Flc Legal ― The War in Vietnam That Was Never Reported

FLC Legal is an inside look at a side of the Vietnam war that most people would believe could not have happened, not to mention, did happen in the US Marine Corps. It tells the story of a band of young trial lawyers, who had also spent nearly a year in training to become Marine Corps infantry officers. They came together in 1969-70 in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam. While their lives in Vietnam were punctuated with enemy attacks, none took the war that seriously. However, they took their work very seriously. They were all either prosecutors or defense lawyers, trying court martial cases that ranged from sleeping on post to multiple murders. And they all shared a rich appetite for a good time. FLC Legal is a firsthand account of several murder trials, a racially inspired grenade throwing, or fragging incident, where one Marine was killed and 62 were injured, the surprise appearance of one of the country's premier defense lawyers to defend one of the grenade throwers, a poignant story about eight young men who saved their lives by refusing to follow a direct order, Red Ryder and Little Beaver - the sergeant of the guard and his sidekick arresting Marines for sleeping on past, the meat-packer incident - a sodomy case in the Da Nang brig, and black market dealing in American gear. While the action in the court room was electric, the blacks were killing the whites, the enlisted were killing the officers, and Charlie was killing the Americans. One had to be very clever in that environment to have a good time, but the Marine lawyers at FLC had a grand time, did their jobs remarkably well, and all lived to tell about it.

After completing his service in the Marine Corps, Richard Franks became a state court judge in Missouri and then sought a congressional seat in 1974, narrowly losing to the incumbent. After a brief stint practicing law, he became a general counsel for a local construction company in Springfield, MO, eventually working for a variety of national and international concerns as both a project manager and legal counsel on projects across the US, North Africa, and Europe. He now practices law in Denver and lives on a horse property on the eastern plains outside Denver with his domestic partner, Betsy Hook, and their animals, all of which are adoptions.