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| “ | Dear Mr. and Mrs. Santiago, I was William's executive officer. I knew your son vaguely, which is to say I knew his name. In a matter of time, the trial of the two men charged with your son's death will be concluded, and seven men and two women whom you've never met will try to offer you an explanation as to why William is dead. For my part, I've done as much as I can to bring the truth to light. And the truth is this: Your son is dead for only one reason - I wasn't strong enough to stop it. Always, Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson, United States Marine Corps. | „ |
| ~ Markinson's final words on a letter to Private William T. Santiago's parents before his death. |
Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Andrew Markinson is a major character in the play A Few Good Men and the movie adaptation of the play.
He was portrayed in the film by the late J.T. Walsh, who also portrayed Charles Bushman in Sling Blade, Warren "Red" Barr in Breakdown, Wayne in Red Rock West, Terrence Niebaum in The Negotiator, Cole in the grifters, Martin Swayzak in Backdraft, and Frank Fitzsimmons in Hoffa.
History[]
Markinson went to the academy with another young man named Nathan R. Jessup. The two men became friends, graduating from the academy together and serving tours of duty together in Vietnam. Markinson began working in counter-intelligence and spent a large part of his career as a counter-intelligence operative.
When Jessup became commander of the Marine ground forces in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba base he had his old friend Markinson named second in command. By then Jessup was a full Colonel and Markinson was still a Lieutenant Colonel, something that was a source of tension on Markinson's part.
When PFC William T. Santiago made numerous attempts to get transferred elsewhere - going as far as to offer information on a fence line shooting - he came to the attention of Jessup, Markinson, and Lt. Jonathan Kendrick. While Markinson wanted to transfer Santiago, Jessup overruled him and ordered that Santiago stay at the base. Jessup and Kendrick decided to have a "Code Red" - a hazing ritual involving a savage beating - performed on Santiago in order to "toughen him up", and Jessup ordered Markinson to go along with what they were planning. The hazing went horribly wrong, however, and Santiago died of the injuries he sustained.
The two Marines who performed the "Code Red" - Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson and Private First Class Louden Downey - were arrested. When their defense counsel - Lt. Daniel Alistair Kaffee, Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway and Lieutenant Sam Weinberg - did not offer the accused a plea bargain as expected, Jessup and Kendrick realized they had a problem on their hands and began doing everything they could to cover up their involvement.
Jessup had Markinson sign off on a falsified transfer order, and had tower logs at Gitmo altered, to make it look like Santiago was going to be going away. Kendrick had ordered the other Marines to not touch Santiago before telling Downey and Dawson to go ahead with the code red on Santiago.
When Galloway and Kaffee arrived at Gitmo to interview the command staff Markinson's doubts began to intensify. Shortly after the JAG officers left Markinson decided to go UA from the base. Using his skills from his counter intel career he made his way to Washington undetected.
Upon finding Kaffee, he informed the young officer that Jessup was never going to transfer Santiago off the base, and that he had submitted a falsified transfer order after Santiago died. Kaffee said that he would work on an immunity deal for Markinson, but Markinson said he didn't want immunity, that it was right for him to be punished for his actions. Kaffee put him up in a Washington hotel guarded by Federal agents.
Feeling that it would be wrong for him to testify, Markinson wrote a letter to Santiago's parents, telling them that he was responsible for the young man's death because he was not strong enough to put a stop to the hazing. Dressing in his full blue dress uniform, Markinson pulled his service pistol out, put it to his head, and ended his life.
Despite the death of Markinson, it was discovered that Jessup had indeed ordered the code red. Dawson and Downey were acquitted of the murder charges whereas both Jessup and Kendrick were arrested in order to make them answer for their crimes.
Trivia[]
- In the stage version, Markinson held the rank of Captain and had resigned his commission after the JAG officers left Cuba.
- In the movie version, Markinson put his gun in his mouth when he killed himself instead of to his head.