SAN BENITO — Lance Corporal Robert Corkill dropped his rocket launcher and picked up a M60 machine gun during the heat of battle in the South Vietnam jungle.
Corkill’s platoon was under heavy attack and the M60 was not being fired as the operators were wounded or already killed.
The platoon had been ambushed while on a mission to clear out a Viet Cong strong hold.
Corkill, 20 at the time, was ultimately killed by the enemy forces against on that afternoon of May 29, 1966.
“He was firing the M60 when he got killed,” said Don Acheson, who visited Corkill’s grave yesterday. “I think 13 Marines were killed that day.
“He saved quite a few lives,” Acheson said.
Corkill was fighting the enemy forces in the vicinity of Phu Nai,Co Bi Thanh Tran area, eight kilometers south of Phong Dien in South Vietnam.
“Since today is the day he died we wanted to come out and see him,” said Ernest Preston, a Marine who served with Corkill and also visited his grave site yesterday.
Corkill’s fellow leatherneck Marine veterans Preston and Acheson fought alongside each other during the Vietnam War before he died.
The two were in town to visit Corkill’s grave for Memorial Day and meet with Corkill’s relatives yesterday.
They were also there to dress up Corkill’s grave site with flowers, light candles and to sing the Marines official hymm.
“All three of us just happened to come together and we were like brothers,” Acheson said while standing over Corkill’s grave. “We went through training together and we went on Liberty together.”
The three first met each other at Camp Pendleton in 1963.
Acheson said Corkill was one of the best Marines.
“Robert left his protected area and ran over to the machine gun,” Acheson said. “He got it firing again and he saved several lives.”
Acheson was with Corkill’s cousins and explained what he remembered about his fellow Marine to the Corkill family.
“He was a great person,” Ernest Preston said.
Preston recalled touring Tokyo, Japan and the Philippines with Corkill.
“He was a wonderful person to be with on liberty,” Preston said.
Acheson said he would have been with Corkill the day he died fighting the Viet Cong stronghold if he had not caught malaria.
“We were always together,” Acheson said.
But in early 1966 Preston was honorably discharged, Acheson had caught malaria and was sent to the hospital in De Nag where he was told the story by another Marine about Corkill’s heroic death.
Acheson traveled from Lake Charles, Louisiana, while Preston traveled from Tucson, Arizona, to visit Corkill’s grave.
