GARDINER – Joan Shields Bennett held back tears of gratitude Monday as cold, relentless rain pelted those honoring her late husband, Navy Seabee Marvin Glenn Shields.
Shields died a hero’s death more than 42 years ago in the Vietnam battle of Dong Xoai. President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded him with the Medal of Honor posthumously in 1966.
“There will be a time when I am not here, and I hope you still come,” said Bennett, her voice choked with emotion as she stood a few yards from her late husband’s grave at Gardiner Cemetery.
She held a bouquet of flowers that the Seabee Veterans of America presented to her during the solemn event they conducted.
Retired Seabee Leonard MacGregor said Shields “stood the watch . . . so that we and our fellow countrymen and women could sleep soundly at night.”
Bennett thanked the 100 people in attendance.
They included 50 active Seabees of Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303 based in Bangor, who stood at attention in camouflage fatigues under the leadership of Lt. Richard J. Pocholski.
Bennett, who lives in Gardiner with her present husband, Richard, said she recently attended a Seabees reunion and visited some of Marvin Shields’ shipmates.
An honor guard from the unit presented the colors, and as part of the ceremony, lowered it to half staff in Shields’ honor.
Ferndale Mayor Jerry Landcastle, Northwest District commander of the Seabee veterans’ organization and the master of ceremonies at Monday’s gathering, remembered Shields as one “who gave his life in battle to save his fellow shipmates.”
The Battle of Dong Xoai was waged by the National Liberation Front, also known as the Viet Cong, during the communist winter-spring offensive of 1965.
Shields, a Port Townsend native, was a 25-year-old construction mechanic third class when he died in that battle.
After presenting Shields’ widow with flowers, Landcastle read aloud the citation presented to Shields “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.
“Although wounded when the compound of Detachment A342, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, came under intense fire from an estimated reinforced Viet Cong regiment employing machine guns, heavy weapons and small arms, Shields continued to resupply his fellow Americans who needed ammunition and to return the enemy fire for a period of approximately three hours, at which time the Viet Cong launched a massive attack at close range with flame throwers, hand grenades and small-arms fire.
“Wounded a second time during this attack, Shields nevertheless assisted in carrying a more critically wounded man to safety, and then resumed firing at the enemy for four more hours.
“When the commander asked for a volunteer to accompany him in an attempt to knock out an enemy machine gun emplacement which was endangering the lives of all personnel in the compound because of the accuracy of its fire, Shields unhesitatingly volunteered for this extremely hazardous mission.
“Proceeding toward their objective with a 3.5-inch rocket launcher, they succeeded in destroying the enemy machine gun emplacement, thus undoubtedly saving the lives of many of their fellow servicemen in the compound.
“Shields was mortally wounded by hostile fire while returning to his defensive position.
“His heroic initiative and great personal valor in the face of intense enemy fire sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.”
