The weekend of June 21, 1970, my parents were in Fall River, Massachusetts attending my father’s reunion of his WWII shipmates on the Battleship Massachusetts.  Sunday Morning.  I was home alone and heard the doorbell ring.  There were two marine officers who asked to speak to my parents.  I explained the situation, and they asked to come in and speak to me. 

I recall my knees and hands visibly shaking when they read the official report:  Peter was wounded by hostile fire.  He was now on the Hospital Ship Sanctuary.  Condition serious. Prognosis good.

The next several months were an emotional roller coaster for the family and unspeakable suffering for my brother.  By the middle of July, things were not looking good.  My parents were able to fly to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines to be with Peter.  He was not expected to survive the day they arrived, but their presence at his bedside brought him the strength to rally. 

His condition stabilized sufficiently for him to withstand a flight back to Bethesda Naval Hospital in August.  Over the next few months, my mother visited daily and I perhaps a dozen times.  A final go-for-broke operation to repair the extensive damage was performed in late November.  He survived the procedure, but the infection and other complications were too much for him.  He died on December 1, 1970.

The official Report of Casualty indicates that his wounds were sustained “when mistaken for the enemy,”  Although there is some question about this.  The initial surgical report performed on the Sanctuary states that AK-47 rounds were removed from his abdomen.  Peter described for my parents the fire fight in which he was wounded saying: “I got the guy that got me.”   My father for a time wondered about a cover-up: either an attempt to minimize the number of combat casualty statistics or perhaps Peter’s unit was operating in a place where they were not supposed to.  

However, in December 2009, I received an e-mail from a fellow Marine, Brad Bowman who served in India Company, 3rd Bn 1st Marines and was in the area at the time of the incident and recalls that the consensus on the ground was that it was indeed friendly fire.  Here is what he said:

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What we heard about the fire fight was all scuttlebutt (rumor). As you can tell from Pete's letters he was always "hearing something" that may or may not have been true or actually come to fruition. Rarely could anything be truly considered "official".

 

What we heard was that a squad from 3rd Platoon and a squad from Kilo Company mistook each other for the enemy and opened up. One of our guys was killed and some guys got wounded pretty bad and were medevaced. The only name I remembered was Machen. Strangely it wasn't until I recently looked up your last name on the Virtual Wall and found your website that I was able to determine that the Marine killed was a friend of mine from 3rd Platoon, John Bloschichak(I knew John had been killed but I didn't know how) and that indeed the name I remembered was your brother's. It was also then that I realized your brother had actually died of wounds received on June 19. Even this far down the road the grief is fresh.

 

Let me tell you some other things that you may or may not know about. The Marine Corp is as bad as baseball when it comes to keeping track of things. Each battalion in combat keeps a command diary every month. These diaries detail operations, fire fights, how many wounded, killed, attended what schools, went on R&R, etc, etc, etc. From the command diary for 3/1, June 1970 I got the following information.

 

On 18 june 1970, India's 3rd Platoon was attached to Kilo Company for a joint operation with Lima Company. They were helilifted to roughly about 6 kilometers west and north of hill 190 with the mission of conducting a reconnaissance in force.(2 reinforced Marine rifle companies is definitely forceful).

 

On 19 June at 1530-1545(military time) the following entry was made in the diary.

 

"I3B(means India, 3rd Platoon, B element) ACT(activity-a patrol) on route to suspected enemy harbor site observed 01 VC/NVA in bush(means "in the bush", like "in the field"). Point man fired on enemy. Approx. 08 VC/NVA returned fire w/s/a(with small arms) and automatic weapons. Resulting in 01 USMC KIA, (this had to be John) 0?(maybe a 6 or 8) USMC WIA(E)(means wounded, evacuated) and 01 WIA(NE)(means not evacuated). Med-evac called 1540 complete 1630."

 

The above entry originated from radio transmissions so it reports what the guys thought was happening at the time. I don't know when or how it was determined this event was due to friendly fire. It sounds like the investigation that was done later by a congressman may have got to the bottom of it. Anyway, it makes no difference to me in terms of the tragedy of losing a brother or fellow Marine. We enlist for a variety of reasons. Most have to do with patriotism, sense of duty to country, whatever. But I can tell you this. When the shit hits the fan as it did on 19 June 1970 Marines don't fight and die for the flag, Mom, apple pie or anything else. Pete fought and died for 3rd Platoon, his fellow Marines. To Marines there is nothing more honorable. That makes your brother a hero in my book.

 

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Peter was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat “V”.   A copy of the Citation is included in this website.  

Over the years we have received calls and e-mails out of the blue from people whose lives Peter touched.  A corpsman, Dave Taylor, who worked at the hospital in the Philippines contacted my parents through the internet in 1999.  After many years, Dave still remembers the incredible strength and spirit that my brother (whom he knew as “Art”) showed while fighting for his life.