07 Jan 2008: I served with Gulf Battery 3/11, Charlie Company 1/7 and Bravo Company 1/7. I served as a forward observer, and I was often in the fox holes and along side Fr. Capodanno. Never have I been more struck by anyone than I was by him. I was a young 2nd LT and we went on Search and Destroy mission after Search and Destroy mission. We’d all confess- Catholics and non-Catholics- to Father Capodanno. We would say "Bless me Father, I’ve been a horrible person", and Capodanno would return with some wonderfully uplifting words for us, spiritually and humanly. I was struck by his human spirituality.
Read More One Operation in particular comes to mind, I think it was called Operation Rio Blanco. They wanted us in a blocker position, so we had to travel at night by foot. It was a long way. We were hauling butt from evening and had to be in position by dawn. We were all pretty rugged physically, Capodanno wasn’t. We thought he was an old man. When we stopped a few minutes, he was really in pain and never showed it. He spent every moment being encouraging and uplifting. When we did get there, we had a little bit of action. Capodanno was incredibly serene and competent under fire, scared like the rest of us, but never showed it. When someone was wounded or killed, he was amazingly comforting. My youngest is a Marine officer who just got out and I’ve always mentioned Capodanno as most impressive man I met. I’ve always told my sons about Capodanno.

Subsequently, I’ve attended reunions including one out in Pendleton some three years ago. There’s a chapel dedicated to Capodanno. Someone introduced me to the chaplain there- though now I can’t recall his name- and I mentioned I knew Capodanno, and this priest was so enthralled to meet someone who met Capodanno personally he bent my ear for about 45 minutes. Capodanno has always stayed with me, and recently we were at the new USMC museum in DC honoring the 36 OCS men in my class who were killed. I was pleased to see Capodanno noted in that exhibit.
[Telephone interview 07Jan08, 3:30pm, with Judy McCloskey]