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theentep.4JXtHe Loved the MarinesfrIVclt;biterie-at-toPride Becomes ShockinPiFColemanDeadlt;kalby TOM JACHIMIECofo,rt14The sign above the mailbox in front of 226 N. Garden Ave., Bensenville, simply says “The Colemans.”ind.hiIf you look down the driveway and to the left there is a neat white wooden-frame housesaid, “and was proud to be one and fighting so everyone would be protected.”His father, a combat veteranfrom World War II, said hisson liked the Marines, though the training was rough.rereading letters from home, and obtaining general absolution and communion from a priest.“I feel real good,” Coleman wrote. “Peace with God.” Henisthat is modest in appearance.Inside the home there is pridebut there is alsothatV,;sitvi-fer•in a son,shock at the knowledge that son, a 20-year-old Marine, was killed Jan. 27 near Quang Tri, South Viet Nam.LANCE CPL. Michael J. Coleman, the Defense Department reported, sustained fragmentation wounds from hostilerocket fire while in a defensiveposition. He was a member of the first battalion, third Marine division, B company.Hubert E. Coleman, his father, learned of the death last Tuesday afternoon when he was called home from his job at theReliable Sheet Metal Co. in Elk“I TOLD HIM to join the Air Force or Navy,” he said. “I guess he had to prove something to himself.”Once studying to be a priest, Coleman was a graduate of St. Alexis School, Chicago’s Quigley Preparatory Seminary North, and attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lockport and Triton Junior College in Northlake.added that his parents were the greatest couple in the world. “I love you all and pray the Lord to keep you all safe and happy.”A resident of Bensenville formore than 12 years and in Viet Nam since Nov. 26 and the Ma-His parents offered to share his last letter, which was delivered last Wednesday, the day after they had been notified of his death. Coleman’s letter wasThurs-Grove Village.Coleman was met by Majorand Fatherwritten Wednesday or day, Jan. 24 or Jan. 25.In that letter the young Marine said he was on hill 881, three miles from Khe Sanh. Hisrines since June 19, he gave a very descriptive and understandably hurried account of a soldier in combat.“Just as I’m finishing this we’re being hit. Now we are all right but we can see down the hill being blown apart. The rounds are whizzing right over us but hitting almost a mile away — explosions everywhere, Khe Sanh is opening up everything they have.“I hear small arms fire —CPL. MICHAEL J. COLEMANwar!! Lucky this time. ThankGod. Michael John Anthony Coleman.”Joseph G. Doser James Brummel of St. Alexis Church. Mrs. Coleman was notiahome.“God meant for me not to be home,” said Mrs. Coleman, who had been visiting a friend she had not seen for several years.“He loved the Marines,” sheparents believe he died in that northwest village where fierce fighting has broken out in recent weeks, and not Quang Tri as the Defense Department said.COLEMAN TOLD of “freezing” at night and “roasting during the day, going withoutwashing his face for eight days,yyblack clouds of smoke floating high in the air — 10-20 rounds a minute hitting all over the place and here I sit in a hole watching buddies getting blown apart — some not knowing what hit ’em.Coleman had two sisters: Linda, 18, a senior at Fenton High School, and Kathieen, 4, and a brother, Patrick, 3. He was engaged to a girl fromChicago.“THE SMOKE is so bad I can’t see the camp now. The firing has stopped now — only20 minutes this lasted — I hateA funeral Mass at St. Alexis and burial at St. Joseph Cemetery, River Grove, is being arranged. Geils Funeral Home will handle the funeral at a date to be announced.
Newspaper Details
Roselle Register
Roselle, Illinois, US
Wed, Feb 07, 1968
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Gerald F.
NA, 12 Jun 2018
Other Publications Near Roselle, Illinois
Roselle Register
Roselle Herald
