Manchu Warrior Posted February 20, 2017 Share #1 Posted February 20, 2017 I was at a flea market a couple of Sundays ago and I was digging through a box of old papers and I came across an off white yellowed old envelope. I opened it up and I got a glimpse of a familiar telegram. I got rather excited and pulled it part way out and just read a little of the beginning. I noticed it was addressed to a wife and it was dated 1968 and it started with,"I deeply regret to confirm...." I put it back in the envelope and pulled out the other papers such as his personnel affects being returned and once again I didn't read much. With what I had read I just assumed that the Marine that they were referring to was a KIA in Vietnam. I put the papers back in the envelope and asked the person what they wanted for it and he said fifty cents. I paid the man and happily moved on. I put the envelope in a book that I had also purchased and stuck in a bag I was carrying and made my way through the rest of the flea market. While driving home I was thinking about how the Marine may have died back in the volatile year that was 1968. Was he possibly killed at Khe Sanh? After all it was 1968. Or maybe he was a POW or possibly some other tantalizing story that would unfold within the papers that I found. Well, the papers sat in the book on the floor of my van for the next week or so without me givings them much thought. I finally took them in the house to read them and I was excited to see what I had found. And when I did it wasn't what I had expected.You see the young Marine wasn't killed at Khe Sanh and he wasn't a POW. He also wasn't a KIA and he didn't even die from a snake bite in the dense jungles of South East Asia. Matter of fact he didn't even die in the year 1968 or in Vietnam. Honestly there was nothing exciting about his death because the young Marine was killed while doing a boring ordinary regular ole work detail. What happened was that the Marine was on an M60 Anthony Crane that was moving bleachers around. The crane stalled on a hill and rolled backwards and flipped and in the process he was crushed. As his LT said in the letter, "he failed to rally" and he passed away. At this point you may be wondering why I am even bothering to write this so I will explain myself. Hopefully, without sounding to corny in the process. While I was reading the papers I found myself being rather disappointed that this Marines death wasn't a great story. After all he was just an ordinary Marine, if there is such a thing? Just an ordinary Marine doing an ordinary boring work detail. I even put the papers down and pushed them aside as if they weren't even collectable enough for me to be bothered with. And then, for lack of a better word, a funky kind of feeling came over me that this mans death wasn't important enough. I was honestly rather disappointed with myself for feeling that way and I was thinking of some small way to honor him. So after thinking it over for awhile I decided to do this. I figured that even if only a couple of my fellow forum members read this the Marines name will be in your thoughts for at least a short period of time almost 50 years after his untimely death. And I truly believe that there is no better way to honor him. I also felt that if there was any group of people that would appreciate it, it would be my fellow forum members. With all that said............. Cpl. Leon Sutton USMC of Pottstown, PA Died while serving our country at 1500 Hours on December 31, 1967 Camp Garcia, Vieques, Puerto Rico RIP Marine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manchu Warrior Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share #2 Posted February 20, 2017 Letter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manchu Warrior Posted February 20, 2017 Author Share #3 Posted February 20, 2017 Letter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nix284 Posted February 20, 2017 Share #4 Posted February 20, 2017 R.I.P. Marine. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aerialbridge Posted February 20, 2017 Share #5 Posted February 20, 2017 Heartfelt tribute. And a reminder to all that no death in uniform is "ordinary". As an elementary school kid in the spring of '67, my dad took us to San Juan where he was doing some work for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Dept. of Health. And while I was a kid playing in the surf at our hotel, probably CPL Sutton, not a whole lot older than me, was on the island and certainly not having the care-free time I was, nearly 50 years ago. RIP, Leon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAHOOMAN Posted February 20, 2017 Share #6 Posted February 20, 2017 RIP Marine. Semper FI !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. BARney Posted February 20, 2017 Share #7 Posted February 20, 2017 Rest in peace Cpl. Sutton and Semper Fi. You are not forgotten. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted February 20, 2017 Share #8 Posted February 20, 2017 Rest well You are remembered. I had the conversation at work once when one of the office girls mentioned how many had been killed in the War on terror a few years ago.I recall it had hit over 500(at that time). I said to her and another co-worker that its not unusual to see 300 accidental deaths in the military in a year taking into consideration the helicopters that crash and such other accidents that happen that we never hear of which are not a result of hostile combat action.Going on to explain that in WW2 the amount of Killed and wounded in battles such as Iwo Jima was staggering for just that battle. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbtcoveralls Posted February 20, 2017 Share #9 Posted February 20, 2017 People loose track of how many people in the service are killed or disabled every year. A friend's son was an Army electrician who was running some cable and had it looped over himself when the line energized and he was electrocuted He was 20 years old, it was peacetime, he had a whole life to look forward to What happened will never make history, but for my friends family it will be no different Tom Bowers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pchepurko Posted February 20, 2017 Share #10 Posted February 20, 2017 Semper Fi, Marine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarbridge Posted February 20, 2017 Share #11 Posted February 20, 2017 RIP... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fly USMC Posted February 20, 2017 Share #12 Posted February 20, 2017 Rest In Peace Marine Semper FI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobgee Posted February 20, 2017 Share #13 Posted February 20, 2017 R.I.P. Cpl Sutton. Well written memorial. Thank you. Semper Fi........Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David D Posted February 20, 2017 Share #14 Posted February 20, 2017 Rest In Peace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manchu Warrior Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share #15 Posted February 21, 2017 Mission accomplished. Thank you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BagmanL6 Posted February 21, 2017 Share #16 Posted February 21, 2017 Semper Fidelis. Your tribute is spot on. No death is routine or more important than any other. We lost a Marine in Puerto Rico (BLT 2/4) when he fell off a "1/2 locker" aboard ship from a seated position and landed on his head crushing his brain stem. We were on our way home from a 6 month Med deployment. Thank you for remembering Cpl Sutton and reminding me to remember the Marine we lost that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digi-shots Posted February 25, 2017 Share #17 Posted February 25, 2017 Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZPhil Posted February 26, 2017 Share #18 Posted February 26, 2017 RIP MARINE!! Semper Fi Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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