About $13,000 was raised last night in the first fundraising event sponsored by the Military Combat Defense Fund, an organization established to assist U.S. military people charged with crimes.

The crowd of about 100 at Pat Flanagan’s Pub in Quincy included veterans - many of whom served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War - as well as Rep. William Delahunt and the family of Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, a Plymouth native who was charged with kidnapping and killing an Iraqi civilian last April.

The fund was formed over the past 10 weeks to help Hutchins and other military defendants hire ‘‘good civilian counsel’’ in addition to their military-appointed lawyers, said Gerald Kirby, a Quincy lawyer and board member of the Military Combat Defense Fund.

The group is not making a statement on the guilt or innocence of any defendant, members said, but is trying to defend due process - one of the freedoms the troops are fighting for, members said. Kirby, a former Marine, said the group wants to ‘‘stay out of the politics.’’

Civilian lawyers with backgrounds in military cases may have more experience or resources than military-appointed lawyers, Kirby said. His group hopes to create a pool of such attorneys that defendants can use.

‘‘We all have to make sure servicemen in Iraq ... are afforded the same rights and defenses as everyone else,’’ said Joseph Flaherty, a lawyer, retired State Police lieutenant and Marine Corps veteran of Vietnam who attended the fundraiser. It’s crucial, he said, ‘‘that they get the right defense and the facts come out.’’

Although the fund was not created for any one defendant or branch of the military, some of the money raised last night will probably go to help with Hutchins’ defense.

Hutchins’ family has hired a civilian lawyer, Rich Brannon of Georgia, to assist two Marine Corps-appointed lawyers. Hutchins’ father, Larry Hutchins, visited him in the brig at Camp Pendleton last weekend.

‘‘He’s got a lot of faith in his lawyer,’’ Larry Hutchins said. ‘‘In the long run, it should be OK.’’

Although he called his son’s military lawyers ‘‘real nice guys,’’ Larry Hutchins said he’s become disillusioned by the way the military has treated his son.

‘‘You can’t help but get bitter,’’ he said. He said his last visit was cut short for no apparent reason and that the military has demanded Brannon, the lawyer hired by the family, pay for his own flight, bulletproof vest and other expenses for a trip to Iraq to gather evidence.

But, Hutchins said, his son is doing well.

‘‘Surprisingly, his spirits are really good,’’ he said. ‘‘He’s just putting up with the day-to-day being there.’’

The bills for the Hutchins family, like those of other defendants, are mounting. Larry Hutchins said that between legal fees, traveling expenses and a $1,000-a-month phone bill, his family may spend $75,000 to $100,000 altogether. Friends have so far paid plane fare for two trips to California, but the family still pays for hotels and food.

‘‘You hate to be in the position to ask for money,’’ Larry Hutchins said, but ‘‘everything’s appreciated.’’

Delahunt, who is planning to visit Sgt. Hutchins in November, said he supports the defense fund because ‘‘what they’re doing is right.’’

‘‘We have to ensure, whatever your view on the war is, that we don’t lose sight of what we claim to defend,’’ he said, especially ‘‘a system of justice that, while fallible, ... is unique in the world.’’

Prosecutors allege that Hutchins, along with six other Marines and a Navy corpsman, bound and gagged Hashim Ibrahim Awad, 52, threw him in a hole and shot him in the head after they failed to capture an insurgent in the town of Hamdania. The troops then placed a shovel and an AK-47 rifle in the hole to make it look like Awad was planting a roadside bomb, prosecutors have said.

One of the Marines, Pfc. John J. Jodka, and the Navy corpsman, Petty Officer Melson J. Bacos, have pleaded guilty to lesser charges and agreed to testify during courts-martial against the other defendants.

Donations can be made to the Military Combat Defense Fund, P.O. Box 632, Avon 02332 or 7 Foster St., Quincy 02169. A Web site, militarycombatdefensefund.com, will soon take donations.