(3 of 3)
Half a dozen men locked arms, others seized hold. One by one, the exhausted men of Platoon 71 reached the mudbank. The last two half dragged to safety Staff Sergeant Matthew McKeon, who had worked himself to near-exhaustion trying to correct his dreadful mistake.
McKeon staggered away to report the tragedy. On his own initiative. Recruit Leader Gerald Lagone ordered Platoon 71 to fall in and report. The reports came: "First squad, one man missing." "Second squad, one man missing." "Third squad, one man missing . . ." At that point McKeon returned and silently led his men back to their barracks.
This week Sergeant McKeon was in the Parris Island brig and Marine Commandant Randolph Pate was back in Washington after conducting a personal on-the-scene inquiry. Congressmen cried for an investigation into the basic training methods that have made the U.S. Marine Corps an elite. And. attended by Marine honor guards, off to home cities went flag-draped coffins bearing the bodies of the six men that Drill Instructor McKeon's zeal and stupidity had left in the water of Ribbon Creek.