Look Back: Remembering Sugar Notch resident, 19, killed in Vietnam War

May 29—Twenty years after Patrick Herron was killed during the Vietnam War, his parents, Patrick Sr. and Catherine Herron, received their son's Purple Heart medal in 1988.

"He was a good boy. All mothers say that, but he really was," Catherine Herron is quoted in the Times Leader story of Feb. 20, 1988, when she received her son's Purple Heart.

Herron, a Lance Corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps, was only 19 when he was killed during a battle in the Quang Tri province of Vietnam on Sept. 6, 1967. He was three weeks shy of his 20th birthday when he was killed.

"According to word received by his parents, Cpl. Herron died of a chest wound suffered in combat at Quang Tri, Vietnam. He was a member of Company I, Third Platoon, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division," the Times Leader reported Sept. 13, 1967.

Herron was in Vietnam for five weeks before he was killed and was in the Marine Corps for 19 months.

Herron lived at 740 Main St., Sugar Notch, when he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. in February 1966. He trained at Parris Island, South Carolina. He first served with a security guard in Washington, D.C., and then in Virgin Islands before being sent to Vietnam.

Born in Ashley on Sept. 30, 1947, he attended Warrior Run schools and Ashley-Sugar Notch High School. One story has Herron being a graduate of Hanover Township High School.

Catherine Herron in the 1988 story said her son wanted to enlist after witnessing soldiers arriving home in American flag-draped coffins.

"He said, 'I want to help.' He was 18 years old and he wanted to go in," Catherine Herron is quoted in the 1988 story.

The 1988 story reported Herron and a company of 15 Marines were overrun by the North Vietnamese on a hilltop.

For his service, the 1988 ceremony honored Herron's parents with their son's Military Merit Medal, the Gallantry Cross with Palm, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal in addition to the Purple Heart Medal.

Herron's three brothers, John, Brian and Daniel also served in the U.S. Armed Forces, and his father was a U.S. Army Air Corps veteran of World War II.

Herron's body arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del., on Sept. 17, 1967, and transported by military escort to the Lehman Funeral Home in Hanover Township.

A military funeral Mass was held at his church, Saint Charles Borromeo, on Sept. 20, 1967. He was buried in the parish's cemetery in Sugar Notch.

"Sugar Notch residents displayed the American flag this week in tribute to Marine Lance Cpl. Patrick Herron Jr., who was killed in Vietnam on Sept. 6," the Times Leader reported Sept. 22, 1967.

Residents of Sugar Notch honored Herron and another borough resident, U.S. Army Sgt. John Fisher, who died July 11, 1953, from injuries sustained during the Korean War, with a memorial marker on Memorial Day 1991. The marker remembering Herron and Fisher is next to the War War II Memorial on Main Street, Sugar Notch.

Before you move on, we invite you to become a Times Leader Advocate. You'll receive some great benefits, including our Diamond Card with local discounts and deals, access to our E-Edition, a faster, reduced ad experience on timesleader.com, and more.

Click now to support or get more information.