MIKE CODY • VIETNAM
Mike Cody, 79
Gloucester, MA
Born: 3/20/46
Born/Raised: Gloucester
Rank: E-5, Sergeant, Recon Marine
Unit: US Marine Corps, 1st & 3rd Force Recon Companies
Quang Tri Province, Vietnam
Dates of Service: 1965-1969
Mike Cody, the son of a fisherman, grew up on Warner Street with his two sisters, Deichie (Patricia) and Marcia, and his parents Evelyn and Joseph. His father was a Gloucester fisherman who owned the fishing vessel Cape May. Mike graduated from Gloucester High School in 1965 and promptly enlisted in the US Marine Corps.
Following his Marine training, Mike was posted to the Quang Tri Province along with 239 other highly specialized Marines in the 1st and 3rd Force Reconnaissance Companies. He would spend the next two years running missions in 4-man teams that would be in the field anywhere from two to ten days or more. They’d start with 75-pound packs carrying everything they’d need for the mission at hand. “We weren’t resupplied. When you ran out, you had to live off the land.”
Mike left the Marines in 1969 and returned to Gloucester where he worked construction, owned a gym for a while and served as a Gloucester firefighter for a dozen years. He was married and is the father of three: Anne Marie Oliveira, Jackie Howard and Jay Cody, and the grandfather of seven.
When asked whether he kept touch with anyone from his days in Vietnam, “they’re all on the wall.”