Normand Alfred Corbin was born on June 16, 1948, in Saint-Leonard, Montreal Region, Quebec, Canada. He was the son of Mr. Edward L and Monique F Corbin. The family, Normand, and two sisters grew up in Jacques Cartier-Longueuil, a suburb on the south shore of the St Lawrence River across from Montreal.
As a youth, he was fond of flying and hoped to become a pilot, unable to get into a training program with the Canadian Air Force,
at the age of twenty, Normand decided to join the United States Marine Corps and enlisted on February 18, 1968, in Albany, New York.
He underwent basic training at MCRD Parris Island, South Carolina, before undergoing Infantry Training at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina. With leave over at home, Private Corbin reported in for duty with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines, 1st Marine Division in Vietnam on August 3, 1968. His stay with the 27th Marines was short, and on August 29, he was reassigned to H&S Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, located at the An Hoa Combat Base southwest of Da Nang.
During the latter part of 1968, the 3d Battalion operated mainly to the north of the Que Son Mountains in the relatively flat rice paddy-laden "Arizona Territory" between the Song Vu Gia, Song Tinh Yen, and Song Thu Bon in Quang Nam Province.
On July 11, 1969, while on patrol northwest of An Hoa in Duc Duc District in the vicinity of the Phuoc Nhuan village complex in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, LCpl Corbin was a member of a security force on the flank of Marines engaged in sweeping the road for mines. The men were taken under fire by a hidden enemy force, returning fire with small arms the Marines began to maneuver towards the VC when suddenly a booby-trapped buried 60 mm HE mortar round, which was tripped, wounding LCpl Corbin and another Marine. Both men were medically evacuated to USNH NSA in Da Nang for treatment, with LCpl Corbin being eventually airlifted to the USNH in Guam. On August 6, Norman was unable to recover from the multiple fragmentation wounds sustained to his body and died due to the hostile explosive device.
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