SGT MICHAEL FRANK FLYNN SGT MICHAEL FRANK FLYNN

 

05 Feb 2008 While reading LtCol William R. Corson's book titled "THE BETRAYAL" I came upon a very special Marine - Sergeant Michael Frank Flynn of Leander, Texas. Michael Frank Flynn joined the Marine Corps in 1964 at eighteen years of age. After upon completing boot camp and ACT, he went directly to Vietnam joining up with 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division, for about twenty-one months. Flynn, being in constant contact with the Vietnamese people, became very proficient in Vietnamese. Because of his knowledge of the Vietnamese language he worked in the Battalion Civil Affairs office. He was instrumental in making Le My the first pacified hamlet in VIETNAM. He joined a Combined Action Platoon (CAP unit) at Loc An, a small hamlet near Dai Loc, twenty miles south of Danang. One of the most touching moments in Sergeant Flynn's time with the CAP unit was when he got re-assigned to his parent unit. The villagers wrote to the Battalion Commander and asked permission for "Mr. Flynn Sergeant" to be returned to Loc An hamlet because "he win all the hearts of the whole people and he speak Vietnamese very much". Well, this little note worked and Flynn was approved to return to Loc An. Three tours in Vietnam were not generally accepted, but in Sergeant Flynn's case a personal letter to the Commandant of the Marine Corps secured him his third tour. On April 6, 1967, Johanathan Randall, then a columnist with the New York Times, interviewed Flynn about his extended tour. Sergeant Flynn remarked, "I've become so involved with the people here, it's become a personal war for me ... we've learned to depend on each other and I cannot let these people down." The following night - April 7, 1967 - while on patrol, Sergeant Flynn was killed in a fire-fight with Viet Cong. To most disinterested observers of the Vietnamese war Flynn's death had little meaning - but it did to the residents of Loc An. The entire hamlet of some 2800 people went into personal mourning for one year. Because of Sergeant Flynn's death the Viet Cong were never allowed to enter Loc An again ... because of Sergeant Flynn's dedication to duty and his concern for the people of Loc An, the people of Loc An finally chose which side they were on. They all loved and respected Sergeant Michael Frank Flynn - a true American hero, certainly to the villagers of Loc An. From a caring citizen and former Marine, William J. (Jerry) Speer wjspeer@charter.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall There is some uncertainty regarding Sergeant Flynn's assignment at the time of his death. Formally, he was assigned to Sub-Unit 1, Service Company, HQ Battalion, 1st Marine Division - but Sub-Unit 1 was the 1st MarDiv's Combined Action unit and was broken up into a number of smaller elements. The CAP Marine web site says Sgt Flynn was in CAP Charlie-4, but a posting on another web site puts him in CAP Charlie-2 - it says he was killed while searching for boats along a river bank near Hill 65. That posting is from the Navy Corpsman who treated Sgt Flynn when he was shot. After considerable time spent with USMC command chronologies for April 1967, The Virtual Wall cannot find any indication that CAP Charlie-4 was involved in an action on 07 April. The 1st Bn, 26th Marines' Chronology does contain an entry saying that at 1845 [6:45 PM] CAP Charlie-2 received automatic weapons from "the north side of the river" at grid coordinates AT946595 - a location about 7 kilometers east-northeast of Hill 65 - but doesn't report any casualties from the fire. However, the grid reference falls on the southeast bank of the Song Yen River. It thus appears the 1/26 operations log entry refers to the incident in which Sergeant Flynn was killed.

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