I knew Dennis “Denny” Baxter as I had gone to school with him and played ball with him in the city park numerous times. His parents got divorced so he lived with his grandparents Jessie and Dennis Baxter on River Street in Elkins. His dad moved back to Summit, N.J., and his mother remarried and moved to Bridgeport. He enlisted in the Marine Corps where his mother lived and he signed up. He wanted to see his dad in New Jersey before shipping out to Parris Island.

After I received orders to Vietnam, I was home on leave and stopped in Glen Edwards’ store on Diamond Street to get a bottle of pop and to speak with Glen and Marguerite.

There was a young girl working there and she liked the bell-bottom trousers I was wearing. I told her I was in the service and heading to Vietnam. She mentioned that her uncle, Dennis Baxter, was with the Marines in Vietnam. I told her I had gone to school with Denny and knew him quite well and that I was going to a Marine unit in Vietnam.

She said maybe I might run into him over there. She ran upstairs and came back with his address off one of the letters he had sent home. I never looked at it and just stuck it in my wallet as I never believed I would run into him over there.

I reported to Vietnam in 1966 as a U.S. Navy corpsman assigned to Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment. Our battalion was on Operation Prairie near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in northern Vietnam and involved Fox, Golf and Hotel companies. We had crossed into the DMZ searching for heavy artillery guns that the North Vietnamese were using to shell the military outposts around the DMZ. Hotel

Company had over 40 Marines killed and many more wounded. Our battalion commander took Marines from Golf and Fox companies to augment into Hotel Company, and I was one of them. After the operation was completed our battalion headquarters moved our main base from Chu Lai to An Hoa.

This was in December 1966. A couple days after our relocation I was walking down through the hardback buildings looking for 1st Platoon in Hotel Company’s area. I saw Dennis sitting on the back steps of 3rd Platoon’s area, cleaning his rifle and gear. Quite a surprise for both of us. I told him I ran into his niece at Edwards’ store on Diamond Street when on leave before coming to Vietnam. I said I even had his mailing address in my wallet. He said, “Well, I would like to see that.” I said I would go get it from my wallet. I came back and gave it to him. Since we were in different platoons, we saw each other several times during the next month.

In late January 1967 our battalion kicked off Operation Tuscaloosa. On Jan. 26, 1967, Hotel Company was the rear security for a river crossing involving several companies of Marines. The North Vietnamese had several mortar tubes set up about a half mile away and were dropping mortars on the river crossing. We split our company and sent 3rd Platoon down river where they could find a crossing site. They were to cross the river and assault the enemy and knock out those mortars. The last platoon to cross theriver was 1st Platoon. I saw Dennis as his platoon was moving through our area and told him to keep his head down and I would see him across the river.

Dennis never made it across the river as his squad was pinned down on a sand bar in the middle of the river. They had attempted to cross and were trapped and pinned down on the sand bar. The North Vietnamese troops had them zeroed in with machine guns and mortars. Most of the Marines in Dennis’s squad were pinned down on that sand bar so he grabbed a machine gun and ran out to help them. Thirteen members of 3rd Platoon were killed and Dennis was among them. I did not know he had been killed until I heard the radio operator from 3rd Platoon going through the casualty report. I helped load Denny on a helicopter that evening and thought what an impact his loss would be in Elkins.

I did know know he was buried at Little Arlington Cemetery in Cravensdale until 1970 when I found his grave marker while looking for my mom’s brother’s marker. It was quite a shock to look down and see his name, as the last time I saw him was Jan. 26, 1967. His grave was just a few markers on the left side of the flagpole. I think of him quite often and help keep his marker cleaned in the cemetery.

To memorialize him, we have a bridge named for him just out side of Elkins, “U. S. Marine Corps PFC Dennis Warren Baxter Memorial Bridge.” It is on Corridor H near the Laurel Mountain Road exit, about 100 feet onto the highway. This bridge is an important piece of infrastructure in this community but now it’s much more. It’s also a permanent reminder of the courage of U.S. Marine Dennis Warren Baxter. He was a true hero.

It was ironic about Dennis going to see his father and then shipping out to Parris Island.

The Marine Corps had Denny’s home-of-record as New Jersey since he shipped out from there. There is nothing in his military record that he lived in West Virginia. He was born in Elkins, graduated from Elkins High School and is buried in Elkins. Let’s never forget that Dennis Baxter is one of our own forever.

It is with respect and dignity that we remember him, honor him and pledge never to forget him as this bridge will forever serve as a silent sentinel of his service.

Roger Ware

Elkins