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Contact Info
Home Town Marlborough
Last Address Alexandria, VA
Date of Passing Jul 18, 1998
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
Merle Landry Carey, 81, a retired Army colonel and Washington stockbroker, died of respiratory failure July 18, 1998 at Inova Alexandria Hospital, Alexandria, Virginia.
He retired from military service in 1963 after having served in the office of the Army's chief of research and development. His Army career included service as an artillery officer in Europe during World War II, occupation duty in Germany after the war, command of a tank battalion during the Korean War, a short tour in Vietnam in 1962, and an assignment as professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He attended the Command and General Staff College. His awards included a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars, and the Order of the Phoenix (Greece).
Colonel Carey was a resident of Alexandria, and he had lived in the Washington area since 1961. He was born in Marlboro, Massachusetts, and graduated from Boston College and the U.S. Military Academy in 1943.
After his Army retirement, he was a stockbroker with the firms of Alex Brown, Kidder, Peabody and PaineWebber. He retired in 1992. His wife, Sarah R. Carey, died in April. A son, Jonathan S. Carey, died in December 1996.
Survivors include a son, Charles R. Carey of Potomac; two brothers; two sisters; and three grandchildren.
Other Comments:
SILVER STAR
Headquarters, 3d Infantry Division, General Orders No. 5 (1946)
CITATION:: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Captain (Armor) Merle Landry Carey, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in connection with military operations against the enemy as Commanding Officer of a Company of the 12th Armored Division during World War II. His gallant actions and dedicated devotion to duty, without regard for his own life, were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
Description This campaign period was from 15 March 1962 to 7 March 1965. During this period, direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict increased steadily as U.S. trained Vietnamese pilots moved Vietnamese helicopter units into and out of combat. Ultimately the United States hoped that a strong Vietnamese government would result in improved internal security and national defense. The number of U.S. advisors in the field rose from 746 in January 1962 to over 3,400 by June; the entire U.S. commitment by the end of the year was 11,000, which included 29 U.S. Army Special Forces detachments. These advisory and support elements operated under the Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, a position established 8 February 1962. The object of American military assistance was to counter the threat to the government of the Republic of Vietnam posed by the insurgency of an estimated 30,000 regular communist Viet Cong and civilian sympathizers among the population. Despite what appeared to be considerable successes in consolidating the population in a series of defended strategic hamlets, and in establishing local defense forces, the U.S. equipped Army of the Republic of Vietnam repeatedly demonstrated an unwillingness to close with the enemy. A corrupt government and bitterly contending Vietnamese political factions further hampered a coherent prosecution of the war with American advisors, who nevertheless continued their efforts well into the period of large scale commitments of U.S. Army forces to the conflict.