Norman Byron Wensel was born in February 1942 in St. Louis, Missouri. His family lived in Florida and Tennessee for their father’s job. He attended Tennessee Tech and earned his engineering degree in two years. Wensel enjoyed fishing, waterskiing and racing his 1956 Jaguar at a local drag strip. His family moved to California from Nashville in October 1962.

Wensel lived in the Torrance area for five years and was drafted as the Vietnam War was escalating.  He joined the U.S. Naval Construction Battalion, better known as the Navy Seabees, and served as a Constructionman with Mobile Construction Battalion SIX. On January 3, 1967, as a member of the Delta Company, he was helping  build living facilities for the Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment. This construction site was in an area that was sometimes subjected to enemy sniper fire and everyone was required to carry a rifle wherever they were, keeping their weapons close at hand while working or sleeping.

The next night Wensel tragically died as a result of an accidental gunshot wound. A doctor and two corpsmen reached him within five minutes to no avail. He was only 24 years old when he died. Norman Wensel was survived by his parents and two sisters, Sherilynn and Pamela, and is buried at the Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.