MACON — Marc Treadwell has always been able to put a time stamp on that early summer evening in 1967.
Every Sunday, his mother would take him, his brother and sister to their uncle’s house for supper in the south Georgia community of Blackshear.
He was 12 years old, and had just finished the sixth grade. School was out for the summer.
Memorial Day had been observed five days earlier. Father’s Day was in another two weeks, and this one held the promise of being extra special.
His father, Millard Leon Treadwell Jr., would soon be returning home after a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam.
It was the beginning of what the history books would later call the “Summer of Love.’’
But Treadwell has never been able to look at it that way. June 3 was the most heartbreaking day of his life.
That evening, he looked through the screen door and noticed two non-commissioned military officers standing outside.
“The police showed them the way to the house,’’ Treadwell said. “My grandmother saw the two men in uniform and said, ‘Well, lookee here.’ But I knew right away what the news was, and they told us.’’ His father had been killed in a helicopter crash with five other men on a noncombat mission near Bien Hoa. He was 34 years old.
There were eight men on board. They were flying low across the rice paddies toward a village. On the other side of a tree line, the helicopter hit a power line, caught fire and crashed to the ground.
Treadwell has photographs to remind him of his father’s smile. He often has to reach into his mental time capsule to recall the sound of his dad’s voice and mannerisms.
When you’re a child, the grief of losing a loved one is a feeling his sister, Cindy, once described as being a “person in the middle of a phone conversation who has discovered that the line has been disconnected.’’
Treadwell has strong memories of his father’s funeral at the city cemetery in Blackshear, a town that has gained a measure of notoriety in recent years as the hometown of former Georgia Bulldog quarterback Stetson Bennett.
“When I go back to visit his gravesite, I think about the 21-gun salute and ‘Taps’ being played,’’ Treadwell said. “And the folding of the flag and presenting it to my mother.’’
Leon Treadwell did not live to see his oldest son become a father – and now grandfather – who will celebrate his 70th birthday in August.
He never got to tell him how proud he was that Treadwell is the United States District Court Judge for the Middle District of Georgia. He was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate by an 89-0 vote on June 21, 2010. Leon Treadwell’s hometown was 42 miles up the road from Blackshear in the once-famous speed trap town of Ludowici. He went to Georgia Tech to study to become a civil engineer and he participated in the ROTC program. He met his wife, Betty, who was in nursing school at Georgia Baptist College of Nursing. They married after he graduated from Tech and went into the Army.
Marc Treadwell said he loved his boyhood adventures as an “Army brat.’’ It afforded his family the opportunity to travel and live in different states and countries.
They were stationed in Germany in early 1966 when Leon Treadwell was sent to Vietnam. It was his second deployment. His first assignment was to Saudi Arabia when Marc Treadwell was in the first grade.
“Both times we went back to Blackshear while he was gone,’’ Marc Treadwell said. “It was my mother’s hometown.’’
Growing up, his mom and his aunt would tell him all the ways he reminded them of his father.
It was his father’s work ethic and attention to detail that had the most meaningful impact on his life.
“They always told me I must have taken after him because I was determined that whatever I was doing to get it done,’’ he said. “If you can do something, do it right … or don’t do it at all.’’
Marc Treadwell communicated with his father in Vietnam by writing letters.
“He was a combat engineer,’’ Marc said. “He had some close calls, but he never talked about those. I’ve only learned about them from others.’’
After his death in service to his country, Leon Treadwell was honored at a medal ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina – one of the largest military bases in the world. Among the commendations he received posthumously was the Legion of Merit.
The last time the family got to see him was when he came home to visit his brother-in-law, who had terminal cancer. It was in December 1966, and Leon Treadwell surprised his children with the weeklong visit at Christmas.
As it turned out, Treadwell’s uncle outlived his father. It was a particularly difficult time for his mother, who lost her husband, father and brother within a year.
Memorial Day and the anniversary of his father’s death always fall close together.
“It’s a time of reflection for me more than anything else,’’ Treadwell said. “I feel like I’m strongly patriotic, and my insight was essentially as a child. I have some understanding what servicemen and women and their families go through.’’
He said he has been to the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., at least a dozen times. His father’s name is located on Panel 21E, Line 53.
“It’s the most incredibly moving thing to go and put my hand on that wall,’’ he said. “What a phenomenal impact it has had on the country, not just the family members.’’
Story and photos courtesy Ed Grisamore and The Macon Melody. Judge Treadwell lived in Blackshear after his father’s death. His mother, Betty, married local funeral director Bernard Pearson, following Major Treadwell’s death. Mrs. Pearson was Pierce County’s public health nurse. Judge Treadwell has two sisters, Cindy Oberschlake and Sharon Pearson Godwin. His brother was the late Blake Treadwell.
