LOUISIANA

In 1944, while training as a tank driver, my brother Corp Eddie King lost his Warren Easton Boys High School 1943 ring in the showers at Pearl Harbor. Later, during the battle of Saipan, a Marine killed a Japanese sniper who had a necklace of Marine dog tags plus my brother’s ring with his initials ECK inside. The Marine later mailed the ring to his mother in Maine. Meanwhile, my brother was seriously wounded on Iwo Jima when his tank hit a land mine and spent two years hospitalized. The mother of the Marine sent the ring to my mother in New Orleans after the high school principal identified my brother’s full name and address.  Bill King, former Pfc USMC 562102.

Mike was the crew chief on the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter that went on a hot extraction of Marines who were trapped under heavy fire in a mine field near Da Nang, Vietnam, on January 31, 1970. He guided the pilot to land the rear two wheels into a spot where a mine had already exploded. The pilot kept the single front "strut" wheel off the ground. Mike left the helicopter under heavy fire six times and brought back one Marine killed in action and 11 wounded Marines. I remember he told me when he left the helo running to get the Marines, one of them yelled out, “You're in a mine field!" Mike made sure no Marines were still trapped before they left.

Mike served in Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263 (HMM-263). On June 15, 1971, he received the Medal of Honor from President Nixon. His CH-46 helicopter, named “Blood, Sweat, and Tears,” is on display at the Sullenberger Aviation Museum (formerly the Carolinas Aviation Museum) in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Mike was my friend and a Brother Marine. He died May 30, 2004, and is buried in the Ponchatoula cemetery, Ponchatoula, Louisiana.