Had an odd experience today that left me a little shaken. A very good friend of mine had a half-brother who was a marine KIA in Viet Nam. My friend asked me to find out what I could about the circumstances surrounding his death and I thought “It’s the least I can do.” So I posted an inquiry on his unit’s web site about two months ago and got an email from a retired marine master sergeant who had been with my friend’s brother when he was killed in November of 1967.
After I got the email from the retired marine I did an Internet search to see if I could come up with a phone number. It worked and within 10 minutes I was talking to a guy who had been with my friend’s brother during the engagement south of Con Thien when he was killed.
I tried to find out as much as I could about the engagement and the circumstances of the young corporal’s death. It’s hard for me to turn off the reporter and slow down. By slowing down I was able to piece together the engagement and what happened to the young marine, a member of the heavy weapons section of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion Ninth Marines.
What I found out was typical of what I remember it’s like to be engaged in a fire fight. The young man, armed with a 3.5-inch rocket launcher had been on patrol north of a village near Con Thien called The Market Place. A North Vietnamese unit equipped with a machine gun ambushed the patrol. The NVA unit had also deployed snipers. The USMC patrol took cover in a bomb crater in a defoliated and plowed area called “The Trace.”
Seeing an opportunity to engage the NA machine gun position, Cpl Dale Pehrson loaded his rocket launcher and stood up to take a shot. As he stood up he was shot and instantly killed by a NVA sniper. Based on what his friend told me about the incident, the young corporal did not suffer. Moreover, his friend stayed with him throughout the evening and carried him to the casualty collection point.
The point I wanted to make to this young marine’s family was that their kinsman didn’t suffer and he wasn’t alone she he died. Moreover, his friends stayed with him and carried him the last cold mile. His family and some of the marines he served with have not forgotten Corporal Dale Pehrson, Who is buried in Redding California. The marine who went the extra mile for his friend Dale is named Pete Balcunas. Pete retired as a marine master sergeant long after the battle at the Market Place but never forgot his fellow corporal and friend, Dale Pehrson.
Pete, on behalf of Dale’s sisters and other family members, thanks for staying with and caring for Dale.
Oh, the power of the Internet and Global conversations, providing closure to families who lost a loved one on the other side of the word almost 45 years ago. Semper Fi—Jim Forbes on 11/19/2006.
Corporal Dale Pehrson USMCR, KIA 11/1967 in a firefight at a site called "the Market Place", south of Con Thien, Viet Nam ( photo courtesy of Liz Whitaker)
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