MALDEN — Two best friends from Malden made the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War and they have not been forgotten 50 years later.
City Veterans Affairs Director Kevin Jarvis said the city is still saluting John “Jackie” Meuse and his friend Peter Sullivan, both 18-year-old Marines who were killed while fighting in separate units in Vietnam. Meuse was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism before he was killed in action.
On Feb. 8, 1967, Sullivan was serving on a reconnaissance patrol and died while assaulting enemy positions at Quang Ngai. Meuse served as a radio operator. In his final battle, though severely wounded, Meuse held his position and kept his superiors aware of the enemy’s strength and location after they overran his unit.
Jarvis said Meuse and Sullivan are among 19 Malden residents killed in Vietnam who, along with hundreds of other local residents who served in Vietnam, are remembered and honored “on a daily basis.”
Jarvis and other city officials marked the Marine Corps’ 242nd birthday on Nov. 10 with a Boston ceremony that included remarks by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, who recalled the heroism demonstrated by the Malden Marines. Malden Police Chief Kevin Molis and former Marine Jim Hanley, who served as Grand Marshal in Malden’s Veterans Day parade, listed to Dunford speak along with Malden Police Sgt. Scott Carroll, retired Malden Police Sgt. Joe Connolly and retired Malden Fire Chief Jack Colangeli.
“I invited Jackie Meuse’s Gold Star brother Dana and his wife Carol from New Hampshire and sister Judith Marshall from Malden because I knew that General Dunford was going to highlight Jackie Meuse’s heroism and that pact that he made with Peter if one of them got killed,” Jarvis said.
Jarvis said that before they were separated into different units in Vietnam, Jackie Meuse and Peter Sullivan promised each other that if one of them was killed that the other one would find the grave and make sure that he received a 21-gun salute to honor the other’s sacrifice.
“As fate would have it, neither Malden hero was able to fulfill that pact,” Jarvis said.
