Word: mckeon
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...General's Handshake. Only a few hours before, 31-year-old Matt McKeon had been relaxed, almost cheerful as he awaited the decision of the six Marine officers and the Navy doctor who had sat as his judges. His demeanor was an understandable result of a week of remarkable courtroom dramatics. McKeon himself had provided the first highlight. Taking the stand in his own defense, he made a convincing witness as he told the court that his only concern, even as he led his platoon through a tidal swamp, had been for his troops-that if they failed...
Then came the trial's most surprising performance. Down from Washington to testify in McKeon's behalf came General Randolph McCall Pate, commandant of the Marine Corps and the man who approved the court-martial and, in April, angrily called McKeon's action "deplorable." Tieless and affable, Marine Pate first went out of his way to shake McKeon's hand and murmur "Good luck to you, my boy," before he took the witness stand. If it were up to him, he said haplessly, in answer to "Zuke" Berman's hypothetical question, his only punishment...
...Navy Cross and a living legend of the corps. He barked that the Marines' only mission is "success in battle," added that if "we are to win the next war," the nation's youth must get a lot more of the kind of training that Matt McKeon had tried to give Recruit Platoon 71 at Parris Island. Both he and General Pate, Puller roared, "agree and regret that this man was ever ordered to trial...
Respectful but not intimidated, the seven court-martial officers took seven hours to find Matt McKeon guilty of drinking in barracks and simple negligence in the six deaths. But they cleared him of the more serious charges of "oppression" and culpable negligence. McKeon, the court found, was not drunk the night of the march, nor had he been criminally negligent. McKeon, Zuke Berman, the prosecution and the press took the verdict as clear evidence of a Pate-weight sentence to come. Then, next day, came the stunning blow...
...goes automatically to Navy Secretary Charles S. Thomas, who can reduce or suspend but not increase the sentence, or can order a retrial. After his decision a three-man military board of review must take another look. Such steps normally take months. And while they are under way, Marine McKeon will remain restricted to a ten-mile area around Parris Island, uncertain until the last whether he is finally to be read out of the corps in disgrace...