thedrifter
11-09-08, 07:35 AM
Veterans honored in Farmington
By Terry Karkos , Staff Writer
Sunday, November 9, 2008
FARMINGTON - At the age of 18 in 1966, Daniel J. Claire joined the Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam.
On Sept. 7, 1967, Cpl. Clair and 79 Marines in two platoons went on patrol to Con Tien, below the Demilitarized Zone. That afternoon, they ran into two divisions of North Vietnamese soldiers. The battle lasted three days, according to Clair, who was with a machine-gun unit with India Co., 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines.
Clair suffered a concussion and a leg wound after being hit by shrapnel during the first rocket barrage that killed many of his friends. He and other wounded soldiers survived the night and were carried out by tanks the next morning.
On Saturday night at the conclusion of a moving ceremony recognizing more than 70 veterans across Western Maine from World War II through the Cold War, state Rep. Thomas Saviello, I-Wilton, pinned a Purple Heart to Clair's Vietnam jungle jacket. The medal replaced one that Clair had lost.
Saviello was overcome with emotion and shook as he pinned the medal to Clair's jacket. A crowd of about 400 packed inside the Farmington Baptist Church gave Clair a standing ovation. Many had been recognized earlier for service to their country and were presented with special certificates, medals and pins.
"I had no idea there was an ovation," Saviello said afterward. "He'd asked me to pin it on him. This guy's a real hero."
Prior to the ceremony, Saviello said he'd been given a list of Purple Heart license plates and contacted each veteran, to have them attend Saturday's recognition ceremony.
After learning Clair's story and about the friends he'd lost to the war, Saviello decided to get a Purple Heart for Clair to replace the one Clair had lost.
On learning that it takes 18 months to get one, he contacted staff of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who found one at a U.S. Marine barracks and sent it up.
"I wasn't going to wait 18 months. He was going to get his Purple Heart tonight," Saviello said.
Wearing a black suit, Clair, who was accompanied by his wife, Nancy Smith-Clair, moved to Canton three years ago from Los Angeles.
After being presented with Purple Heart recognition, Clair walked to the dark side of the church and donned the top half of his Vietnam fatigues over his white dress shirt in preparation for the last medal presentation.
Watching veteran after veteran walk to the front to be recognized, Clair said he came to the ceremony "for the guys who didn't come back and for the guys being honored tonight."
Afterward, while waiting for her husband to return from having a group photograph taken, Nancy Smith-Clair said of the ceremony, "The more of this, the more healing there is."
Ellie
By Terry Karkos , Staff Writer
Sunday, November 9, 2008
FARMINGTON - At the age of 18 in 1966, Daniel J. Claire joined the Marine Corps to fight in Vietnam.
On Sept. 7, 1967, Cpl. Clair and 79 Marines in two platoons went on patrol to Con Tien, below the Demilitarized Zone. That afternoon, they ran into two divisions of North Vietnamese soldiers. The battle lasted three days, according to Clair, who was with a machine-gun unit with India Co., 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines.
Clair suffered a concussion and a leg wound after being hit by shrapnel during the first rocket barrage that killed many of his friends. He and other wounded soldiers survived the night and were carried out by tanks the next morning.
On Saturday night at the conclusion of a moving ceremony recognizing more than 70 veterans across Western Maine from World War II through the Cold War, state Rep. Thomas Saviello, I-Wilton, pinned a Purple Heart to Clair's Vietnam jungle jacket. The medal replaced one that Clair had lost.
Saviello was overcome with emotion and shook as he pinned the medal to Clair's jacket. A crowd of about 400 packed inside the Farmington Baptist Church gave Clair a standing ovation. Many had been recognized earlier for service to their country and were presented with special certificates, medals and pins.
"I had no idea there was an ovation," Saviello said afterward. "He'd asked me to pin it on him. This guy's a real hero."
Prior to the ceremony, Saviello said he'd been given a list of Purple Heart license plates and contacted each veteran, to have them attend Saturday's recognition ceremony.
After learning Clair's story and about the friends he'd lost to the war, Saviello decided to get a Purple Heart for Clair to replace the one Clair had lost.
On learning that it takes 18 months to get one, he contacted staff of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, who found one at a U.S. Marine barracks and sent it up.
"I wasn't going to wait 18 months. He was going to get his Purple Heart tonight," Saviello said.
Wearing a black suit, Clair, who was accompanied by his wife, Nancy Smith-Clair, moved to Canton three years ago from Los Angeles.
After being presented with Purple Heart recognition, Clair walked to the dark side of the church and donned the top half of his Vietnam fatigues over his white dress shirt in preparation for the last medal presentation.
Watching veteran after veteran walk to the front to be recognized, Clair said he came to the ceremony "for the guys who didn't come back and for the guys being honored tonight."
Afterward, while waiting for her husband to return from having a group photograph taken, Nancy Smith-Clair said of the ceremony, "The more of this, the more healing there is."
Ellie