gunny,thanks for keeping us marines informed of sgt mckeon.my prayers go to him and his family.its been a lot of years,and i agree with will poole.its time we put it to rest. semper fi to all you marines of plt 71.

Can anyone tell me when McKeon left the Corps? Did he retire with a pension or leave at the end of the hitch he was on when the incident happened?
Does anyone know what rank he was when he left?

I've seen a lot of conflicting information distributed as fact and would just like to know the straight scoop. Semper Fidelis.

The article further down this website page, titled The Day The Corps Changed....
http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=220604&messageid=1069382721


seems to indicate that McKeon eventually retired USMC in 1972; however, I do not believe that to be correct, as I and McKeon checked out of Cherry Point Disbursing at the same time in 1959--I was going to HQMC, and McKeon was going out on a medical discharge.

I was a S/Sgt at that time, and to the best of my recollection, McKeon was a L/Cpl--however, others have argued w/me that McKeon was a Cpl (E-3) at that time having been promoted prior to the new (crossed rifles) rank structure prior to 1Jan59--they may well be correct on that point--it has been a long time and memories dim on the finer points.

I do recall discussing the USMCR w/McKeon at that time and I had myself previously taken my discharge and joined a USMCR unit in Providence; McK seemed receptive to the idea as there was a USMCR unit in Worcester, Mass. So he may well have joined, and retired, USMCR--but I personally doubt that he ever returned to active duty, else that would have pretty much been common knowledge in the Corps; nor does John Stevens mention anything relative to this in his book--Court-martial At Parris Island...

Hope this helps.

NOTE:
Anyone viewing this who has factual information on this, please post information/sources--Thank you.

Semper Fidelis
Dick Gaines