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Remember...David Paul McCord
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David Paul McCord was born in Pentress, Monongalia County, West Virginia, on January 9, 1945. The place where he was raised was a small town to the northeast of Morgantown, West Virginia, with only a couple hundred people. Paul was one of three children of Rex Kenneth McCord (1910-1963) and Iris Alice Ammons McCord (1914-1985), a loving coal mining family. He had a brother Kenneth James and a sister Betty Jean. The majority of employment, at that time, in this small community revolved around coal mining. Those who lived there enjoyed their neighbors and worked hard to provide for their families. By 2019, there was a population of only 184 residents due to the community slowly falling apart from the years of coal mining jobs becoming more obsolete. But in the past, Paul's community thrived and many of the residents might have even left for the Vietnam War, which escalated in the 1960s.
| During his childhood, Paul went to Clay-Battelle High School, where he was an active member of the basketball team, high school marching band, and 4-H club. Outside of school, he was an active member in the community, where he participated in Cub Scouts and was a member of the Olive Methodist Church and its Youth Temperance Council. He enjoyed playing the drums, playing golf, and flirting with the girls. He graduated from Clay-Battelle High School in 1962. According to Liz Long, who knew Paul, "He was a great guy and was always a gentleman." The following year on May 11, his father died of a massive heart attack at the age of 52. |  High school photo courtesy Lisbeth Blue Long |
In 1963, shortly after the passing of his father, Paul joined the U.S. Marines and left for basic training at the end of May. He would complete his initial training at Parris Island, South Carolina, and be assigned the military occupation skill (MOS) of 3371 - Cook/Supply Services; his service number was 2034240. We believe he was assigned to 1st Marine Division and then later to 5th Marine Division once it was activated in 1967 at Camp Pendleton, California. (Breanne Robertson, Camp Pendleton: A Shared History [Quantico, VA: Marine Corps History Division, 2017], accessed 24 April 2020, https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/CampPendleton_web.pdf.) He would later meet his wife, Josephine, and they would marry prior to his being deployed to Vietnam. He was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) at El Toro, California, as this was a staging and training base for the Marines prior to deploying to Vietnam.
The Vietnam War had its beginnings in November of 1955 and officially ended April 30, 1975. During this time there was high tension between the United States and Soviet Union, which was known as the Cold War. The Viet Minh was a Chinese-backed group led by Ho Chi Minh that controlled North Vietnam. South Vietnam was highly vulnerable to attacks by the North and was ill prepared for any invasion. The spread of communism was happening at a rapid pace in this region of the world. The American involvement began with military advisers, but later required the military and CIA to crack down on the Viet Minh sympathizers, who became known as the Viet Cong. On August 2, 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin incident occurred, which was the first clash between U.S. forces and North Vietnam.
The U.S. Congress passed a resolution granting President Lyndon B. Johnson authority to build up and command troops for the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War itself was not popular among both the civilians of Vietnam and the United States. Many innocent civilians and soldiers were being slaughtered; almost 3 million were killed during the Vietnam War, including 58,000 American soldiers. This resulted in many anti-war protests being held like the one at the Pentagon by 35,000 demonstrators in October 1967. In January 1973, Vietnam and the United States signed a peace agreement. All U.S. forces left with the exception of Marines protecting the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. The North continued to violate the peace agreement and eventually took over all of Vietnam with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.
Sergeant David Paul McCord began his tour of duty on May 23, 1968, assigned to Headquarters and Service Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, Force Logistic Command Unit, III Marine Amphibious Force, which was located in I Corps Tactical Zone (ICTZ) in Da Nang in the Quang Nam Province of South Vietnam.
During the month of August, Allied Forces continued operations to deny enemy units entry into ICTZ, destroy enemy forces in ICTZ, and deny the enemy the use of supply bases and staging areas for attacks. Hostilities remained at a very low level during the first two weeks of the month with virtually no contact in many areas of ICTZ. On August 13 there were, in fact, no friendly fatalities due to enemy action in I Corps. This lull proved to be merely a brief calm before the storm. On August 23 the enemy launched a total of 27 attacks by fire on allied installations and population centers, including Quang Tri City, Hue, Phu Bai Air Base, Da Nang Air Base, Hoi An, Tam Ky, and Quang Ngai City.
On the night of August 28 near Da Nang in Quang Nam Province, the U.S. base camp where Sgt. McCord was stationed, came under an intense enemy attack and was hit by mortars and small arms fire. Sgt. McCord was on duty that evening working in the mess hall. It is estimated that during the attack a mortar round landed directly on the mess hall, gravely wounding Sgt. McCord, as he died instantly from the exploding shrapnel. ("Command Chronology," Air Ground Team, Marine Amphibious Force, 1968, accessed 24 April 2020, https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/reports/images.php?img=/images/1201/1201004039.pdf.)
 Headstone at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California. Find A Grave photo courtesy "PIN" |
David Paul McCord's remains were recovered and returned to the U.S., where he was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California. He is memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., on Panel W46, Line 51. He is also remembered and honored at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, West Virginia. |
During his five years of dedicated service Sgt. David Paul McCord received the following commendations: the Purple Heart, Vietnam Gallantry Cross, Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon.
| On March 13, 2017, the West Virginia Legislature introduced House Concurrent Resolution No. 82, wherein they renamed the Pentress Bridge, carrying West Virginia Route 7 over Dunkard Creek and County Route 7/13 in Monongalia County, as the "USMC Sergeant David Paul McCord Memorial Bridge." This is the gratitude and recognition he so deserved for his selfless actions and sacrifice to the people of South Vietnam, as well as to our country. |  Sign denoting the Sgt. David Paul McCord Memorial Bridge on West Virginia Route 7 in Monongalia County. Courtesy Lisbeth Blue Long |
Article prepared by Caroline Kuhn, MAJ (Ret) T. Brad McGee, and SFC (Ret) Johnathan Normand, George Washington High School JROTC
April 2020
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
