Besides football, legendary Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas also had a huge passion for the military.

Robert Thomas, Derrick’s father, was killed when his B-52G heavy bomber was shot down in combat during the Vietnam War back in 1972. Derrick didn’t learn the cause of his father’s death until he was a freshman at the University of Alabama.

Derrick was in the prime of his career in 1993, already a two-time All-Pro and NFL sack leader. That Memorial Day Weekend, he gave a speech alongside the 42nd United States President Bill Clinton at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. (H/T L.A. Times Archives).

“It’s very ironic that my father’s last mission was named Linebacker II,” Thomas said. “It’s very ironic that in college I had 52 sacks and my father flew a B-52. I was bitter for a long time. I’ve spent the better part of my life trying to find out what kind of man my father actually was. I’ve tried to research all I could. I talked to members of his unit. Memorial Day serves as a time to remember. It’s an opportunity to talk to other people who have similar stories to mine. I didn’t have a male figure in my life, to come and watch me play in a football game. I didn’t have that male figure in my life when things were going bad. I was blessed with the ability to perform at a high level in athletics, but I wasn’t blessed to be a great person. For me, this is probably the crowning moment, to stand with people that fought with my father.”

Like his father, Derrick also tragically passed away at a young age. Derrick died a few weeks after being involved in a car accident on January 23, 2000. He was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame later that year, and into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009. In 2022 the Chiefs wore a patch to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Operation Linebacker I & II to honor Derrick and Robert Thomas.