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Mark Dalton, 89; Kennedy aide, noted lawyer had key role in D-Day landing
By Gloria Negri, Globe Staff | May 4, 2004 Mark J. Dalton, whose intelligence report from Utah Beach in Normandy paved the way for the D-Day Allied invasion 60 years ago and whose political savvy helped John F. Kennedy win a seat in Congress, died Sunday of colon cancer at his home in South Woodstock, Vt. He was 89. Lieutenant Dalton's message on the morning of June 6, 1944, written under enemy fire and transported back by small craft to the Navy vessel Bayfield, waiting offshore, was brief: "Landings can be made anywhere on Red Beach . . . obstacles no longer obstacles," according to Samuel Eliot Morison's "History of United States Naval Operations in World War II." In a telephone interview last month, Mr. Dalton, a retired Boston attorney of 50 years, recalled that the obstacles had been removed from the section of Utah Beach known as Red Beach the night before by the Navy's underwater demolition unit and that he had gone ashore with the sixth wave of troops in the early morning of June 6. "The seas were heavy and we couldn't use the gangplank so we had to go over the side on rope ladders to get to the landing craft," he said. `'In the craft, we all stood facing toward the bow looking toward the beach. No one said a word. Our soldiers marched across the beach and I did my writing under heavy shellfire. A German soldier came along, his hands raised. I went over, then took him by the arm and walked him across the beach. All he could say as he looked out to our ships was, `Colossal, colossal, colossal.' " Lieutenant Dalton was highly decorated for his efforts at Utah Beach and in other campaigns. Mr. Dalton's association with Kennedy was memorable in other ways. He is mentioned at length in many books about the president. In "Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye," Dave Powers, Kennedy's confidant, describes Mr. Dalton as JFK's "closest political aide. During Kennedy's six years in the House, he listened more to Mark than to anyone else," Powers said. In 1954 Mr. Dalton ran unsuccessfully in Massachusetts for the US Senate with the main purpose of going to Washington to fight Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, whose anticommunist crusade resulted in inquiries that were likened to witch hunts. "Beyond all doubt, this man is a bully, with no regard for the truth and no respect for the dignity of the individual," Mr. Dalton said in his campaign message. During his five decades as an attorney, Mr. Dalton, always a champion of the underdog, focused on representing public sector employee groups, but he had a diversified practice that included estate and corporate law. A tall, lanky, and handsome man, Mr. Dalton was known for his white starched shirts, suspenders and bow ties, his kind smile, and big laugh. "Mr. Dalton had an appreciation of the law as the great equalizer," said Boston attorney Joseph DeLorey. He `got it.' He had picked a side, that of the worker, and each worker who turned to him for help got the best he could give, and that was pretty good." Mr. Dalton didn't give up during his recent illness. Until a week ago, he continued writing his memoirs of World War II on a computer provided by a relative. On the phone 10 days ago, he spoke enthusiastically of an oral history he was compiling for the hospice group at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and attended a meeting there just last week to share more memories. Mark John Dalton was born and raised in Cambridge, one of four children of London-born Cornelius and Ellen Dalton. His grandfather, Martin Hoban, a leading Irish patriot, was president of the Amalgamated Society of Operative Boot and Shoe Makers of Great Britain and Ireland. At the age of 13, Mr. Dalton was awarded the

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Medal of Honor by the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for his heroic efforts in saving the lives of three boys who would otherwise have drowned in Cambridge's Fresh Pond. He won other medals for his academic achievements and his debating ability at Boston College High School, from which he graduated in 1932. At Boston College, he excelled as a scholar, a debater, a writer for the college's periodicals, and a member of the fencing team. Mr. Dalton graduated from BC cum laude in 1936 and for the next two years he reviewed books, plays, and films for the Boston Herald. His brother, the late Cornelius, was a well-known political reporter for the same paper. Mr. Dalton entered Harvard Law School in 1938. He specialized in business law and was appointed to the Board of Student Advisers, one of the highest scholastic honors awarded by the university. He graduated from law school in 1941. For the following year, Mr. Dalton was law clerk to John C. Mahoney of Providence, judge of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In 1942, he was an attorney with the Office of Price Administration in Washington, assigned to the Fats and Oils Industry, where he drafted several major price regulations. From 1942 to 1946, he served as an amphibious Naval intelligence officer, was promoted to lieutenant, and earned four battle stars and the Navy's Commendation Medal for service in southern France and in the Pacific, in the Lingayen Gulf and Okinawa. At the end of the war, he also saw service in China and Korea. After the war, Mr. Dalton returned to Boston and began practicing law. He became involved in politics as campaign manager for Kennedy's first run for the US House of Representatives in 1946. The seat had been vacated by James Michael Curley when he was convicted of mail fraud. Mr. Dalton remained a volunteer adviser to and speechwriter for Kennedy while he was in Congress, often putting his own law practice on hold until his growing family required him to return to it full time. A genteel man, Mr. Dalton never called him Jack, but John. In 1949, Mr. Dalton married Barbara Higgins, who also served in Naval intelligence in World War II. They were married 53 years when Mrs. Dalton died last year.Mr. Dalton's law practice was as distinguished as his war record. At a dinner in 1993, The International Brotherhood of Police Officers described Mr. Dalton as "the godfather of public sector employees in Massachusetts for achieving justice in the workplace." Among others, he represented the Massachusetts State Employees Association, the Boston Teachers Alliance, and the National Association of Government Employees. Many Massachusetts judges and lawyers advanced their careers by taking the Dalton-Elcock Bar Review, Mr. Dalton's bar examination classes. He was also a mentor to many young lawyers. One of them was DeLorey, who described Mr. Dalton as having an "Atticus Finch" quality about him, recalling the highly principled and heroic attorney in "To Kill a Mockingbird." "I have never walked down the street with anyone who had so many hats tipped to him as Mr. Dalton," DeLorey said. "Each person who greeted him did so with a genuine warmth and respect. "The word `gentleman' is always used when he is referred to." Mr. Dalton leaves four sons, Richard of Chestnut Hill, Mark of Londonderry, N.H., Michael of Woodstock, Vt., and Timothy of Arlington; two daughters, Margaret of Woodstock and Mary Ann of Arlington; and six grandchildren. A funeral Mass will be said Thursday at 10 a.m. in St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery in Dover.

Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

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