Fallen Marshalltown Marine symbolic of Vietnam vets' service, ambassador says
Iowa-born ambassador honors Darwin Judge on 50th anniversary of Saigon's fall
MARSHALLTOWN — Ambassador Kenneth Quinn knows what it's like to put his life on the line for someone else.
He did it in Vietnam, performing several rescues as a U.S. Foreign Service officer working with an Army air cavalry unit. He once saved an Air Force medic from drowning in a canal though not a great swimmer himself.
He did it again in Cambodia, with his own family, as he and his wife lay over their three small children while their house was riddled with bullets. He prayed to God the bullets would hit him instead of his family.
It was some of the most harrowing and rewarding times in Quinn’s 30 years as an ambassador and Foreign Service officer, for which he was decorated by the State Department and the U.S. Army — the only civilian so honored.
Quinn’s experiences make the death of a 19-year-old Marine embassy guard and fellow Iowan, Darwin Judge, most poignantly significant to him. Judge lost his life doing the same thing during the fall of Saigon 50 years ago, on April 29, 1975. He and fellow Marine Charles McMahon Jr. of Massachusetts were the last Americans killed in a military mission within Vietnam, that Quinn helped plan, that rescued some 7,000 Americans and South Vietnamese nationals from the onslaught of the advancing North Vietnamese army.
“Some of the most meaningful moments about being American are when you are far, far from home and far, far from our country,” said Quinn, also president emeritus of the World Food Prize foundation in Des Moines. “As I learned serving in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years, 10,000, 12,000 miles away from home. It was that same bond that united us in combat.”
People were willing to put their lives on the line because “you knew they would do the same for you,” he said. As Darwin Judge did.
To fully understand the chaos and confusion of Vietnam, Quinn said, "You had to be there. It was Vietnam.” That’s also true to understand bond among those who served there.
It may be beyond others’ comprehension, but not beyond appreciation.
That's why many turned out at a 50th anniversary commemoration of Judge's death and the end of Vietnam Tuesday at the Iowa Veterans Home.
As Veterans Home Commandant Todd Jacobus said, everyone who was there, was supposed to be there, and was there for a reason.
To reflect, to remember, to honor and to never ever forget.
The memories of a half century ago were clearly vivid for Quinn, who at one point paused ever so slightly to compose his emotions as he keynoted the event.
The U.S. embassy in Saigon was Darwin Judge’s first, and only, duty assignment, said his sister, Lori De Saulniers. One of his best friends, Ken Locke, now of Indiana, said the last time he saw Judge was at Marshalltown High School when he was home on a short leave before going overseas. Locke, a year younger than Judge, followed his friend into the Marine Corps and was part of the Fall of Saigon Marines Association, which paid for fixtures at a memorial park in Judge’s name in Marshalltown.
Darwin Judge had helped rescue a fellow Marine’s three-year-old daughter, getting her on a plane before he and McMahon were killed in a rocket attack on Tan Son Nhut air base and airport, part of an offensive by five North Vietnamese Army units on Saigon, the capital of what was South Vietnam.
Participating in a wreath laying at the Vietnam memorial on the Veterans Home grounds were Greg DeSaulniers, Lori’s husband and Darwin Judge’s brother in law; Judge’s fellow Marshalltown Boy Scout Todd Eipperle; and another Eagle Scout and local volunteer Tom Apgar, representing Scouting America.
The U.S Foreign Service and the Marine Corps were founded almost concurrently, Quinn said, and had something in common. “The Foreign Service wanted to have only the best. Just like the Marine Corps. That’s what I understand attracted Darwin Judge to it. And he became one of the best.”
Ken Locke said that when he and Judge were in Scouting together, “You never told Darwin he couldn’t so something. Because he would step up and take over and lead.” Both earned Eagle Scout status in addition to being Marines.
Lori DeSaulniers said her brother enlisted in the Marines because he was motivated “to do his part to keep our country free,” just like his fellow Vietnam veterans.
“We honor all of you,” she said.
Pat Kinney is a freelance writer and former longtime news staffer with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and, prior to that, several years at the Ames Tribune. He is currently an oral historian with the Grout Museum District in Waterloo. His “View from the Cedar Valley” column is part of “Iowa Writers Collaborative,” a collection of news and opinion writers from around the state who previously and currently work with a host of Iowa newspapers, news organizations and other publications. They are listed here. Clink on their individual links to check them out, subscribe for free - and, if you believe in the value of quality journalism, support this column and/or any of theirs with a paid subscription. Thank you.