael KaIb managed to survive one tour in Vietnam, and volunteered for another.

He was four months into his second tour when his unit was on patrol in the Quang Ngai area. Young Kalb was hit by a grenade and died of fragmentation wounds.

Born in Chico, Kalb’s family moved away when he was five. He was raised in the San Jose area and graduated from Campbell High School in 1965. Two weeks before his graduation, the young man enlisted in the Marine Corps.

His grandmother, who still lives in Chico, remembers her grandson: “He was one of those children who was up and going all the time. He always had a sense of doing something for the underdog” 

Chico News & Review, May 26, 1988

2140422 LCPL USMC (MOS 3531: Motor Vehicle Operator)

Casualty Details: Killed by explosive device

Listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall, Washington, D.C. Panel 45E Line 2 Listed on the Gold Star Memorial Glen Oaks Memorial Park

Burial: Glen Oaks Memorial Park, Garden of Devotion, Lot 146, Space 1

Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon

On March 16, 1968, in Quang Ngai Province, a squad of U.S. Marines had just begun their midnight patrol near another village. In the darkness, one stepped on a land mine and died instantly. Others were injured. LCPL Michael Dale Kalb, had his legs torn away by the blast. He died quickly. He was less than three months shy of his 21st birthday.

National Archives

Chico News & Review

Bill edmiston