CM3 Marvin Glenn Shields
Port Angeles Sea Scout Ship 1212 is Honored to Take his Name
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SEABEES
Their simple motto tells the story: "We build, we fight". From the island hopping of World War II and the cold of Korea, to the jungles of Vietnam, to the mountains of Bosnia, and to the deserts of Afghanistan and Kuwait, the Seabees have built entire bases, bulldozed and paved thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips, and accomplished a myriad of construction projects. Born in 1939 in Port Townsend, Washington, Construction Mechanic 3rd Class Marvin Glenn Shields is the only Seabee to earn the Medal of Honor. He joined the Navy in 1962. In 1963, he was assigned to Mobile Construction Battalion 11 (MCB 11) and deployed to Okinawa. 
The Vietnamese government awarded Marvin Shields the Vietnamese Order of Gallantry with Palm and the Military Merit Medal posthumously. President Lyndon B. Johnson posthumously presented Shields’ Medal of Honor to his wife, Joan, and their young daughter, Barbara, in a White House ceremony held on September 13, 1966.
USS Marvin Shields (FF-1066) was a Knox-class frigate of the US Navy. The ship was named after Marvin Shields. She was laid down 12 April 1968, by Todd Pacific Shipyards, Seattle, Washington, launched 23 October 1969. |
In 1965 Shields deployed to Vietnam as part of MCB 11’s Seabee Team 1104 to build and improve the military headquarters and compound in Ððng Xoài, near Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). On June 9, 1965, Viet Cong insurgents breached the camp defenses, surrounding the Americans and their Allies. For nearly three hours, Shields supplied fellow Americans with ammunition, returned enemy fire, assisted in carrying critically wounded men to safety despite being wounded himself, and then resumed his gun post for another four hours. Shields sustained fatal injuries and died on June 10, 1965, during a helicopter evacuation. Although Ððng Xoài was left in charred ruins, the American position held in part to Shield’s heroism.
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