Mac McGuire

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by Lary Kirby

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E very company had or needed a Mac McGuire. He was born without the gene that allows you to respect authority. He was funny and wise, and despite everything I've just said, a very good soldier. He had a gift of being agreeable to all. He mixed easily with all our many types, black, Hispanic, redneck or Eastern liberal New Englander. He was a Californian in the sense that no one is really from California, just passing through from somewhere else.

He was everything I never was. He was brash, I was shy. He was street wise, and so cool that the black soldiers accepted him as one of their own. I was so white I almost glowed in the dark. He'd been arrested. I once met a cop.

He also had stories. Like the time he got arrested with two other friends for being a public nuisance. The judge ordered that the three of them be driven five miles into the desert. There they were let out of the car and ordered to pick up every piece of trash all the way back to town.

As he told me of the heat and discomfort and the humiliation, he also beamed a bit and added, "there's nothing like desert Justice".

When he was in Basic, and going through the chow line he noticed a E7 cook who put his thumb over the plate where it touched the food he was serving. Mac knew something here. He refused to take the plate and told the E7 to get him another and to keep his thumb out of it this time. The E7 all but jumped over the counter of the serving line to get at Mac's neck. When the smoke cleared, the CO was called and everyone one in the room was asked for the story. When it came to the E7 the CO asked him one question. "Was your thumb in the food?"

"Just barely " was the reply.

"Get the trainee a new plate, and do it now".

Jaws dropped. He was right and what was worse he knew it. Mac had seen this and found someone in the base library who showed him the rules for mess halls. It was never a fair fight

He was also a major pothead. Let's get that out of the way right now. Mac would smoke pot in any situation.

We were at Sally, preparing to head out. We were all saddled up, rucksacks full, gear ready and the sense of anxiety that comes with such moments. First Sgt. Pippin called the men into order, and we stood in rows behind our gear. He walked back and forth uneasily and finally came out with it.

"Men, I know some of you are smoking pot! Some of you probably have it with you right now. It's going to stop. We cannot have it, and I want some one to have the balls to admit it and not make me search every one of you right here."

Well goddam it, the jig was up. What were we going to do here, who would figure this out?

Mac McGuire, that's who. The bad boy, the discipline problem, had no doubt about what had to be done.

Reaching into his rucksack, he pulled out a neat plastic wrapped deck of 10 long LZ Sally bombers. He held it over his ahead and said clearly, "Top, this is what you're looking for". He walked towards the first shirt and laid it at his feet, looked him square in the eye, made a smart about face and walked back to his place in the formation. Mac was a genius. Those holding all knew what to do now. They all began slowly to undo the pockets on their gear and pull out about one tenth of what they had and walked up to Sgt. Pippen and place it on the ground in front him.

Sgt Pippin watched with an increasingly uneasy look as the pile now could have filled half a pillowcase. He had never seen that much illegal anything in his life. With a shaking voice he looked at us, but focused on Mac and said, "Men, that took guts to do that, and we will let this episode end right here with no more said. I think we understand each other now. Dismissed".

Mac walked up to the first shirt as the old man tried to think of what to do with his booty, and whispered something to him. Pippin stiffened and just glared. Mac shrugged and walked away. I asked him what he had just said. He smiled "I asked him now that the show was over and could I have my pot back?"

Mac was killed on April 29, 1970. I did not know this until April of 2000. Finding it out was almost has hard to take as it would have been back then. For 30 years I had imagined him roaring through life, and by now teaching his grandchildren things that would terrify their parents. He should have been here with us; he'd like this place.

James Edward (Mac) McGuire
SGT - E5 - Army - Selective Service
101st Airborne Division
21 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Apr 15, 1949
From CUCAMONGA, CALIFORNIA
Length of service 1 year.
His tour of duty began on Jun 18, 1969
Casualty was on Apr 29, 1970 in THUA THIEN, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
OTHER CAUSES
Body was recovered

Mac McGuire

Larry Kirby
Charlie Company 1st 501st