T-R PHOTOS BY MIKE DONAHEY — Shown from left are Tom Apgar, Todd Eipperle and Greg DeSaulniers after they placed a wreath at the Central Iowa Vietnam Veterans Memorial Tuesday on the grounds of the Iowa Veterans Home. The wreath placement followed ceremonies honoring Iowa Vietnam Veterans on Tuesday. Apgar was in the same Boy Scout Troop with the late fallen Marine Darwin Judge. Eipperle is a War on Terror veteran, and DeSaulniers was Judge’s brother-in-law.

A standing–room–only crowd of several hundred attendees from near and far honored the 50th anniversary of L/CPL Darwin Judge’s tragic death – and those of the other 58,219 American casualties from the Vietnam War in a solemn, but inspirational ceremony on Tuesday morning at the Iowa Veterans Home.

“They paid the ultimate sacrifice in defending freedom,” said IVH Commandant and event emcee Todd Jacobus. “This is the place each of should be on this day.”

Judge, 19, a Marshalltown native and 1974 Marshalltown High School graduate, was one of the final two ground casualties in the war. The second was Cpl. Charles McMahon of Woburn, Mass., a fellow Marine. They were killed by an enemy rocket attack on April 29, 1975 at their guard post at Tan Soo Nhut air base outside of Saigon.

Lori DeSaulniers of Marshalltown — Judge’s sister — emphasized in her remarks that all American casualties, both men and women, were being honored at the event held in the spacious Malloy Leisure Resource Center.

Of the casualties, 868 were from Iowa and 32 were from central Iowa with one serviceman — Air Force Maj. Bradley Gene Cuthbert of Marshalltown — considered Missing–in–Action by his family.

DeSaulniers also thanked the servicemen and women who contributed to the war effort in Vietnam but returned home alive.

“Thank you all of you Vietnam veterans, thank you for your efforts to keep America free … while being away from your family and friends,” she said. “Thank you for all you did, and that is why Darwin enlisted in the Marines. He wanted to do his part to keep America free.”

Nearly 3 million service men and women served in the conflict. Combat troops from the Republic of Vietnam, Australia, South Koreans, Thailand and the Philippines also fought or supported the war effort in the conflict, which raged in the Southeast Asia countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam from Nov. 1, 1955 to April 30, 1975.

DeSaulniers said her brother was a patriot and wanted to carry on the family’s strong military tradition. Their father Henry was a World War II veteran who served as a tail–gunner on an Army Air Corps B–17 aircraft, and their brother Loren Judge served as a pilot with extensive service in the Navy and Air Force.

Keynote speaker Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, a Dubuque native, also honored the Judge family, his comrades and those who served and perished.

Quinn, 82, in his compelling remarks, described his foreign service work of many years in South Vietnam and Cambodia.

He and family were in harm’s way while serving as U.S. ambassador to Cambodia when the region was violently torn by political strife and violence.

“Once, our home came under an intense and violent attack,” he said. “I remember my wife and I laying on top of our three children to protect them. I was praying that if a bullet pierced the walls it would find me and not one of my children. Fortunately, we were not harmed.”

Quinn, fluent in the Vietnamese language, served as interpreter for the former and late president Gerald Ford, who was commander–in–chief during the war’s final years.

Quinn was serving Ford in the White House and clearly remembered the evacuation of Americans and South Vietnamese from the American embassy in Saigon April 30, 1975 as North Vietnamese troops entered the city, eventually renaming it Ho Chi Minh City.

At the conclusion of the event, in the Malloy Leisure Resource Center, dozens adjourned to the Central Iowa Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the grounds of IVH. The memorial, installed in 1992, honors 31 casualties and one MIA from Grundy, Hardin, Marshall and Tama counties.

“The memorial also celebrates those affected by the war,” said Navy veteran and businessman Vic Hellberg of Marshalltown, who served on the Central Iowa Vietnam Veterans Involvement Committee that raised $65,000 for the granite monument. “Those affected were the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and friends whose lives were forever altered.”

There, Ken Locke, a former Marine and Judge’s best friend while growing up in Marshalltown, spoke in his honor and for all Vietnam veterans “who answered the call either by enlisting or being drafted. They put themselves in harm’s way … I had tears in my eyes when I heard of Darwin’s death on the radio.”

Per annual tradition, Greg DeSaulniers, Todd Eipperle and Tom Apgar placed a wreath at the monument.

Also participating in the event were Marshalltown Community School District Superintendent Theron Schutte, the IVH Choir, the Marshalltown Combined Honor Guard, Boy Scout Troop 308, Marshalltown High School National Anthem Singers, Mayor Joel Greer, The Fall of Saigon Marines Association, Deacon Tom Renze and the IVH Mobile Honor Guard.

“When a young person’s life is cut short – like Darwin’s and thousands more – we can only wonder what they would have become had they lived,” said Jacobus, a U.S. Army veteran, in his closing remarks. “The best way we can honor them is by living a life of service to others.”