On April 17, members of the local detachment along with Joyce’s sister, Julie, and Ray Morrell, commandant for the Marine Corps League Department of North Dakota, gathered in remembrance of John Joyce who died on that day 50 years ago. Jean Dalia Jr., a member of the Marine Corps League detachment in Twin Falls, Idaho, also joined the group for the remembrance.

Joyce was considered one of the most popular and gifted athletes in Minot’s sports history, according to the Minot Daily News files. He was a member of K Company, 3rd Battalion of the 26th Marine Corps Regiment. He joined the Marine Corps in 1967 after attending Minot State for a year, then graduating from Northern Arizona University at Flagstaff, Ariz. He taught school at Great Falls, Mont., before enlisting in the Marine Corps

He went to Vietnam in October 1968 and was killed by enemy gunfire seven months later while on a mission near Da Nang, Vietnam. Joyce was 24 years old.

At the time of his death, Joyce was the fourth Minoter to die in Vietnam in a little over a month during that period of 1969, the Minot Daily News reported.

Submitted Photo This is the marker at the gravesite of 1st Lt. John M. Joyce in Rosehill Memorial Park, Minot. The local Marine Corps League Detachment is named in memory of Joyce.

Two days after his parents were notified of his death, they received a package in the mail containing a Bronze Star medal he earned for bravery while commanding a platoon on patrol.

Joyce was also awarded four awards posthumously: the Purple Heart, National Defense Vietnamese Campaign and the Vietnamese Service medals.

Joyce was a three-sports star at Model High, now no longer operating, from where he graduated in 1962, according to the Minot Daily News files. At Minot State he was the leading hitter on the 1963 Beavers baseball team. His baseball excellence was first shown during his pre-college days in Minot when he ranked as one of the best to play for the American Legion team in the pre-Vietnam War era. At the Arizona university, he played three seasons on the school team, serving as captain in his senior year.

In 1981, the John M. Joyce Detachment of the Marine Corps League was officially formed in Minot – the first such organization in the city and only the second in the state, according to the Minot Daily News. The detachment was reinstated recently. The detachment meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Minot VFW Club.