Robert Patrick Rumley, Jr.
Captain, U.S. Marine Corps

Robert Patrick Rumley, Jr. was born on 5 August 1942, the son of Robert Patrick and Beatrice Catherine Bradley Rumley. He was a 1965 graduate of Boston College.

Red completed the 38th Officer Candidate Course with 2nd Platoon of Alpha Company and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the USMC Reserve. He was with 4th Platoon Echo Company in Class 3-66 at Basic School.

When his tour in Vietnam began on 19 July 1966, Second Lieutenant Rumley was assigned as Platoon Commander, 1st Platoon, Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division, III Marine Amphibious Force in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.

On 2 September 1966, Foxtrot-1 was designated the “Sparrow Hawk” platoon for the 2nd Battalion. This was a platoon quick reaction force standing by for deployment when needed by Battalion or other higher commands. When it was reported that two 500-pound bombs had been dropped 6 kilometers southeast of Hill 55 (AT 991588) and had not exploded, the “Sparrow Hawk” platoon was activated to secure a perimeter, so the EOD personnel attached to the platoon for this mission could detonate the bombs in place. Red’s platoon boarded two CH-46A helicopters for the flight to the site of the earlier bombing. As the helicopters attempted to land, they received small arms fire from three sides of the Landing Zone, so the helicopters cleared the area and artillery fire was called in on the LZ. During a second attempt to land, the lead helicopter in which Red was riding received a mid-air hit in the aft transmission by either a mortar or a 57mm recoilless rifle round. The helicopter crashed in a dry rice paddy and burst into flame. An aerial observer came on station and controlled fixed-wing aircraft with 20mm cannons and napalm to keep the Viet Cong at bay during the rescue effort.

Red sustained fractures of his pelvis, scapula and shoulder in the crash. Despite agonizing pain, he crawled across the deck of the helicopter to a gash in the skin of the chopper opened by the crash. When his Marines saw their Lieutenant in the breech, two of them pulled Red from the downed helicopter and clear of the flames. The second helicopter in the flight put down in the LZ next to the crash and the balance of the platoon debarked. Those who had sustained injuries in the crash of the first helicopter were loaded on board the second helicopter and evacuated to 3rd Medical Battalion for initial treatment. Red continued to work his way through the evacuation chain and ended up at Chelsea Naval Hospital, close to his home of record in Medford, MA.

The helicopter crash in Quang Nam Province was the beginning of Red’s prolonged fight for survival. He was treated at the Chelsea until early 1968, but he never recovered. His quality of life had by then deteriorated into series of seizures and a progressive paralysis of his limbs. In the last months of his life he lay comatose, unable to respond to any stimulus. An airway was inserted to assist his breathing as his condition progressively declined. Red died at the Faulkner Hospital in Boston, MA, on 18 May 1968. The proximate cause of death was ruled an inoperable brain tumor that had its genesis in the injuries he sustained during the helicopter crash in Vietnam 20-months earlier. Therefore, the classification was Died of Wounds incurred on 2 September 1966.

During his hospitalization, Red was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and then Captain, before being discharged from the Marine Corps.

Medals and Awards

Distinguished Flying Cross
Purple Heart
Combat Action Ribbon
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal
Vietnam Campaign Medal

Honors

The name Robert P Rumley Jr is located on Panel 14E Line 95 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

Burial

Captain Robert Patrick "Red' Rumley, Jr. is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Medford, Middlesex County, MA, in Vietnam War Lawn, Row A, Grave 8.

[Thanks to Captain Dave Mellon, USMCR, a classmate of Red Rumley in the 38th Officer Candidate Course / Basic Class 3-66, for the valuable information he provided for this bio. Capt Mellon also served as a platoon commander in Vietnam and was wounded.]