John L. Canley, Belated Medal of Honor Recipient, Dies at 84
He was the first living Black Marine to be awarded America’s highest military decoration — 50 years after he demonstrated valor in Vietnam.
Sgt. Maj. John L. Canley, who rescued more than 20 fellow Marines under enemy fire in Vietnam in 1968 and, 50 years later, became the first living Black Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor, died on May 11 in Bend, Ore. He was 84.
He died at the home of his daughter Patricia Sargent, who said the cause was complications of prostate cancer.
In 1953, John Canley, then just 15, borrowed his older brother’s credentials to enlist in the Marines. By January 1968, when his company of mostly teenage troops was deployed to the city of Hue in central Vietnam during the Tet offensive, he had already served in Japan and South Korea.
When his commanding officer in Vietnam, Capt. Gordon Batcheller, was severely wounded, Sergeant Major Canley led the 150-man Alpha Company, First Battalion, First Marine Regiment, during three days of successful counterattacks against North Vietnamese positions, bringing relief to his surrounded comrades.
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Twice in full view of the enemy, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound sergeant major scaled a wall to draw fire and expose the North Vietnamese positions. Then, armed with grenades, he charged enemy machine gun nests, allowing his comrades to escape while he rescued the wounded.
He was joined in his heroics by Sgt. Alfredo Gonzalez, who was mortally wounded and awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Sergeant Major Canley sustained shrapnel wounds and later received the Navy Cross.
After being reminded at an Alpha Company reunion nearly two decades ago of the valor shown by Sergeant Major Canley, John Ligato, a retired F.B.I. special agent and former Marine who had served under him during the Tet offensive, began a campaign to upgrade Sergeant Major Canley’s Navy Cross to a Medal of Honor.
Mr. Ligato enlisted Representative Julia Brownley, a California Democrat, who won the support of Defense Secretary James N. Mattis and successfully lobbied for legislation to waive the requirement that the Medal of Honor be awarded within five years of the actions it recognizes.
President Donald J. Trump personally bestowed the medal in a White House ceremony in 2018.
“Sergeant Major Canley was a leader and a war fighter who undoubtedly contributed to the battles won in Vietnam,” said Sgt. Maj. Troy E. Black, the senior enlisted leader of the Marine Corps.
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According to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, all previous Black Marines given the medal had received it posthumously.
John Lee Canley was born on Dec. 20, 1937, in Caledonia, Ark., and raised in nearby El Dorado. His father, J.M. Canley, worked at a chemical plant. His mother, Leola (Cobb) Canley, managed a restaurant.
Sergeant Major Canley’s marriage to Viktoria Fenech ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter and a stepson, David Fenech, from that marriage, his survivors include two children from a relationship with Toyo Adaniya Russeau, Ricky Canley and Yukari Canley; two sisters; a brother; and three grandchildren.
Inspired to enlist in the Marines after watching the 1949 John Wayne movie “Sands of Iwo Jima,” he served three combat tours in Vietnam as a rifle platoon leader, company gunnery sergeant and company first sergeant.
Sergeant Major Canley’s other awards included the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (each with the combat “V,” signifying valor in combat) and the Combat Action Ribbon. In 2020, the U.S.S. John L. Canley, a mobile sea base, was named in his honor.
He retired from the Marines in 1981 and settled in Oxnard, Calif., where he ran a textile import business.
“This honor is for all of the Marines with whom I served,” Sergeant Major Canley said in an interview with Military.com on the occasion of receiving the Medal of Honor. “The only thing I was doing was taking care of troops best I could. Do that, and everything else takes care of itself.”
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Even after he was belatedly awarded the medal, he continued to take care of his troops.
“He felt badly that during all that time they weren’t recognized for the sacrifices they made,” his daughter said in an interview.
Sergeant Major Canley was instrumental in securing the approval of Bronze Stars for five members of his company and a Navy Commendation Medal for another, all of which are scheduled to be awarded next month.
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