On the 40th anniversary of L./Cpl. Darwin L. Judge’s death, 12 American Legion Riders from Iowa towns near and far, large and small, paid their respects Wednesday morning at Judge’s grave in Marshalltown’s serene Rose Hill Cemetery.

Joining fellow rider Randy Kessler of Marshalltown and Dick Webb of Ames, who had organized the event, they had ridden their motorcycles from Ames, Cumming, Des Moines and Polk City.

One placed a wreath made up of red, white and blue flowers at Judge’s grave.

On April 29, 1975, Marshalltown native Judge, 19, accompanied by fellow Marine Security Guard Cpl. Charles McMahon, 21, of Woburn, Mass., were on guard duty at Post 2, Tan Son Nhut airport when a 122 mm North Vietnamese rocket struck their position, killing them. They died just hours before the beginning of the evacuation of Saigon, Operation Frequent Wind, which ended April 30.

One by one on Wednesday, the riders paid their respects.

A group salute was made, then a hearty chorus of

“Ooh-Rah” the traditional Marine yell.

Following Kessler’s lead, they then rode west to pay their respects at Darwin L. Judge Park, its entry off the 1000 block of South 12th Street in Marshalltown.

The Judge and McMahon families had to wait nearly one year receive the bodies of their dead sons.

“Because their bodies were inexplicably left behind at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, (near Tan Son Nhut airport, the Marines’ remains were not repatriated until nearly a year later in March 1976,” reported the April 2015 VFW magazine.

The late U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy was instrumental in bringing Judge and McMahon’s bodies home to their final resting places.

He negotiated initially with the Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam and later, the North Vietnamese government, reported radio station WBUR Boston.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, state Rep. Dean Fisher of Garwin learned of a special tribute to Judge, a distant cousin, which took place half a world away from Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the The World Food Prize Foundation.

He wrote to Fisher via email: “Earlier today I received a message from the US ambassador in Hanoi, Ted Osius, who informed me that he will dedicate a plaque at the embassy tomorrow in honor of your cousin Darwin Judge and the other Marine who were killed on that last day. I hope this information is meaningful to you and your family.”

Many Central Iowa sons and daughters heeded the call to duty, and 31, including Judge, paid the ultimate price. The Vietnam War Memorial at Marshalltown’s Iowa Veterans Home lists 30 casualties and one Missing in Action, although that MIA was later declared Killed in Action.

There were two causalities from Grundy County, four from Hardin County, 15 from Marshall County, and 10 from Tama County.

Each veterans’ name, and date of death, are etched in stone by county on the memorial.

The memorial was dedicated in 1992.

By war’s end on April 30, 1975, nearly 3 million service men and women fought in the conflict that would claim the lives of more than 58,000 Americans.

Also keeping Judge’s memory alive is a memorial webpage prepared by Judge’s close friend, Ken Locke – www.members.tripod.com/~kclocke/judge.html

Additionally, the Fall of Saigon Marines Association, founded in 2000, keep their memories alive with reunion commemorations and scholarships.