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May
31, 2007
Semper
Fi, Pappy
Memorial Day 2007
By Jack
D. McNamara
I
last saw Staff Sergeant Leon Shirley “Pappy” Madden on a bright morning
in early May, 1969. He was working with the young Marines of Battery
“F,” 2d Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment on their gun line of 105mm
howitzers on Fire Support Base Razor. He was as surprised to see me as
I was to see him.
FSB Razor overlooked the A Shau Valley where Vietnam joins Laos. Like
others in the mountainous section of Vietnam, it was a small mountain
whose crest had been leveled with explosives and small earth movers.
The sides fell precipitately into the jungle below and clear
fast-running streams. It was a crowded, dangerous place packed with
fighting positions, ammunition and Marines. I was on my way on foot
from the 9th Marines Combat Operations Center at one end to the 2/12
Fire Direction Center at the other end of the sheared-off mountain top
when I stopped to visit with the gunners of Battery F.
“Pappy” Madden was a short, grizzled, South Carolinian with a permanent
chew of tobacco in the pouch of his cheek. He was freshly minted as a
Staff Noncommissioned Officer (E6), a point on which I commented and I
complimented him.
I knew him from two-years before when he was the Battery Armorer of the
3d 155 Gun Battery (self-propelled) and I was his battery com- mander
in
the Chu Lai area of South Vietnam. As battery armorer it was his duty
to maintain the machine guns and grenades with which we defended
ourselves every night. He instructed our artillery Marines on the use
of these infantry weapons every evening as they went into their
outposts and ambush sites. The following morning he collected the
ordnance, inspected and maintained it in readiness for the next
nightfall. The troops loved him although they were sometimes puzzled
that he was clearly the oldest corporal in the battery. I promoted him
from corporal to sergeant. Promotions were frequent in the Marine Corps
of those days so there was a certain irony in the nickname “Pappy.”
Most of us also knew that Sgt Madden had been a Sgt before; but was
“busted” for an unauthorized absence caused by a family crisis.
Not unusual then and now for men under arms and discipline in time of
war.
I remember clearly that I was pleased to see him and pleased to see
that he was regaining the stripes he deserved for his 16 years’ loyal
service to Corps and country.
Several weeks later I was in the 9th Marines Combat Operations Center
(COC) at Vandergrift Combat Base (VCB) reading the reports of a battle
the previous night on the Khe Sanh Plateau involving the 3d Battalion,
9th Marines.
One of the reported casualties was SSgt “Pappy” Madden. He died June
27, 1969 when a rocket propelled grenade hit the battery’s command
post, killing him and another Marine. Battery F was there supporting
the infantry Marines.
S/Sgt “Pappy” Madden was 34 years old. He was from Clinton, South
Carolina. His name is on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall at
www.thewall-usa.com. Those who visit the site sometimes leave email
messages. A Marine from Clovis, NM wrote in 2006, “I think of you
often. I liked you a lot. You were a unique individual. I found you
that morning. I am sorry nothing could be done to save your life.”
Another Marine from Pennsylvania wrote in 2002, “It’s been 33 years
ago, I still think of the times we shared, the good and the bad, you
were like a father to me for the ten months we spent together … I still
think about you … and I often wonder what would’ve become of you men
had you lived …”
A Hawaii Marine wrote, “I served with this hero at a firebase in I
Corps. He was someone that I respected. He took me under his wing and
made sure I was doing the right things in the right places … Everybody
had great respect for this fine man.”
Memorial Day is today, May 31. For some of our memories it is every
day. It is not long weekends for bureaucrats nor is it the occasion for
holiday sales merchandizing. It is May 31 and my war comrades and I
pause every year to remember those who died in battle.
Memorial Day is not Veterans Day, November 11, when we similarly pause
to remember those who served. That is a fine day indeed because
November 11, 1919 celebrates the end of what was at the time the most
horrible war in modern history.
Someone who died in battle is a special person in man’s history, from
Pericles of Athens to this day. Those of us who are Marines often
express our feelings for such persons by our term “Semper Fi,” derived
from the Latin Semper Fidelis, meaning “always faithful.” We are always
faithful to the memory of men like Pappy Madden who gave so much. •
(Also
published by the Big Bend Sentinel of Marfa, Texas May 31, 2007.)
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