Hide Article Text (OCR)
By RICK WADE Staff Writer In a quiet spot in Arlington National Cemetery yesterday, a d+year-old Vietnam veteran, decorated for heroism under fire, was laid to rest with full military honors. Capt. Campagne, a four-year Army veteran, husband, and father of a 2-year-old son, was gunned down early Sunday morning when he investigated a report of a prowler in Ft. Meade’s Meade Heights housing area. He lived at 8812 Hunting La. in laurel Capt. Campagne was a military policeman. In a interview Tuesday, Col. David KR. Roberts, Campagne’s commanding officer, remem bered the young captain as ‘an outstanding young officer whom we all thought most highly of.” Col. Roberts, who? is Ft. Meade's provost marshal? said Campagne was about ¢o , but moved into a more responsible job than the one, te ‘had when he was killed. The tall, so unspoken, gray-haired officer shook , his head shmy. “I just completed £ 7 years in the Army. This is, the first time ever to bel a military policeman being killed in the line of duty stateside, is an awful thing. . Col. Roberts, recalled that Campagne had just completed a Special course at the military police’ school on stockade ad ministration. “Assigning a man to the stockade is the toughest MP job he could get here,” the colonel said. “I had ‘planned to move, Campagne into a position in our’ stockade here shortly. There's another officer leaving and I felt! ‘Capt. Campagne had the ex perience and maturity for it.” “He was a courageous, self confident young man. I'm sure he thought he could handle the prowler without ach trouble,” Roberts said. “But in our business, it’s the unexpected that's ee preatest Sanger, We sd ee in a town called . Hiser moved to Virginia during his younger years and a town called Wood bridge, a few miles south of Washington, D.C., became “home.” He would have been 25 next month. Drafted into the Army in 1965, he served as an enlisted man for one year before attending Officer Candidate School at Ft. Benning, Ga., and being commissioned a second lieutenant. From Ft. Benning, he was shifted to Ft. Jackson, D.C., where he was assistant confinement officer at the stockade there. Then came Viginam. He arrived in the war torn Southeast Asia country in the late fall of 1967. His assignment was as a platoon leader with the 716th Military Police Battalion in Saigon, considered one of the Army's tougher assignments. “A lot of people think Saigon is an easy assignment,” Col. Rob erts remarked Tuesday, **] would rather have been with an infantry junit on patrol than in a Saigon MP unit. * Roberts said that in his opinion, Vii : milliary police assignment in the Army. It was during the fierce Tet ' offensive in February of 1968 that Alfred Campagne distinguished i fimiseil in war. On Feb. 2 the then-leutenant Was decorated for heroism. At the height of the Tet i fighting, Campagne delivered ammunition and weaponry to a ‘barracks under heavy fire. While she and his platoon were at this base, they came under heavy fire from South Vietnamese soldiers ‘who mistook them for enemy raiders. Though under fire, Lt. Cam pagne put down his gun and went to the South Vietnamese troops in S Sac Cgeature ebiort are correct the, “Mistake. “There’s no telling: “how many slives he saved by that act, Roberts ‘commented, ,’ For‘his deeds, he was awarded ‘the ‘Bronze Star and later’ prior to completing his one-year stint, in ‘Vietnam, he was decorated with the Army, Commendation Medal’ for this service. In addition, his unit was awarded the Presidential Unit ; Citation, a medal for valor [Presented to members of a distinguished military unit. While in Vietnam, Campagne tained five campaign ribbons, an unusually high number, ac cording to Cal. Roberts. He came to Ft. Meade last fall and was assigned to the POW command of the 14th Military Police Group, “Because of his previous stockade experience, I guided him into that field again. He responded beautifully. He was interested in his work and did a fine job for us,” Roberts recalled. Capt. Campagne was a tall, athletically built young man who during his school] and Army careers participated in baseball, softball, football and track. He was an avid sportseman who enjoyed hunting and wampagne, was the past’s MP city qutver the night he was shot. His murderer, whom FBI agents, have not yet identified, was one of two men reportedly observed tampering with parked cars ‘in the St .Meade houging area. The captain was’ returng from a spot check of the. post stockade when he heard’ the call that a prowler was reported in, the’ area near him. Though’ unarmed, ié sped to the Scene to be of assistance to civilian’ police and his own men, who were already on the way.
Newspaper Details
Capital Gazette
Annapolis, Maryland, US
Thu, Jul 10, 1969
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Lisa B.
VA, USA 12 Jun 2026
Other Publications Near Annapolis, Maryland
Capital Gazette
Annapolis Maryland Republican And State Capital Advertiser
Annapolis Maryland Republican
Annapolis Capital Gazette
Maryland Gazette
