30-04-2025
Marshalltown honors one of the last soldiers killed in Vietnam
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — At the Iowa Veterans Home, there was a ceremony Tuesday to remember the end of the Vietnam War, and a local boy, who was one of the last to lose his life in the war.
Darwin Judge was a 1974 graduate of Marshalltown High. Judge was originally from Garwin, but moved to Marshalltown when he was very young. He was a member of the local Boy Scout Troop and earned an Eagle Scout Award.
Judge was a 19-year-old Marine Lance Corporal. He was one of the last Americans to be killed in Vietnam.
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'The last time I saw him, was outside the principal's office at Marshalltown High School, he was home to visit his parents and family and friends before being shipped out,' said Ken Locke, a childhood friend. 'He was standing proudly in his Marine Corps dress uniform. I told him to be careful as he smiled and looked at me with those steely blue eyes, the last time that I saw him.'
He died the day before Saigon fell on April 30, 1975, along with fellow Marine Charles McMahon of Woburn, Mass., in a rocket attack on Tan Son Nhut airport, part of an assault by five North Vietnamese Army divisions on the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon.
Judge and McMahon were part of the Marine Security Guard detachment at the U.S. Embassy at Saigon.
Ambassador Kenneth Quinn spoke at the ceremony honoring Judge. Quinn served as a diplomat in Vietnam during the war. He was awarded the Medal of Valor for the danger he faced as the war was ending.
'The Marines are out carrying guns on the front line. We're out carrying our pens and paper making diplomatic remarks with,' said Quinn. 'The Foreign Service wanted to have only the best just like the Marine Corps. That's what attracted, as I understand, Darwin Judge.'
'Darwin always wanted to be in the military following the footsteps of his father and brother Lauren,' said Locke. 'I wasn't surprised that his senior year, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps.'
A wreath was laid in Judge's memory at the Vietnam Memorial on the grounds of the Iowa Veterans Home.
Marshalltown honors one of the last soldiers killed in Vietnam
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