November 12, 2016 Amb. Kenneth Quinn
In November 2016, Ambassador Quinn delivered the keynote address at the Marine Corp Ball held in Des Moines. The Ambassador conveyed an extremely moving set a remarks in recalling the story of the "Lost Fire Team" in Cambodia. During a 1975 operation with the ship Mayaguez off the coast of Cambodia, three US Marines were somehow left behind alive when the Marine landing force withdrew from the island they were attacking. 20 years later, while serving as Ambassador to Cambodia, Quinn visited that island where searches were taking place to bring home the remains of the US military personnel who had died during that attack. There Ambassador Quinn heard the story about the three Marines who had been left behind, but who had never surrendered, and continued to resist until they were one-by-one killed. The Ambassador created a monument at the Embassy in Phnom Penh dedicated to those brave Marines, who exemplified the Marine Corp motto - Semper Fi.
