More detail on this person: Col Frank McLenon USMCR PROVMAG39 It is with sadness and regret that I advise you of the death of Colonel Frank G. McLenon, USMCR Ret. The Colonel served as an enlisted turret gunner in WWII, flew Corsairs in Korea, and Helicopters and C-130s in Vietnam. He was the CO of ProvMag39, which extracted the last Americans from Saigon in 1975. He was also a Presidential Command Pilot for both Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Mac was a down-to-earth Marine, who loved to sit and have a beer and tell sea stories with any Marine, of any rank, from any era. Mac was 79. Rest in Peace, Brother. Welcome Home This was reported on Sgt Grit's Black Mac Helen has promised to write an obit for Mac, but I don't know when or if it come out. Mac was born in Gibraltar, MI in 1927 and enlisted in the USMC as a teenager. He was a gunner on a Marine TBF, Avenger during WWII. After the war he went to flight school as a SSgt to become an NAP. While there, the Marine Corps discontinued the NAP program. They gave him a choice of becoming a NavCad or staying a SSgt, but leaving flight school. He chose the NavCad option & was commissioned a reserve 2Lt when he received his wings. He flew Corsairs in Korea. After the Korean War was over, he got out & went back to Michigan to attend college. Then he came back on active duty and got sent to helicopters. His transition to C-130's came rather late in his career. As a C-130 pilot was CO of a WestPac squadron. Later, he was CO of MARTD Glenview, another C-130 billet. The CO of ProvMag-39 tour was apparently between C-130 tours. He stayed for 33 years. He retired as a Col., still a reserve. The last time I saw him was when he CO of MARTD at Glenview. I flew up there in a T-28 when I was at NavAir. He went to Saudi Arabia to train their pilots in C-130's, I think. While there, he & Helen split & he married Monique. When he returned, he started flying H-3's on a Navy contract in the Bahamas. He stayed there until he retired a few years back. I understand that his health was poor to terrible for the last few years of his life. Helen said his brothers told her he was incapacitated both physically and mentally for the last few years. S/F, Ted Read Colonel Frank G. "Black Mac" McLenon, USMCR (Ret), Submitted by Black Mac's wife Helen, and Ted Read Colonel Frank G., "Black Mac", McLenon, USMCR (Ret), passed away on Friday, 7 April 2006, age 79, at Cumberland Medical Center in Crossville, Tenn. He was born 28 Feb l927 in Gibraltar, Michigan, the first son of Clinton and Beatrice Springstead McLenon. Immediately upon high school graduation and with parental permission, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in l944 and received his Gold Wings and 2dLt bars in February of l952. He served in World War II as a turret gunner in the TBM Avengers flying some 90 missions from various atolls and carriers from Okinawa to the East China Sea. He flew Corsairs in Korea; jets with vmf-531 at Cherry Point, NC; and 3 tours in Vietnam flying helicopters and C-130s. He was a Presidential Command Pilot for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He attended Amphibious Warfare School at Quantico, Va., interrupted by the October "Cuban Missile Crisis"; the Naval War College in Newport, RI; the University of Michigan and the University of Rhode Island. He is survived by his wife, Monique, 2 step-children, Marina and Danny C. Thomas; 8 step-grandchildren and 2 step -great grandchildren; brother, Michael McLenon, (who also served in the Marine Corps) of Rockwood, Mich.; brother, Kerry McLenon of Grosse Isle, Mich.; sister, Lenora Barna of Detroit; many nieces and nephews; a special nephew, LtCdr.Darran McLenon, USCG, League City, TX; his namesake, Scott McLenon Diehl, Webster, NY; caregivers, Leaf Austin and Stacie Sweat. He was preceded in death by his loving parents and younger brother, Timothy McLenon. Funeral services were held in Crossville Monday, l0 April 2006. A Memorial Service is planned for a later date in Gibraltar, Mich. Colonel Mac was awarded many medals, but his proudest was the Eagle Scout medal earned in his youth. He retired in l977 after proudly serving his country for 33 years. While serving as a Marine enlisted man and as a reserve officer on active duty, Col McLenon fought in three wars and commanded two KC-130 squadrons,VMGR 251 and VMGR 252; After promotion to Colonel, he was given command of ProvMag-39, the helicopter air group tasked with extracting the last Americans from Viet Nam in 1975. His twilight tour was as Commanding Officer of the Marine Air Reserve Detachment at NAS Glenview, IL.
Burial information: Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola, FL
This information was last updated 07/23/2019
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Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
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