Loon - Jack McLean [57]
Within a week, Captain William P. Negron would return down the dusty road to become the commanding officer of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. Once again, Charlie Company was to become among the most fortunate marine infantry units in all of Vietnam. Without Negron’s leadership, I doubt that a single one of us would have survived the coming weeks.
Bill Negron was an experienced marine whose previous life was unimaginable to most of us. Of Puerto Rican parents, Negron was born in the Bronx, New York, on November 10, 1937—the 162nd birthday of the United States Marine Corps. His mother was a sweatshop seamstress and his father a security guard. A scrappy Golden Gloves boxing champion, Negron graduated from the Perth Amboy, New Jersey, high school at age eighteen as the school’s only Hispanic student.
The following fall, he entered Miami University in Ohio on a football scholarship. He was dismissed after only a semester. Returning to the New York area, he began a short-lived professional boxing career that concluded after his third fight in Madison Square Garden. He emerged victorious with a split decision, a concussion, a broken jaw, three cracked ribs, and a fractured right hand.
Six weeks later, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and took the train to Parris Island, South Carolina.
At the conclusion of his enlistment three years later, Negron felt that he was ready to return to college. Miami agreed. He graduated in the spring of 1961 with a BA degree in English.
Now, seven years later, Negron had attained the rank of captain. Negron’s life had been filled with several unique experiences. His boxing career was only one of them. His first combat occurred not with the United States Marine Corps but with the United States Central Intelligence Agency during his senior year in college.
While home on Christmas vacation, Negron received a call from Frank Wright, his former Marine Corps platoon commander on Okinawa, who wanted to meet for dinner in New York that evening. Negron had high respect for Wright and had a particular memory of a comment he’d made one evening back on Okinawa.
“You know, Negron, there are at least twenty-three wars going on right now, and as long as we wear this uniform, we’ll never have a part in any of them.” The mood among the marines at the time was that the United States trained the best military, but refused to send them into war. Indeed, they had not been in real sustained combat since the Korean Conflict a decade earlier. Wright had been a lieutenant and Negron a sergeant. Other than that one encounter, they had not known each other well.
The two men met at La Guardia Airport.
Wright was now working covertly in some capacity and was recruiting people for a special project. He began the conversation by asking Negron what he thought about the increasing Russian military presence in Cuba.
“Well,” Negron began, “if what they say about Russia planning worldwide domination is true, and Cuba is a threat to this hemisphere, what the fuck can we do about it?”
From that moment on, Wright did all the talking. He expressed two reasons why he was interested in Negron. First, he recalled that Negron had been an outstanding mortar forward observer. Second, Negron was fluent in Spanish. When they parted, Wright left Negron a card with a name and number on it, asking that he call whenever he was ready.
Two days later, as he was preparing to return to college, Negron nervously picked up a phone and dialed the number.
“Good morning. White Oak Investments. How may I help you?”
“Good morning. I’d like to speak with White Elk. This is a friend of his.”
“Who may I say is calling?” The woman’s voice was distinctly Latin.
“Just tell White Elk that Jersey Maid is calling and accepts his offer.”
“Very well, Jersey Maid. White Elk will be calling you within the hour.”
Minutes later the phone rang. It was Wright. He told Negron to return to school. He would be contacted and briefed there.
Negron completed