MARSHALL-JAMES

FIRST  MARINE  SECURITY  GUARD

KILLED  DEFENDING  A  US  EMBASSY

On the early morning of January 31, 1968 at the start of the Vietcong (VC) Tet Offensive, a 19-man VC sapper team attempted to seize the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam.  Although the VC team successfully penetrated the embassy compound, they were unable to initially enter the chancery building and were pinned down by security forces.  When the attack began the embassy was protected by a force of only four US Army military police and one Marine Security Guard, CPL James Conrad Marshall.  The battle was intense as Army and Marine reinforcements arrived and the fighting lasted several hours.  By approximately 5:30am, CPL Marshall had been stationed on the roof of one of the embassy buildings when he spotted a VC sapper behind a tree below him on the embassy grounds.  He engaged the sapper in gunfire and during the exchange of fire CPL Marshall was hit in the neck and killed.  He thus became the first Marine Security Guard to be killed in the defense of an American Embassy.  In recognition of his dedication to duty in his exposed position, CPL Marshall was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star.

James Conrad Marshall was born on July 29, 1946 in Monroeville, Alabama.  During his senior year in high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps on February 24, 1964 at a recruiting office in Birmingham, Alabama, in the delay entry program.  After graduating from Monroeville High School he reported on June 17, 1964 for boot camp training.  After initial assignments, he was chosen for training as a Marine Security Guard and assigned to Vietnam.  He has been buried at the Baptist Church Cemetery in Monroeville, Alabama.  He was survived by his parents and a sister, all residing in Monroeville.

During the embassy attack, eighteen VC sappers were killed and the lone survivor was taken prisoner.  American casualties in addition to CPL Marshall were four Army MPs.  The attack on the embassy had a profound political and psychological impact in the United States.  The American public was shocked that despite the presence of nearly 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, the VC had managed to actually penetrate the chancery building during the attack.  Marshall Hall at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia, was named in honor of CPL Marshall.

                 

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)