December 3, 1944 – present
Married to Lynda Rowan (1942-?) on November 15, 1969 in Vernon, CT
Married Aldonna Janssen (1947-2018) on October 16, 1971 in Fairfield, CT
Children are twin sons Stephen and Scott
Local address: 5 Naromake Avenue
Enlistment on August 17, 1965
Unit: 1st Marine Division, 5th Regiment, 1st Battalion, Company B
Wounded in Vietnam three times within a month. No other details are known.
Born to Charles Taylor (1911-2000) and Philippa Bainbridge Sanborn (1917-2007). One brother, Scott (1940-1958) [USMC, killed in Beirut], two sisters, Catherine Sanborn Shiel (1943-present), and Mary “Polly” Sanborn Scharff (1949-present).
From The Bridgeport Post August 13, 1967
Vietnamese Captain Expresses Thanks To U.S. for “Sacrifice” for Freedom
by HELEN L. HUBEN
NEWTOWN — Corporal David C. Sanborn, USMC, 22 years old, who is stationed in Vietnam to fight the Communist dominated north and who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Sanborn of Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, sent the following urgent message to his mother. The corporal’s message reads “Mom, try to have this put in the newspaper. This is from the people in Vietnam. Let other people in the United States read this. The Viet people do want freedom. I should say, most of them do. The letter is not well written, but it is from the people.” The corporal knows all about war and its tragic cost in human life as he lost his brother, Corporal Scott Sanborn, 18, when the Marines were sent to Lebanon in 1958. The letter which follows was written by Captain Nguyen-Dinh-Suong, Que-Song, Subsector and District Chief:
“Over the past few years the Communists have seen death and suffering to the people of Que-Son. The battlefields are full of powder smoke, the villages are full of savage slaughter. The communists do not refuse any inhuman action. They apply all the ruses they have in their power. They have used treachery and craft means, however inhuman, however anti-revolutionary, to plunder, to massacre and to develop their influence. They announced that they acted for the right of the people but in fact they acted for their own Communist doctrine, an inhuman doctrine, that betrays the values of humankind. They are still burning temples, pagodas, destroying Christianity, destroying freedom. That is why today, you Marines and we ARVN who love freedom, who love peace, stand together to fight the Communists, not with theory, not with words, but with our own lives. Each drop of your blood which drops on our fatherland, will grow and bloom for the “Freedom Tree.” Each piece of your home which falls down upon our country will be one stone to build the bases of democracy. For our part, we have to protect and defend the independence of our nation with our red blood and our white bone: for your part, you wear war clothes and leave your lovely country to sacrifice for freedom,” for peace of the world, for the friendship between your country and our. American and Vietnamese blood, which are of different consanguinity, have dropped and mingled together for the sake of humanity. We are moved and grateful to your people and for your fighting against Communism to bring wealth and peace to our country. Words are not enough to show your people, but what we can do is engrave it in our hearts. Our history will have glorious pages about you and your people. At the same time we will record disgrace and insult to the Communists that will never fade for thousands of years. On behalf of the military and political groups and of the people of Que-Son, we bow our head to your heroes who died for our country and we wish to remain close to you for all time and to kill our last enemy, the Communist; to defend; to protect and to build the rural life of the people of Que Son. God bless you and your families; Vietnamese American friendship forever.”
From The Bridgeport Post August 24, 1967
AREA MARINE WOUNDED IN VIET
NEWTOWN — Marine Corporal David C. Sanborn, 22, of Riverside Road, Sandy Hook, was wounded by enemy rifle fire while on patrol Monday at Quang Nam, Vietnam, according to word received here. The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles T. Sanborn, were notified yesterday by a Marine Corps representative. Corporal Sanborn received gunshot wounds of the chest and buttocks and is under treatment at the 1st Hospital Company station near Da Nang. He was serving with Company B, 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division. He was graduated from Roger Ludlowe High School, Fairfield, prior to entering the Marines August 17, 1965. In 1958, another son of the Sanborns, serving with the Marines in Lebanon, was killed by rifle fire when he was alleged to have failed to answer a Marine sentry’s challenges. He was Private First Class Scott B. Sanborn, 18. The Sanborn family at that time resided at 258 Oldfield Road, Fairfield. In 1964, they relocated to Sandy Hook.
END
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