Mayor orders City Hall flags lowered to honor Auburn Marine who died in 1975

"I received an email from a fellow veteran asking that we honor an Auburn Marine on the day he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery," said Mayor Pete Lewis.

May 14, 2013 7:02 pm

Auburn Mayor Pete Lewis has ordered flags at Auburn City Hal lowered on Wednesday, May 15 to honor Dan Benedett, PFC US Marine, who will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery that day.

“I received an email from a fellow veteran asking that we honor an Auburn Marine on the day he will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery,” said Mayor Pete Lewis. The request came from Dale Clark, an SSgt US Marine Corps Veteran, who served with Benedett in 1975.

Clark explained why the City should honor this veteran.

“A good friend of mine, Dan Benedett, PFC US Marine Corps, and I participated in a combat operation in 1975 to rescue a crew from the merchant vessel SS Mayaguez,” Clark wrote. “The crew was captured by the Khmer Rouge off of the coast of Cambodia. The crew was taken to an island called Koh Tang.

“In May 1975 President Ford sent in the US Marines to rescue the crew. Dan Benedett and I were the first group inserted on the island. Dan was in my rifle squad but at the last minute he was switched with another Marine to the helicopter in front of mine. As we were being inserted, we came under heavy ground fire with small arms and rockets. Dan’s helicopter was hit with a rocket and exploded as it was landing. Dan died in the explosion and his body was not recovered until years later by MIA teams. His remains were identified two years ago through DNA,” Clark wrote.

“As Mr. Clark explained in his email, he wanted to do something for his friend, and he knew Dan was from Auburn and graduated from Auburn High School in 1974,” Lewis said. “Unfortunately Dan’s parents have also passed away and no one from his family will be attending the Arlington ceremony. He asked we lower our flag in Dan’s memory, and it is the least we can do to remember one of our own.”

Clark, who works for the City of Seattle, also has permission to lower his building’s flag on Wednesday. He said he wanted to do more to recognize his friend’s death, and that’s why he emailed Mayor Lewis.

“Auburn has a reputation of honoring its veterans,” said Lewis. “The flag at Auburn City Hall will fly at half mast on Wednesday, May 15, 2013 to remember PFC Dan Benedett, US Marine, deceased.”