Slain Marine Feared Post in Philippines, His Brother Says

The brother of a U.S. Marine from El Toro who was killed by a shot to the head in the Philippines said Saturday his family is outraged, and he labeled the Buena Park man’s death an act of terrorism.

The U.S. Navy identified the slain American as Gunnery Sgt. John S. Fredette, 34. Fredette was attached to the 323rd Marine Fighter Squadron based in El Toro and had been on temporary duty at Subic Bay Naval Base for one month.

“It’s cold-blooded murder. Terrorism, call it whatever you want,” said Mark Fredette from the family’s home in Chicopee, Mass. “This happened for nothing. It tore out the heart of a lot of people around here.”

This was his brother’s second trip to the Philippines, and he expressed concern to his family about returning there, Mark Fredette said.

“He told our mother that he didn’t want to go. But the job required his expertise,” the brother said. “He knew what was going on there.”

Philippine police said Fredette was killed by a single bullet in the back of his head while he was walking at 11:30 p.m. Friday in the liberty city of Olongapo, 50 miles northwest of Manila.

In Manila, U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Platt “expressed shock and sorrow at the cowardly murder” of Fredette, an embassy statement said. It said U.S. officials were in touch with Philippine authorities regarding the investigation of the case.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but police suspected Communist guerrillas. Fredette would be the ninth U.S. victim of a rebel terror strike since October, 1987 and the first in Olongapo.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Mukree said Fredette was shot by “an unknown assailant” and refused to elaborate. But Philippine police officials believed the Communist New People’s Army was behind the killing.

Family members said Fredette was last seen at a bar just outside the base. His body was found in a nearby alley, Mark Fredette said.

“He wouldn’t fight. He was too smart for that,” he said. “He was the kind of person who would help someone who was in need. A real gentle giant. . . .

“We’re all very angry. We just hope the people responsible are brought to justice,” he said. “We do it for drug dealers, we have to do for a man who served his country for so long.”

Fredette enlisted in the Marines at age 18 and rose to gunnery sergeant, one of the highest-ranking enlisted positions, family members said. He served in the Marines for 13 years, 10 of them at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

In 1986, he managed the on-deck electronics system aboard the aircraft carrier Coral Sea when fighter jets from the ship bombed Libya, his brother said.

It was his expertise in electronics that led Fredette to be dispatched with other members of the squadron to Subic Bay, where he was repairing airplanes, family members said.

Fredette left the United States in April, serving briefly in Japan and Hawaii before moving to the Philippines, his brother said.

“He loved his job,” Mark Fredette said. “He joined the Marines right out of high school with a buddy. He just liked what he was doing there. . . .”

Mukree said off-base travel for the 40,000 military and defense department employees and their dependents was restricted after the shooting.

“There’s a very somber mood here. We truly feel the anguish that the family must be going through,” Mukree said. “The Marine Corps is going to be behind them.”

In addition to his wife Julie, Fredette is survived by his parents, Augustine and Armand Fredette of Chicopee, and eight brothers and sisters.

Family members said Fredette will be buried in Chicopee two weeks after investigators in Manila release his body.

The attack came nine days before the start of exploratory talks on the future of six U.S. facilities in the Philippines, including the giant Clark Air Base and the Subic Bay Naval Base. The leases expire next year, and there is considerable sentiment in the Philippines not to renew them.

Eight Americans have been killed in the Philippines since October, 1987, in attacks blamed on Communist guerrillas. Among them was Army Col. James Rowe, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and former prisoner of war.