TEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
Tuesday, April 10. 1956
Survivor of Marine Death March Believes
Sergeant Leader Should Be Held Blameless
Parris Island. S.C. (U.R)
The commandant of ihe Mar
in Corps said loday a Marine
drill inslructor "positively did
not have the authority" to take
his platoon on a night march
that ended in death for six of
the 70 recruits.
The commandant. Gen.
Randolph Pate, would not say
whether S. Sgl. Matthew Mc
Keon routed his platoon out
Sunday right for disciplinary
reasons. But McKeon, in a
prepared statement, admitted
that the march was to teach
the men discipline.
Parris Island, S.C. .U.R) A.
Marine recruit, who survived
the death march into a Parris
Island swamp, indicated today
he would tell investigating com
mittees that the sergeant who
led the maneuver was blameless.
"The sergeant was right there
with us," Marine Recruit Soren
T. Daniel said. "He was the first
one in the water and the next to
the last one out ... I heard him
ask several times if everybody
was all right."
Daniel, 20, is the son of Sin
clair Daniel, president of Whit-
worth college at Brookhaven,
Miss. He defended the leader
ship of SSgt.. Matthew C. Mc-
SPORTS
Central Pointers Nick
Gold Hill Nine 1 to 0
Central Point Central Point
seventh and eighth grade base
ballers sneaked by Gold Hill 1
to 0 last week end. A base on
balls, a stolen base and Bill
Anhorn's single provided the
lone run. Anhorn on the mound
for CP faced just 16 batters in
the five inning fray. He yielded
one hit and struck out six bat
ters. Eldred held the Pointers
to two hits, fanned five and
walked two.
SIGN FOR MEET
Philadelphia (U.R) Jack
van Pragg of Pasadena, Calif.,
president of the American Bad
minton Assn., said today Can
ada, Denmark, England, Sweden
and the United States have field
entries for the newly-formed
Uber Cup competition, a world
badminton series for women
which will start early in 1957.
LOWRY SIGNS
Milwaukee, Wis. (U.R) The
Milwaukee Braves have signed
outfielder John Lowry of Rock
Hill, S. C, to a contract with
their Eau Claire, Wis., farm club
and outfielder Gabriel Ramon
Guayama of Puerto Rico to a
contract with their Quebec farm
team.
SPOKANE WINS
Calistoga (U.R) The Spokane
Indians of the Western Interna
tional League smashed out 14
hits in a seven inning exhibition
game yesterday to defeat San
Jcse of the California League
12-3.
OPEN HOUSE
Jersey City, N.J. (U.R) The
Brooklyn Dodgers announced to
day they will hold a free-of-charge
"open house" at the Jer
sey City ball park April 18, the
day before they play the first
of their seven games there this
season.
BETTERS MARK
Moscow (U.R) Fedor Bogdan
ovski of Russia bettered the list
ed world weight-lifting record
for middleweight Monday when
he hoisted a total of 415 kilo
grams (913 pounds) in the three
standard lifts. Tommy Kono of
Sacramento. Calif., holds the of
ficial international mark.
CHANGE POLICY
Indianapolis, Ind. (U.R) Du
ane Carter, racing director for
the United States Auto Club,
said today the organization is
withdrawing its "open door"
policy and that no member can
participate' in any future race
unless it is sanctioned by the
USAC.
SWIM TEAM HOME
Portland UR- Multnomah
Athletic Club"s seven-girl swim
team arrived home last night
from Daytona Beach, Fla.,
where MAC finished third in the
national women's indoor swim
ming and diving championships.
Keon at the same time prepara
tions were being made for two
separate investigations into the
pre-dawn march in which five
men died and one is missing and
presumed dead.
The Marine Corps ordered
McKeon, a Korean war veteran,
placed in the brig "pending the
findings" of a court of inquiry.
Hit Unfamiliar Spot
A public information officer
at the base said McKeon appar
ently hit an unfamiliar spot
while he was leading his pla
toon. He said recruits are frequent
ly mustered at nisht for such
sudden marches as part of their
training.
Gen. Joseph C. Burger, com
mander of the base, ordered a
Marine court of inquiry to make
an immediate investigation into
the incident.
Gen. Randolph Pate, Marine
Corps commandant, flew from
Washington to the scene of the
disaster and said he would take
"personal command" of the in
quiry and review whatever
findings the investigators make.
Calls for Investigation
Rep. L. Mendel Rivers (D.
S.C.) a member of the House
Armed Services committee, call
ed for a congressional investiga
tion. His , congressional col
league, Sen. Allen J. Ellender
(D.-La.) said "Things like this
should not be allowed to go un
punished." He recalled that the
Marine Corps had previously
made changes to curb what he
said were "over-ambitious boys
training these kids."
Chairman Carl Vinson (D.-l
Ga.) of the Armed Services com
mittee, said his group would de
lay a decision on the congres
sional investigation until the
Marine Corps inquiry has been
completed.
Seventy five Marine recruits
were on the march. They stum
bled into the grassy swamp on
the edge of this island training
base In the early morning dark
ness. Eleven became separated
from the main group led by 31-
year-old McKeon of Worcester,
Mass. Five were found alive la
ter. Rescuers then found the
bodies of five who apparently
drowned when they became
hopelessly tangled in the thick,
muddy bottom of the swamp.
No trace of the eleventh man
had been found by early today,
although rescue crews search
ed the disaster area Monday and
throughout most of the night.
Editor's Note: Pvt. Clarence E. Cox,
17, Lenoir, N.C.. "death march" pla
toon survivor, tells In a first hand
account of how he swam to an island
and spent some five hours shivering
and waiting to be the last man
rescued.
By CLARENCE E. COX
As Told to United Press
Parris Island, S.C. (U.R)
About 8 p.m. Sunday night the
sergeant (SSgt. Matthew C. Mc
Keon, 31, Worchester, Mass.)
came in and said we had three
minutes to fall out.
.! don't know how far we
marched from the barracks,
about three-quarters of a mile,
I think.
We were marching along the
edge of the water near the bank
when suddenly we were not on
the edge any more, but in it.
I went under. I lost my direc
tion and I swam to an island.
The wind vas blowing and I was
dressed in fatigues and a sweat
shirt.
Realized He Was Lost
When I got to the island, I
thought that I was where we
had started from, but then I real
ized that I was lost and decided
fo stay there until somebody
came to find me.
I guess I got pretty cold but
I couldn't tell because I guess I
was pretty scared. I don't have
any idea how long it was before
I was found.
The first thing I saw was spot
lights and floodlights from a fire
truck. I swam to where they
were, about 50 yards I think, but
when I reached shore I got stuck
in the mud and three guys in a
boat came and got me. It was
just a rowboal.
They took me up to where
some men from the search party
gathered. Up until then I didn't
know there were any men. miss
ing but me.
MULE TRAIN! 4
Grand Rapids, Mich. (U.R)
It's illegal to drive more than
25 mules at a time across the
Fulton Street bridge under a
city ordinance still on the books.
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TINY TORNADO VICTIM Volunteer worker Mrs. Grace
Root tries to comfort two-year-old Bruce Popelka who
was injured when a tornado roared through Berlin, Wis.
Six persons lost their lives in the Berlin area including
Bruce's mother and six-year-old brother.
Oregon's Voting
Law Defended
Portland (U.R) Mrs. Jean
Young, secretary of the Republi
can State . Central committee,
last night defended Oregon's
new voting laws before the
Portland Central Labor council
which last week heard Sen.
Richard L. Neuberger (D-Ore.),
attack them.
The laws require the voter to
sign two poll books. Democrats
have charged it will slow up
balloting and cause people to
remain away from the poll.
Mrs. Young said the laws
would prevent some election ir
regularities, protect the purity
of the ballot and would elimin
ate use of another's name to get
an illegal ballot and vote.
She attacked use of the re
cent Eugene special election as
a yardstick. She said that it was
"human error" that resulted in
a slowup there. Some 60 Eu
gene precincts were crowded
into four with some 1000 voters
assigned to each of them. In a
state election not more than 500
can be voted in one precinct.
One person told her he wait
ed 28 minutes in line for a bal
lot and that if he had had to
care for children he would have
gone home.
Mrs. Young said many people
wait longer than that in line to
get into a movie.
Government Building
Designed To Care for
Mentally III Patients
Waldport Watershed
Land Ordered Withdrawn
Portland (U.R) Secretary
of Interior Douglas McKay to
day ordered withdrawn from ap
propriation 40 acres of public
lands comprising the principal
READY TO GO Anywhere, carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt is recommissioned at Brem
erton, Wash., after two year conversion at approximate cost of $48,000,000. Major changes
are hurricane bow, angled flight deck and steam launching catapults. " (International)
Washington U.R) The gov
ernment Friday will dedicate a
10-story modern building speci
fically designed from basement
to penthouse for civilized, home
like care for the mentally ill.
It has been built and fur
nished according to specifica
tions laid down by some of the
country's most distinguished
psychiatrists. It is expected to
serve as a pace-setting model for
mental hospitals all over the
world.
Ranks High in World
The new building will be part
of St. Elizabeth's hospital the
government's largest and most
famous mental institution. It
ranks high, experts say, among
mental hospitals of the world.
But there are no "insane" at
St. Elizabeths. The word is
taboo. Says Dr. Winfred Over
holser, the superintendent:
"We conceive of hospitaliza
tion as a result of a person's not
being able to get along in so
citey; we think of it as a tempor
ary emergency situation."
Not every mental patient, of
course, can be completely, cured.
But many can at least to the
point of being returnable to fam
ily and friends. At St. Eliza
beth's 60 to 70 per cent of the
patients ultimately are dis
charged. To Provide Society
"Our object," Overholser says,
"is to provide a society for the
patient that as closely as pos
sible approximates living at
home, more closely approaching
general society than hospital
society."
So the new $6,000,000 build
ing, for the emotionally ill men
watershed area for Waldport,
Ore. McKay said the order was
to protect the municipal water
supply of the coastal city.
and women living there, will be
more a home-away-from-home
than a hospital. It is dedicated to
the "patient's return to his
community."
Texas Dust Storms
Leave Many Acres
Without Topsoil
By UNITED PRESS
A destructive April storm
dwindled into rains and wet
snows over the nation's midsec
tion to day, leaving at least 2,
000,000 acres of eroded land in
Texas.
Skies cleared over Texas and
other Southwest states today af
ter "black dusters" tore away
tons of topsoil.
A dollars-and-cents estimate
of the damage was still impos
sible. But the Texas State Soil
Conservation office estimated
that 2,000,000 acres of land had
been eroded by dust storms dur
ing the last week.
Worst in Seven Yean
At least three deaths were
blamed on the Texas duster, the
worst in seven years in many
areas, and the Northeast counted
six dead in another wintry out
break. New England and other East
ern seaboard residents were
busy cleaning up from the lat
est of a series of snow storms
which have swept the area.
They were heartened by offi
cial assurances that a flood
threat has passed. It was feared
earlier that melting snows
would send streams over their
banks. But Brig. Gen. Robert
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Columbus, O. (U.R) An
Ohio State University sociology
professor is an adviser on a
highway accident study sponsor
ed by the school and the state's
department of highway safety.
His name is W C. Reckless.
Fleming Jr., chief of the New
England army engineers divis
ion, said today there is "little
chance" of major floods on
coastal streams in the region.
Snow in Kansas
The Plains states still had"
weather troubles, with four to
six inches of snow in Kansas. At
least 11 small towns in the
Dodge City area were isolat
ed from outside telephone com
munication when ice knocked
out 200 long distance circuits
yesterday.
The storm was centered in the
lower Mississippi Valley early
today. Thunderstorms hit Tex
as and the Gulf states, dousing
Baton Rouge, La., with 1.73
inches of rain.
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