Glenn Wesley Schafer was born Feb. 16, 1945, in St. Clair County to John and Jesse Mae Schafer. His father was a veteran of World War I and the family lived in Odenville. Glenn enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served during the Vietnam War. He earned the rank of corporal.

Shafer was a combat engineer attached to the 1st Marine Division, 7th Engineer Battalion, H Company. On March 28, 1967, while in the Quang Nam province of South Vietnam, Schafer was attending a class on the subject “How to disarm the M 16 Bouncing Betty Anti-Personnel Mine.”

A demonstration ordnance exploded during a training session killing Schafer and 12 other Marines.

In a memorial to Schafer, the story of the incident was told and signed simpy, “From a Marine that was there.”

“On the morning of March 28, 1967, 13 Marines assigned to Alpha Company, 7th Engineer Battalion in Vietnam began what I am sure they considered to be a routine training session in their company area. They were all seated outside and were intently listening to their platoon sergeant, as he began instructing them about the next mission they were to undertake for the Corps. Marine engineers have a wide variety of duties during wartime, as they support the various combat operations of all the other Marine units, but each of their duties is strategically important and each can also be extremely dangerous. That squad of Marines seated at the training session were about to take over the responsibility for a mission previously handled by a squad of Marines in my platoon.

“I was at that time the platoon leader of Charley Company in the same battalion and was getting close to being what we referred to as ‘a short-timer,’ since I was near the end of my tour of duty in Vietnam. For several weeks, one my squads had been clearing a defensive minefield that had been laid by American forces around the Danang airstrip during the early part of the war.

“As the war expanded, so did the need for a larger airstrip to accommodate the war efforts in the northern part of the country, and the mines had to be removed to allow for that expansion. The minefield contained hundreds of anti-personnel mines, most of which were the M-16 bounding (‘Bouncing Betty’) mines, which were buried, with only three steel prongs protruding above the ground. The prongs were the detonators for each mine, and in the event an enemy soldier touched one of the prongs, he would quickly start a destructive chain reaction. Any pressure on the prongs would cause the mine to explode and rise about two to four feet above the ground and then explode again, sending deadly, metal shrapnel in a 35-feet-wide circle, killing everything or everyone in its path. It was a very affective defensive weapon.

“Let us return to the Alpha Company area for the training session that was taking place that morning. The platoon sergeant was telling his Marines about their new mine clearing mission. I am quite sure that these Marines had already heard about the injuries sustained by the members of my platoon, so they knew their mission was not going to be an easy one.

“That morning, Lieutenant Glen McCarty had joined 12 of his enlisted Marines in the class, as they formed a circle around the platoon sergeant. Apparently the sergeant showed the class a live ‘Bouncing Betty,’ so that his Marines would know what they would be looking for in the minefield. Whether an inert mine could have been acquired for the training session, I do not know, but the mine he was holding was extremely lethal. Just a few seconds after he showed his men the mine, it exploded once, blowing off the sergeant’s arm at the shoulder, and then exploded again, throwing the shrapnel from the canister in all directions, killing every Marine in the class, including Glen McCarty.

“I was told that a few Vietnamese civilian workers, who were nearby, were also killed by the blast. The only survivor was the sergeant, since his body was near the mine when the first explosion occurred, and was then not in the circular path of the hurling shrapnel. The sudden deaths of these Marines were caused by a terrible, devastating accident, but their sacrifice is no less important then any of the other combat deaths resulting from the Vietnam War. The Marines of Alpha Company who died that March morning, were serving our country in a time of war, and they should all be considered heroes by the people of the nation they served.

“I had not thought about this incident very much until this last fall, when four of my brothers from the 7th Engineer Battalion Association sent me a reminder. They were investigating battalion casualties from the war, and they learned that McCarty and his Marines had been memorialized in a beautiful and peaceful spot at the Freedoms Foundation campus in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

“Surrounded by 13 trees planted in a circle, they found a large, pink, marble stone, with the inscription, ‘U.S. Marine Circle of Trees, In Memoriam, Vietnam, March 28, 1967.’ The names of all of the Marine heroes were also inscribed on the stone, as follows: Thomas Chester Bekiehpis; (whose father I learned was in the Battle of the Bulge of WWII) Stanley Davidheiser Jr.; Larry Clay Dye: Otis Randolph Ellis Jr.; Anthony Hawkins: Daniel Rex Laird; Glen Murray McCarty; Eugene Jerome Payne III; Ronald William Porter; Glenn Wesley Shafer; Donald Lee Shockley; Howard Stanley Stevens; and, Verrell Daniel Stiles.

“I have not yet learned who is responsible for creating this respectful memorial for these Marines, but I will attempt to find out. Please remember the Marines in the ‘Circle of Trees,’ for they gave their lives for you many years ago and should never be forgotten. My faith tells me that they are now with The Lord.”

Cpl. Glenn Wesley schafer is buried at Jefferson Memorial Gardens East in Trussvile. He is memorialized on the U.S. Marine Circle of Trees in Valley Forge, Penn., and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., panel 17e, Line 64. He received the following commendations for service to his country.

• Combat Action Ribbon

• National Defense Service Medal

• Vietnam Campaign Medal

• Vietnam Service Medal

• Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation

• Vietnam Gallantry Cross

• Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal

• Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal

C.P. Bailey may be reached at christy@athensnews-courier.com.