David McCarthy
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David McCarthy | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Affiliation | Federated Commonwealth Federated Suns |
| Profile | |
| Rank | Kommandant Major |
| Family | |
| Parents | Jason McCarthy (father)[1] |
| Siblings | Pauline McCarthy[1] Grace McCarthy[1] Adam McCarthy[1] |
David McCarthy was an officer of the Federated Commonwealth.
Contents
History[edit]
Early Life[edit]
David McCarthy was born and raised on Kathil, the son of landed farmers who lived and worked on a large agricultural estate just outside the town of Vorhaven. He had four sisters and at least two brothers.[1][2][3]
Task Force Serpent[edit]
McCarthy joined the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth and progressed in rank and experience until being made a kommandant in command of the Second Battalion, First Kathil Uhlans. He and the rest of the Uhlans were at the forefront of the Inner Sphere's response to the Clan Invasion and were tapped to continue their exemplary performance in the Task Force Serpent counterattack. On Huntress, McCarthy led his battalion in a bloody last stand to screen the withdrawal of other Task Force units. For his actions in battle on 28 March, 3060, he was later awarded the Star League Medal of Valor, though the extraordinary losses his command had suffered plagued him with survivor's guilt and continued to haunt him well after his return to the Inner Sphere.[4][5]
Kathil CMM and FedCom Civil War[edit]
Unlike many of his fellow Uhlans, McCarthy chose not to join the Second Star League Defense Force's First Royal BattleMech Regiment when Marshal of the Armies Nondi Steiner chose to disband their unit, instead accepting an official discharge. Still desiring to serve on his homeworld, he requested to have his commission reinstated in order to take a posting with the Kathil Capellan March Militia. As the only available opening was for a company commander, a hauptmann-grade billet, McCarthy chose to accept a demotion and take up command of Second Company, Second Battalion. He arrived on Kathil in early October 3062 and immediately set about reforming the undisciplined company into a more professional combat unit.[6]
When the executive officer of the Kathil CMM, Leftenant Colonel Damien Zibler, was killed in one of the opening engagements of the Battle of Kathil, McCarthy received a field promotion to Major from Major General Donald Sampreis and assumed command of his battalion.[7] Though he often butted heads with Sampreis about matters of strategy, McCarthy was instrumental in planning several successful operations that weakened the Eighth FedCom RCT's position on the planet, including the destruction of the Kay Bume munitions plant that the Loyalist unit used to resupply its stocks of long-range missiles.
On 2 December, 3062, his family farm was targeted for destruction by Leftenant Xander Barajas and his lance, who were operating under the orders of Eighth FedCom RCT commander Mitchell Weintraub. Thanks to the quick thinking of Jessie McCarthy, Pauline McCarthy's five year-old daughter, both she and her seven year-old brother Billy were able to escape to the storm cellar the rest of the McCarthy family had taken shelter in, though Barajas did attempt to cut the children down with machine gun and PPC fire.[3]
McCarthy proposed and led the Kathil CMM's assault on the Loyalist-held Kearny-Fuchida Yare Industries microwave power uplink station outside the town of Yare on 7 December, 3062. He was instrumental in the plan's success, keeping his forces mobile against the superior power of the Eighth FedCom and eventually bringing down the power transmission dish before it could obliterate the incoming DropShips of the First Capellan Dragoons. He marshalled the surviving members of his command after the battle and continued to assist in the Allied efforts to secure Kathil.
Though it is unknown if he survived the FedCom Civil War, the remnants of the Kathil CMM were eventually folded into the Sixth Syrtis Fusiliers at the conflict's end. McCarthy would likely have transferred his commission to that unit if he did survive.
BattleMech[edit]
David McCarthy piloted a DVS-2 Devastator during Task Force Serpent and beyond.[8][5]