Friends and relatives of 28 men killed when an Air Force radar platform collapsed in a storm in the Atlantic 75 miles east of Barnegat Light in 1961 have launched a campaign to gain official recognition for them as casualties of the Cold War.

"To this day, there has been no recognition by our government of the sacrifice of these men," said Donald Klutzy, a Philadelphia native who worked as a civilian computer technician on what was known as Texas Tower 4.

"What we're looking for is a presidential citation similar to ones they've given out in the past for people who served their country," said Klutzy, now of Germantown, Md.

Among the supporters of the effort is retired Adm. Paul A. Yost Jr., former commandant of the Coast Guard and current president of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation in Washington.

As a young officer, Yost was in command of the cutter Amasses, based in Cape May. It was on patrol in the area on Jan. 15, 1961, when a nor'easter hit and a distress call came from the three-legged tower. Fourteen airmen and 14 civilian workers had been working on the tower, part of the NORA early defense warning system, to fix damage from Hurricane Donna four months earlier.

"I was just over the horizon on this dark and viciously rough night when the tower collapsed, with the loss of all 28 men aboard," Yost recalled in an account of the disaster.

The Amasses, he said, returned to shore the two bodies that had been recovered. The rest were never found.

Klutzy said Vice President Gore had written to some of the families of the men killed and had arranged for 32 flags to be flown over the Capitol for presentation to relatives of the men from Tower 4 and four other men who died on the other two Texas Towers.

In the meantime, Klutzy and the Texas Tower Association are hoping the White House will agree to issue a citation in time for a memorial service planned for Labor Day weekend in Cape Cod, Mass.

Last year, Donald Abbott, president of the association and son of a welder killed in the collapse, organized the first service on a boat over the sunken tower, which has been visited by scuba divers for years.

Klutzy said the organization is still looking for the families of five civilian workers and eight airmen lost in the collapse of Tower 4.

Anyone who has information was asked to call Abbott at 1-800-397-0648 or e-mail him at donald.r.abbott@gte.net