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Captain Frederick Earl Daubenspeck, Ret. USMC
January 17, 1934 ~ August 11, 2016 (age 82) 82 Years Old Light a Candle
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Message from Will "Pila" Chiles
August 30, 2016 10:23 AM
I served with Frederick at Headquarters 3rd Recon in Vietnam. In the politics and chaos of war he was the one man I truly respected. Fred stood up for me and prevented my court-martial when I went against protocol. The moral was critically low and casualties were escalating, so I had written a satirical letter to Schlitz brewing company on the commanding officer's stationery along with 150 signatures. They flew in several pallets of beer under fire just for 3rd Recon enlisted men (we had been cheated out of our promised allotment for several months). The CO was furious, Fred stood between us and said "Sir, if you court-martial private Chiles you're going to have to court-martial me." Instead of going to the brig I became battalion hero. Fred was a champion of principle and the finest of Marines, what we call a "Mustanger" (enlisted men who become officers the 'hard and true way'). I was homeless after Vietnam, discharged from the Camp Pendleton U.S. Naval Hospital mental ward with no benefits and a Purple Heart that wouldn't buy me a cup of coffee. I would have to say that it was my memory of Lt. Daubenspeck and his championing of the individual that brought me back to sanity and allowed me to become the author and Fortune 500 speaker that I am today. God rest your sweet soul, Skipper.
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