01 Sep 2002 The photo above and following article are taken from The Philadelphia Daily News, special supplement entitled 'SIX HUNDRED AND THIRTY,' October 26, 1987. The special supplement was issued in conjunction with the dedication of the Philadelphia Viet Nam Memorial. Brookins won several trophies while on the Overbrook High School track team. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in March 1967 and was shipped to Viet Nam in October. Brookins was assigned to Company M of the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division. The 20-year-old lance corporal, a rifleman, fire team leader and grenadier, was killed near Con Thien on March 6, 1968. He was survived by his parents. Dead Marine Gets Bronze Star A Bronze Star with V for Valor has been awarded posthumously to the parents of a young Philadelphia Marine killed in Vietnam while his company was under attack by a larger enemy force. The award was presented in a ceremony at the Philadelphia Naval Base, to Mr. and Mrs. Willie Brookins of 4310 Parrish St. Their son, Lance Corporal Freddie Brookins, 20, a former Overbrook High School track star, was killed on March 6, 1967 [sic]. He was their only child. According to his citation, he killed six enemy guerillas while providing security for his platoon when the Marines were attacked by heavy automatic weapons fire. He was killed by enemy fire. Transcribed from a news clipping from the the Philadelphia Inquirer (October 20, 1968) by The Virtual Wall staff. SEMPER FIDELIS, MARINE! From a native Philadelphian and Marine, Jim McIlhenney christianamacks@comcast.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall The area around Con Thien, located just south of the Demilitarized Zone, was a hotbed of North Vietnamese Army activity from the earliest days of US involvement in the ground war. Three NVA divisions were located in or immediately north of the DMZ, and quite commonly would cross into South Vietnam proper. When they did, the NVA were supported by their own heavy artillery firing from within or just north of the DMZ, a degree of firepower not available to the NVA or VC units operating further south. While large US and SVN army forces were deployed in Quang Tri Province at various times during the war, the Marines were there continuously from 1965 until US withdrawal - and carried the primary burden of fighting the NVA regulars. On 06 March 1968, while the siege at Khe Sanh was being fought only a few miles to the west, Mike Company, 3/3 Marines, was conducting a company-size recon patrol near Con Thien when they engaged part of the NVA's 362B Division. Fourteen men from Mike 3/3 were killed in the heavy fighting which followed: Sgt Glen T. Hobbs, Portsmouth, OH Sgt William T. Rogers, Montgomery, AL Cpl Ronald L. Ellis, Evansville, IN Cpl Richard J. Hall, Hays, NC Cpl Charles T. Lee, Oxon Hill, MD LCpl Laurence R. Ashmore, Houston, TX LCpl Freddie Brookins, Philadelphia, PA LCpl David W. Cutshall, Rapid City, SD (Silver Star) LCpl Michael J. Ferrara, Massapequa, NY LCpl Robert A. Leeman, Fullerton, CA LCpl Howard E. Randolph, Richmond, VA Pfc Ronald S. Dobbs, Detroit, MI Pfc Billy H. Henderson, Moultrie, GA Pfc Fred C. Mc Hugh, Hadley, MI

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