Page 26 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2025 - Online Magazine
P. 26
by David Nelson
I prepared to attend law school as
part of a Marine law program. Also,
that summer I married my college
sweetheart Martie Sue Lowry, and
Lee Roy dated Danelle Davis. In the
fall I began law school at SMU, and
Lee Roy reported for Marine Corps
officer training at Quantico, VA. By
early 1968 Lee Roy had exhibited
exceptional language skills and
was sent to the Defense Language
Institute in Monterey, CA.
In May 1968, Lee Roy and Danelle
married in Lubbock. (I was in the
middle of final exams, and it is
ee Roy Herron’s mother Due to the military draft, we were still one of my deepest regrets that
attended school with my both keenly aware that someday I did not attend their wedding.)
Lfather. The tiny country school we might be obliged to fight for our In December Lee Roy was sent to
was a little northeast of Lubbock in country. I vividly recall an incident Vietnam and assigned to the Third
a small cotton farming community that occurred during the Cuban Marine Division.
called “Estacado.” Our stories began Missile Crisis. Lee Roy and I had a
in the cotton fields and eventually led P.E. class together at Lubbock High On February 22, 1969, his company
us both to the US Marine Corps. School, and one day he was late for was engaged in a fierce battle with
class. I remember him running across elements of the North Vietnamese
Lee Roy and I met in 1957 at the street to the practice field and Army. After taking a wounded
Matthews Junior High in Lubbock. excitedly exclaiming, “David, we
Loyal and devoted to his friends, may be going to war with Russia.” It
Lee Roy was nonetheless a fierce was obvious that Lee Roy was gung-
competitor in all aspects of his life, ho about becoming a warrior.
including scholastics and sports
activities. We both enrolled at Texas Tech in
1963. Lee Roy joined the Marine
On the ninth-grade football team, Corps in 1964, and, at his suggestion,
Lee Roy played left guard, and I was I joined in 1965. After enduring
the left end. Midway through the Officer Candidate School in the
season, Lee Roy broke his arm during summer of 1966, on June 7, 1967, we
a game and refused to come out until were two of only four Texas Tech
the coach forced him to withdraw. I graduates to receive Marine Corps 2d
knew Lee Roy was competitive, but Lieutenant commissions.
that night I learned that he was also
extremely stubborn! During the summer of 1967, Lee Roy David and Martie Nelson
prepared to go on active duty, and
26 Lubbock Senior Link
