Word: mckeon
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Thus at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot on Parris Island, S.C. last week began the court-martial of Matt McKeon (rhymes with hewn). In a larger sense, it was the trial of the Marine Corps and the training methods by which it has turned generations of soft, shambling boys into hard, disciplined fighting...
Without Apology. Last spring, as a junior drill instructor, Matt McKeon led Recruit Platoon 71 on a night disciplinary march into the tidal waters of Ribbon Creek, where six boots were drowned (TIME, April 23). McKeon was charged with drinking in the barracks beforehand, with "oppression" of the platoon, and with culpable negligence in the six deaths. Maximum penalty for conviction on all counts: six years in prison and a dishonorable discharge...
...defense was led by tireless, flamboyant Manhattan Trial Lawyer Emile Zola Berman,* 53, a World War II Army Air Force intelligence officer (Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star), who took the case without pay, on the urging of a committee of New York lawyers and judges that rallied to help McKeon. Berman, with his three civilian and three military aides, set about trying to prove that training marches into Parris Island tidal swamps were common practice-and that the toughness and spirit of the Marine Corps are based on such disciplinary techniques. "Sergeant McKeon," rasped Berman in his nerve-pinching voice...
Without Authority. Against Berman was pitted Marine Major Charles Sevier, 35, the chief prosecuting officer, a veteran of Saipan, Tinian and Okinawa, who describes himself as "a plain, unspectacular guy trying to do a job." Sevier's case: Drill Instructor McKeon was not authorized to take Platoon 71 into the marshes; his action was therefore criminal, and the fact that he had been drinking made it worse. Said Sevier to newsmen: "I have the greatest sympathy for D.I.s. They have a terribly tough job. But damn it, we try to maintain excellent discipline without brutality...
Ploddingly, patiently, Sevier stitched his case together. Marine training regulations were entered in the record. A witness recited the tide tables. The court made a trip to the scene of the Ribbon Creek tragedy; Sergeant McKeon stood with his judges on the grassy bank, and stared expressionless into the dark water. Back in the steaming auditorium, survivors of Platoon 71 told of the death march. When he first joined Platoon 71, Private Earl Grabowski, 18, had been known as a crybaby; now, with manful calm, he told of the march, sparing neither McKeon, the platoon nor the Marine Corps. Said...