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Marine Corps Private 1st Class Melvin E. Newlin, Medal of Honor recipient.
Episode 2722 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about Marine Corps Pfc. Melvin Newlin and his Congressional Medal of Honor award. The featured story comes from The U.S. Department of Defense website and was titled: Medal of Honor Monday: Marine Corps Pfc. Melvin Newlin. It was submitted by Katie Lange, a writer for DOD News.
Lange, in her story, reported that just because you don’t have the best upbringing doesn’t mean you can’t go on to do great things. That was the case for Marine Corps Private 1st Class Melvin E. Newlin. He didn’t have the ideal life growing up, but the actions he performed in Vietnam to save his fellow Marines during combat made him a name that will forever be remembered. For his sacrifice, he received the Medal of Honor.
Lange added this about Newlin; Newlin was born Sept. 27, 1948, in Wellsville, Ohio, a small town about an hour west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Newlin’s parents, Joseph and Ruth, had seven other children and struggled to support them all, according to a 2004 article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. So, Newlin spent time in foster care growing up.
By his senior year of high school, Newlin had briefly reunited with his parents. According to his brother Joe that ended after a bout of apparent domestic violence he told the Post-Gazette. So, the teenaged Newlin moved in with Joe and his wife.
Newlin graduated from Wellsville High School in 1966 — the only one of the siblings to get a diploma, said another brother, Richard.
About a month later, at the age of 17, Newlin enlisted in the Marine Corps. He became a machine gunner with Company F of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
Listen to episode 2722 and discover more about Vietnam Vet Marine Corps Pfc. Melvin Newlin and his Congressional Medal of Honor award.
