Three of Pfc Jim Lee's siblings recently got together to look over some of the effects returned to the family after he died in action serving his country during the Vietnam War. From left, Ron Kelly, Maynard; Connie Cole, Fayette and Cindy Olson, Oelwein. Not able to be present was Joe Kelly, of Washington State. (Janell Bradley photo
Fayette Marine to be honored with memorial
Janell Bradley
Contributing Writer
It was a Wednesday night in March, and Cindy Kelly's mother was getting ready to go to a meeting with a neighbor, when there was an unexpected knock at the door.
A U.S. Marine, accompanied by the town's Methodist minister and a police officer, stood at the door when Delores Kelly answered and learned her oldest son, James Marvin Lee, was dead.
Delores and her young children lived on East Water Street in Fayette with Delores' parents, Marvin and Leona Lee, when they got the news that Jim, 21, had died on March 16 while serving his country in Vietnam. The young soldier had been driving an ammunition truck in Quang Tri Province when the truck struck a land mine. The family was notified on March 19, 1969.
Jim's body arrived back in Fayette on March 27, remembered Cindy, now married to Dale Olson and living in Oelwein. Cindy was about 15 at the time, and her younger sister Connie, about 10.
Both girls can still vividly remember seeing the Marine at the door, bearing the news of their big brother's death.