The Ribbon Creek incident occurred on the night of April 8, 1956, when Staff Sergeant Matthew McKeon, a junior drill instructor at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, marched his assigned platoon into Ribbon Creek, a swampy tidal creek. The incident resulted in the deaths of six United States Marine Corps recruits. McKeon was found guilty of possession and drinking alcohol on duty and of negligent homicide.
Incident On April 8, 1956, at approximately 8 pm,Verbatim Record of Trial of Matthew C. McKeon by General Court Martial, Appointed by the Secretary of the Navy, July 16–August 4, 1956, Department of the Navy, Office of the Judge Advocate General, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC at p. 188. Hereafter in the notes, this is referred to as "Trial Transcript." See also, Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra, 2016 at p. 19 Staff Sergeant Matthew McKeon, a combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, led Platoon 71, his assigned platoon of 74 recruits, on an extra exercise to Ribbon Creek. According to a doctor's testimony given at his trial, McKeon was not intoxicated or under the influence of alcohol at the time of the exercise."Question: Now I want to ask you Dr. Atcheson, on the basis of your tests, your observation, and the official request made of you to evaluate the sergeant's sobriety, do you have an opinion now with a reasonable degree of medical certainty as to whether or not the sergeant was within all the normal sobriety limits? Answer: Yes sir he was within normal limits. Question: Of sobriety? Answer: Yes sir" Trial Transcript at p. 524, see also Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra, 2016 at p. 176
McKeon led the platoon toward a swampy tidal creek on Parris Island, near the Marine Corps recruit depot, and conducted an exercise in the creek. McKeon entered the water first. According to trial transcripts, the recruits broke formation as they entered the creek and were joking and fooling around in the water near the swamps adjacent to the Weapons Training Battalion.Trial Transcript at p. 36, see also Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra, 2016, at pp. 19-24Record of Proceedings of a Court of Inquiry The platoon marched along the creek bed, but many strayed into deep water, resulting in the drowning deaths of six recruits:Department of the Navy, Office of the Judge Advocate General, Alexandria, Virginia, April 1956 at p. 16. Hereafter in the notes, this is referred to as "Court of Inquiry Transcript."; see also Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra, 2016 at p. 20 Private Thomas Curtis Hardeman Private First Class Donald Francis O'Shea Private Charles Francis Reilly Private Jerry Lamonte Thomas Private Leroy Thompson Private Norman Alfred Wood
Investigation Between 9:00 and 9:20 pm, Captain Charles E. Patrick (the Officer of the Day) called Colonel W. B. McKean, the Commanding Officer of the Weapons Training Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island. The captain reported, "We're in trouble. There are a bunch of recruits coming back to building 761 and it seems that the DI has been marching them through the swamps. I'm going down now to investigate it." The colonel responded, before proceeding further to the effect of, "Lock up the DI. Send to sickbay those that need it. Get the rest of them policed up and call me back as soon as you know the number of that platoon and the battalion."Court of Inquiry Transcript at p. 222, see also Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra, 2016 at pp. 33-35
On April 9, a Court of Inquiry was convened to inquire into the circumstances surrounding the marching of platoon 71 into Ribbon Creek. The proceedings began the next day. McKeon was initially represented by a Marine Corps attorney; on April 14, his brother-in-law Thomas P. Costello stepped in as his personal legal counsel. Costello was assisted by another New York lawyer, Jim McGarry, and by Lieutenant Jeremiah Collins, as Marine-Corps-designated defense counsel.Court of Inquiry transcript, at p. 155; see also ‘’Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra‘’, 2016, at p. 36
There had been no specific prohibition against entering the creek, as McKean (who had ordered the drill instructor's initial confinement) notes in his memoir, Ribbon Creek.New York: The Dial Press, 1958 at p. 113, see also Counsel for the Accused Marine Corps Drill Sergeant, Marie Costello Inserra, 2016, at p. 73 and Court of Inquiry transcript at p. 226. When asked by counsel for the defense whether there were any orders that prohibited using the marshes and swamp areas for training exercises, Colonel McKean answered: "....To the best of my knowledge the only order that relates to swamps has to do with marching down around the area of Elliot's Beach ..."Court of Inquiry transcript at p. 226
During the proceedings, Costello established that night marches were common exercises.Court of Inquiry at pp. 331–336 In his memoir, Ribbon Creek, McKean writes that General "Burger's efforts to deny the practice of night marches into swamps becomes ludicrous when we analyze the argument of his ghost writer, Major Faw." McKean confirmed this practice by asking about eighteen Marines assisting in the search of Ribbon Creek that night if they had ever marched into the swamps at night; his answer had been that a "clear majority" of them had done so.Ribbon Creek; New York: The Dial Press, 1958 at pp. 229–230
The Court of Inquiry resulted in four charges, including possessing alcohol on base (as was shown by McKeon having a drink there at about noon), oppressing his troops, involuntary manslaughter, and negligent homicide. McKeon was also charged with drinking in front of a recruit.
McKeon was brought before the court the following day. At first, he was classified as mentally and "emotionally stable" and "a mature, stable appearing career Marine". The Court of Inquiry did decide that the detailed directives regarding and prohibiting certain Marine training methods were "correct and adequate" and that McKeon had launched an unnecessary and unauthorized disciplinary action. It was proven that McKeon had consumed several alcoholic drinks the afternoon before the night march, but it was confirmed that he was not under the influence of alcohol when he led the recruits into the creek. The recommendation was that McKeon be subject to a court-martial.
Consequences McKeon was court-martialed amidst a wave of public condemnation over the "brutality" of Marine Corps training. However, many Marines came to his defense, arguing such harsh training was necessary to survive in combat. McKeon's supervisor, Staff Sergeant E. H. Huff, testified in his defense. He described McKeon as an outstanding drill instructor and noted that night marches were very common at Parris Island. Huff said the discipline in his own platoon was so poor that he would have taken the recruits on the march himself if he had had the time.
McKeon was defended by a group of volunteer lawyers from New York City, including his brother-in-law, Thomas P. Costello, Emile Zola Berman, and Howard Lester, along with Marine Corps attorneys Lieutenant Colonel Alaric W. Valentin, Major John R. DeBarr, and Lieutenant Collins.Trial transcript p. 2 Berman led the team, as he was a distinguished and successful trial attorney who specialized in negligence cases, but he was also dedicated to preserving the constitutional rights of the criminally accused. He had previously presented a successful criminal defense in 1954 in Alexandria, Louisiana, of a 14-year-old African-American charged with rape and would later go on to defend Sirhan Sirhan.
Marine Corps Commandant General Randolph Pate testified. One reporter pointed out this was like "calling J. Edgar Hoover to testify about a problem within the FBI". The trial's most dramatic moment, however, was the arrival of General Lewis "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated Marine in the history of the Corps. Berman called Puller to testify about training methods. Puller called the incident in Ribbon Creek "a deplorable accident", but one that did not warrant court-martial. He said that discipline was the most important factor in military training. He quoted Napoleon, saying that an army becomes a "mob" without it.
He mentioned his experiences in the Korean War and that one of the reasons troops failed was because of lack of night training. General Puller felt that the press had blown the incident out of proportion because of prejudice they had against the Marine Corps. He mentioned a similar accident at an Army post in which ten soldiers drowned and pointed out that none of their superiors had been charged and that it had never made headlines the way Ribbon Creek had.
McKeon was acquitted of manslaughter and oppression of his troops but was found guilty of negligent homicide and drinking on duty. The Secretary of the Navy, Charles S. Thomas, noted in his final action on the case: