×

Bench placed to honor fallen local Marine and comrade

T-R PHOTO BY MIKE DONAHEY A bench honoring the late Marshalltown native and United States Marine Corps L/Cpl. Darwin L. Judge and fellow Marine Cpl. Charles McMahon is pictured Monday at the local Rose Hill Cemetery. A plaque identifying Judge’s grave is to the left. Judge is buried next to his late parents, Henry and Ida Judge.

Forty-four years after his death, fellow veterans and locals still remember the ultimate sacrifice native son and late L/Cpl. Darwin Judge made for freedom.

Judge, 19, and fellow Marine Security Guard Cpl. Charles McMahon, Jr., 21, of Woburn, Mass. were killed April 29, 1975 by a 122 mm North Vietnamese rocket, which scored a direct hit on their Post 2, Tan Son Nhut airport near Saigon.

Judge and McMahon were the last American servicemen to die from enemy action on Vietnam’s soil. They died just hours before the beginning of the evacuation of Saigon, which ended April 30, 1975.

Earlier this year, American Legion Riders of Marshalltown’s American Legion Post No. 46 placed a memorial bench at Judge’s gravesite in the local Rose Hill Cemetery.

Rider Nick Salasek said the group wanted to make a lasting tribute to Judge and McMahon. Their acknowledgment is the latest of many community tributes to the youth.

• A large color photo of Judge is displayed prominently near the main interior entrance of Marshalltown High School. Judge was an MHS graduate.

• A Marshalltown park is named in his honor. It was dedicated in 1997, and can be accessed from the 1000 block of South 12th Street. It is a part of the Linn Creek Recreational Trail.

• The Historical Society of Marshall County has a large display in its Church Street facility dedicated to Judge and McMahon and all veterans.

• The late Paul G. Norris, a former Times-Republican editor, wrote of Judge in his “Memorable People” book: “His accomplishments in his brief life reveal that Darwin Judge was an exemplary young man, the type destined for success in any field he choose — is further proof of the hoary adage that ‘the good die young.’

“Yet his death in serving his country in a cause in which he fervently believed is not a waste — except in the sense that all wars are wasteful — for in his brief years he achieved more success than many who have lived four times as long.”

Judge was but one of many Central Iowans who lost their lives in the conflict.

Fittingly, a memorial was established on the grounds of the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown. It was dedicated in 1992. It honors the many Central Iowans whose lives were affected by the war. It 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. By the war’s end in April 30, 1975, it had claimed approximately 58,000 American lives.

——

Contact Mike Donahey at

641-753-6611 or

mdonahey@timesrepublican.com

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today