Fire Chief's Family Participates In Wreaths Across America. At Arlington National Cemetery Place A Wreath at Wayne Caron's Grave, Medal of Honor Recipient

……………………………………………………………..By Bob Lessard Historian Post 64
………………………………… (Article printed in the Middleboro Gazette December 22, 2016)
………….Last Saturday, December 17, Middleboro’s Fire Chief Lance Benjamino and his wife Kathleen with son Marc, participated in the Wreaths Across America program at Arlington National Cemetery, located across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.
…………… Arlington National Cemetery is the resting place for over 245,000 veterans and family members. It was reported that on Saturday over 44,000 volunteers helped place the wreaths at the graves during a freezing rainy day.
……………Marc Benjamino, 17, a junior at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, helped raise nearly $3,000 to help Wreaths Across America purchase wreaths. Earlier he had been invited by the Middleboro Veterans Day parade Committee to solicit sponsorships for wreaths at the Veterans Day ceremony.
……………Chief Benjamino stated that the first grave where Marc placed a wreath was for Middleboro’s Medal of Honor recipient Wayne Maurice Caron, who was killed in Vietnam. “It was so moving and special to witness my son place a wreath at Wayne’s grave and for all the other soldiers,” he said.
………….. “We placed nearly 250 wreaths and made sure to read the fallen’s name aloud, for a person dies twice: once when they take their final breath and later, the last time their name is spoken. Marc also said a short prayer at each grave,” said Chief Benjamino. “I’m so happy that we participated.”
………….. “It was an honor and awe inspiring. I’m so proud to have been a part of it,” said Marc, “who is in his school’s History Club.
…………….Wreaths Across America ™ is a national non –profit organization, which is carrying on the mission of placing wreaths at the graves in Arlington National Cemetery and other national resting places. The program was first started in 1992 by Maine resident Morrill Worcester.
…………….WAYNE MAURICE CARON, 21, born in Middleboro on November 2, 1946, was killed by enemy small arms and shrapnel in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam on July 28, 1968, while serving as a Navy medic.
…………… At the time, his parents Aime Joseph and Lorraine J. (Paradise) Caron lived at 48 East Main Street. Wayne was educated in Middleboro Schools and was a graduate of the Class of 1966 at Memorial High School.
…………… Enlisting in the United States Navy at Boston on July 16, 1966. He received training at the Great Lakes Center in Illinois, where he served for two years at the Navy Hospital there.
………….He met and married Theresa (Terry) Louise Haid on December 5, 1967. She was five months pregnant and living in Guam when he got killed. Wayne heroically lost his life as a Hospital Corpsman Third with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Division, while rendering medical help to wounded Marines as platoon corpsman.
………………Wayne was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor, which is the nation’s highest military award, for his heroic actions. On May 20, 1970 in the East Room of the White House, Vice President Spiro Agnew, substituting for President Richard M. Nixon, presented the Medal of Honor to Wayne’s family: his parents, sister Janet and wife Theresa and his 17 month-old son Scott, born after Wayne’s death.
………………………………………………..His Medal of Honor citation reads:
……………………“The President of the United States, in the name of Congress takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously to:
…………………………………………….. HOSPITAL CORPSMAN THIRD CLASS
……………………………………………………….. WAYNE M. CARON
………………………………………………………. UNITED STATES NAVY
……………………………………….. For service as set forth in the following Citation
………….“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 28 July 1968 while serving as a Platoon Corpsman with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Division during combat operations against enemy forces in the Republic of Vietnam. While on a sweep through an open rice field in Quang Nam Province, Petty Officer Caron’s unite started receiving enemy small- arms fire. Upon seeing two Marine casualties fall, he immediately ran forward to render first aid, but found that they were dead. At this time, the platoon was taken under intense small-arms and automatic weapons fire, sustaining additional casualties. As he moved to the aid of his wounded comrades, Petty Officer Caron was hit in the arm by enemy fire. Although knocked to the ground, he regained his feet and continued to the inured Marines. He rendered medical assistance to the first Marine he reached, who was grievously wounded and undoubtedly was instrumental in saving a man’s life. Petty Officer Caron then ran toward the second wounded Marine, but was again hit by enemy fire, this time in the leg. Nonetheless, he crawled the remaining distance and provided medical assistance for this severely wounded man. Petty Officer Caron continued to make his way to yet another injured comrade, when he was again struck by enemy small-arms fire. Courageously and with unbelievable determination, Petty Officer Caron continued his attempt to reach the third Marine until he was killed by an enemy rocket round. His inspiring valor, steadfast determination, and selfless dedication to duty in the face of extreme danger, sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.” Signed/ Richard M. Nixon.
…………………On October 1, 1977, the United States Navy commissioned a multi missioned destroyer after Wayne Caron. The USS Caron DD 970 was a Spruance class destroyer and home based at Norfolk, Virginia.
……………….According to official naval information the destroyer was the first ship named after Hospital Corpsman Third Class Wayne Maurice Caron. It served the nation for over 20 years and was decommissioned on October 10, 2001. The navy site reported that the USS Caron was “involved in every conflict that the US has been involved in since her commissioning. Caron has been in Grenada, the Gulf of Sidra, the Black Sea and the Gulf War.”
……………….. After the USS Caron was de-commissioned, on December 3, 2002 the ship was used for an explosives test “to gather data on the spread of shipboard fires,” according to Naval systems Command. “……a secondary explosion occurred.” An unscheduled sinking resulted and the USS Caron sank in about 1,000 fathoms south of Puerto Rico on December 4, 2002.
……………….. In June 2002 prior to her sinking, Middleboro received from the Navy for display purposes, the USS Caron bell, the ribbon board which details the ship’s military activities, and, the builder’s plate from Ingall’s Shipbuilding, West Bank, Pascagoula, Mississippi. All three USS Caron mementos can be viewed in the Veterans Service Officer’s room on the third floor of town hall annex.
………………… An interesting aspect about the bell reveals that it was used on at least five occasions as a Baptismal font for children of crew members. The names of the children are engraved on the inside of the bell. Twice a year on Memorial Day and Veterans Day the bell is publicly displayed and is respectfully rung during those ceremonies.
……………….Our town honors Wayne M. Caron in Middleboro High School as the auditorium is dedicated to his memory. At the Middleboro Veterans Memorial Park, a large blue spruce as a living memorial was dedicated on the Town Hall lawn in memory of Wayne on May 29, 1978.
……………… Another venue also honors Wayne’s memory. At the former Naval Air Station in Weymouth, a special park was dedicated in November 1997 to 32 Medal of Honor recipients from Plymouth and Norfolk Counties. Known as the Shea Field Memorial Grove, a section is also dedicated to Middleboro’s other Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Army Lieutenant Patrick J. Regan of World War 1.