Vietnam

Special Operations Soldiers Honored in Ceremony at Ft. Bragg

Gary Rose was a Green Beret medic in Vietnam and was recently awarded the Medal of Honor from President Trump for actions he performed in a particularly hazardous and dangerous mission there in 1970.

Rose and eight other Special Forces, Civil Affairs, and Psychological Operations troops were honored by being named “distinguished members of the Regiment” or “honorary members of the Regiment” in a ceremony at Ft. Bragg, NC.

“They improved the lives of thousands,” he said. “What I did, it pales… It’s just incredible… it’s just an incredible privilege.”

Others inducted as distinguished members of the regiment were retired Maj. Clyde J. Sincere Jr., retired Maj. Steven E. Cook and retired Sgt. Maj. Gilbert R. Turcotte. A fifth Special Forces soldier, retired Sgt. 1st Class Eric C. Moriarty, was inducted as an honorary member of the regiment.
Retired Lt. Col. James P. Kelliher was inducted as a distinguished member of the Psychological Operations Regiment. Air Force Maj. Gen. Gregory J. Lengyel was inducted as an honorary member of the regiment.
Two Civil Affairs veterans, Brig. Gen. Crawford E. Sams and Col. Charles R. Munske, were posthumously honored as distinguished members of their regiment.
Maj. Gen. Kurt L. Sonntag, commanding general of the Special Warfare Center and School, said each of the honorees shared a commitment to service that goes well beyond their time in uniform.
To be selected, a veteran must have made overwhelmingly significant contributions to the welfare of their respective regiments. The honors, he said, pay tribute to past special operators and those currently in the fight.
“This is a day to recognize and applaud the contributions and the members of our special operations regiments,” Sonntag said. “What they do every day is real and important. It might not get all the news that we used to do in the past — we are working in the shadows again — but it is equally important.”
Rose said he was honored by the recognition.
As part of a joint force of Americans, Vietnamese and Montagnards, Rose’s team was inserted deep within Vietnam enemy territory in 1970. When the group came under attack, the Special Forces medic repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire while treating the wounded, using his own body to protect the seriously injured.
Rose continued treating the wounded for four days before a helicopter evacuation. When Rose’s helicopter crashed, he again treated the injured until another rescue could be made.

These Special Operations veterans served in a variety of posts, missions and conflicts stretching from World War I up to the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

To read the entire article from the Fayetteville Observer, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

On This Date in 1954, The French Surrender at Dien Bien Phu

The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the culminating piece of the guerrilla war fought between the French and the Viet Minh from 1949 until the garrison was overrun and the French withdrew from the country.

After fighting a losing guerrilla war, the French dropped paratroopers and Foreign Legionnaires into Dien Bien Phu, a small mountain outpost on the border with Laos. The base was ringed by mountains with the base occupying lower ground, which would prove to be decisive.

The siege began in late November 1953 and by March the Viet Minh with massive Red Chinese support were ready to attack and they kept the pressure upon the French, slowly sinking the perimeter of the base and closing the airfield until they capitulated on May 7, 1954, nine years to the day that the Germans surrendered in World War II in Europe.

When it was over, the French were out of Vietnam and the Geneva Accords temporarily would split the country at the 17th parallel between North and South Vietnam and the United States would get dragged into the fray.

Background: As World War II was winding down, Ho Chi Minh tried to establish a free Vietnam, free from French colonial rule once the Japanese were ousted from South East Asia. Just hours after the Japanese surrender, Ho proclaimed the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

In 1946, Ho accepted a French proposal to allow Vietnam to function as an autonomous state within the French union. But the French soon reneged on that and tried to reassert colonial rule. That began an increasingly costly and bloody guerrilla war.

By 1953, the French had grown weary of the guerrilla war and had gone thru a series of commanders. In May of 1953 French Premier René Mayer appointed Henri Navarre as the commander of the French Union forces in Indochina. In a book by historian LTG Phillip Davidson, Navarre’s first impressions were not favorable.

On arrival, Navarre was shocked by what he found. There had been no long-range plan since de Lattre’s departure. Everything was conducted on a day-to-day, reactive basis. Combat operations were undertaken only in response to enemy moves or threats. There was no comprehensive plan to develop the organization and build up the equipment of the Expeditionary force.
Finally, Navarre, the intellectual, the cold and professional soldier, was shocked by the “school’s out” attitude of Salan and his senior commanders and staff officers. They were going home, not as victors or heroes, but then, not as clear losers either. To them the important thing was that they were getting out of Indochina with their reputations frayed, but intact. They gave little thought to, or concern for, the problems of their successors.

The French were hoping to repeat a victory at Nà Sản, where they established an air/land base in the Viet Minh’s rear area to deny him unfettered access to equipment, supplies, and reinforcements and cut off their attempts to take Laos.

But Navarre’s staff planners made several critical blunders that would lead to disaster. First, at Nà Sản, the French controlled the high ground and had a massive superiority in artillery. At Dien Bien Phu the base was surrounded by high peaks that the Viet Minh would ring with artillery. And the French troops would be outnumbered 4-1.

Opening Moves: The French began dropping paratroopers into Dien Bien Phu on the 20th of November 1953. Utilizing three different drop zones, the French had landed six battalions of airborne troops and a bulldozer to complete the airstrip by the end of November.

The French commander, Colonel Christian de Castries was a poor choice to direct the defenses. He was a cavalryman by his training and unsuited for a set-piece battle. He set up seven outposts each code-named with names starting with the first seven letters of the alphabet.

Christian de Castries, French Commander at Dien Bien Phu.

The French force totaled about 16,000 troops and included airborne troops, Foreign Legionnaires as well as Moroccan mercenaries and local troops. They also had ten light M-24 Chaffee tanks and aircraft. The French failed to secure the high ground surrounding the valley which was a tactical blunder and the Viet Minh quickly filled the gaps around the high ground where they massed their artillery. The Viet Minh commanded by Võ Nguyên Giáp had much more artillery than the French envisioned there and had more than five divisions with 50,000 men.

By the end of January, the Viet Minh began sporadic shelling of the base and the French patrols were finding contact in every direction. Dien Bien Phu was surrounded.

The Outposts Fall One by One: The Viet Minh were ready by March 13, 1954, and opened fire with extremely well-aimed artillery fire on Outpost Beatrice. One artillery round took out the entire French command group. By 1800, a massive infantry assault hit the French lines and by midnight they had overrun the base. Over 500 Legionnaires were killed. In the morning, a French counterattack was stopped cold by massed artillery fires.

The Viet Minh artillery had been skillfully dug into the sides of the mountains. French counter-battery fire was completely ineffective. By the second day, the French artillery commander, Colonel Charles Piroth, so distraught over his inability to fire on the enemy committed suicide by using a hand grenade in his bunker.

On the morning of March 14, the Viet Minh next turned their attention to Outpost Gabrielle. Following a massive bombardment, the French airstrip was now permanently put out of commission. All supplies would now have to be delivered via air drops. The tough Algerian troops holding Gabrielle were hit with a coordinated attack at 1700 hrs and were then reinforced by elements of the 5th Vietnamese Parachute Battalion early the next morning.

The counterattack failed and the Algerians abandoned Gabrielle to the Viet Minh. The die was already cast. The French could not hold Dien Bien Phu and now their enemy could rain down direct artillery fire right into their positions.

The Outpost Anne Marie was manned by troops of the Tai minority in Vietnam, but loyal to the French. For weeks, Giap had rained down leaflets telling the Tai, that this wasn’t their fight. During the night of 17 March under heavy fog, the Tai abandoned their posts and Anne Marie was lost.

The French in Hanoi realized too late the blunder of putting de Castries in command, but with no airstrip functioning, they were powerless to change. To the chagrin of his paratrooper officers, de Castries remained in his bunker and virtually had no feel whatsoever of the battle all around him.

Mass Assaults on Dominique and Eliane: On March 30, the Viet Minh attacked the Outposts Dominique and Eliane where some of the most brutal fighting took place.

After taking half of Eliane, the French unleashed a powerful counterattack that took it back. But the next day, the Viet Minh rushed in more reinforcements and took it back again. Just as it seemed the French would lose their grip on the outposts, the M-24 light tanks entered the battle and were instrumental in forcing the Viet Minh back.

The fighting took on a World War I feel to it with both sides taking part in trench warfare. The Viet Minh massed their troops for another assault and were hit hard by French aircraft providing close air support.

Morale of the Viet Minh units which had taken a lot of casualties plummeted. Giap was forced to bring in fresh troops from Laos. The fighting went back and forth like this for several weeks.

The Viet Minh Final Attacks Overrun the French: By the first of May, the French defenses were wearing down under the sheer weight of the attacking forces. Isolated outposts inside Eliane, Dominique and Huguette were overrun. The situation was becoming desperate for the French defenders. By May 7, Giap had 25,000 troops surrounding just 3,000 defenders. Giap ordered a full frontal assault.

The French radio operator inside the command bunker radioed French headquarters that the enemy troops were directly outside the headquarters bunker and that all the positions had been overrun. His last words stated: “The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!”

The remaining troops tried to breakout but none made it out of the valley. On one outpost, Isabelle, about 70 of the 1700 troops made it to Laos and safety.

French prisoners march to prisoner of war camps. Less than half would survive the 500 mile-forced march.

Death March: The Viet Minh captured 8000 French soldiers of which nearly half were wounded. They then marched them 500 miles on foot to their prisoner of war camp. Less than half of them survived the march. Of the nearly 11,000 total prisoners (French and Vietnamese) the Viet Minh captured, only 3290 were repatriated four months later.

The disastrous outcome for the French would set the stage for the United States to become involved in the war between North and South Vietnam.

Photos: Wikipedia

War Story by Jim Morris Is the Definitive Special Forces Book on Vietnam

This book is dedicated to anybody
whoever died for something he
believed in, whether he was right
or not.

The difference between a fairy tale and a war story,
is that a fairy tale starts out with “Once upon a time,” and
a war story starts out with, “This is no shit.”

Before you turn a page in “War Story” and just read that small two-paragraph introduction you are hooked. Morris begins his book with a recurring dream when in a firefight in Vietnam, his left nut was shot off, which actually happened. But in his dream, which he had for years after coming home, he’d be killed in some ugly grotesque way, but one night he finally made it in his dream. He killed the enemy soldier and was finally at peace. As he says in the book, he was finally at peace and could go home now.

Morris’ book is a page-turning, can’t put it down look at one man’s experience in Vietnam while a Green Beret in the 5th Special Forces Group. It is arguably, (here there is no argument) the finest book on Special Forces in Vietnam.

Morris loved Vietnam, the people especially the Montagnard mountain tribesmen who he remained close to even after all of those years. The way he describes the scene upon arriving back in Vietnam is particularly captivating.

“I loved Vietnam more than any other place, for the beauty and strangeness of it. I always had a weird feeling in Vietnam, as though I was in the presence of exotic, occult happenings, as though I had arrived in a place where spirits prowled and sorcerers plucked at strings that controlled natural laws. I felt valid there, as though this were my place and my time and was where I counted. I was happy.

Morris grew up in Oklahoma and wanted to get into Special Forces, little did he know in 1963 when he got into SF that the war in Vietnam would be his calling. Morris served in Vietnam before the big American involvement began and was shocked when he returned to see so many Americans and military bases dominating the countryside.

He served in Special Forces when it was the kiss of death for the careers of the Captains and Majors who stayed for very long. But he found his calling and feared being promoted or else he’d lose his chance to command a Special Forces A-Team any longer.

He loved the ambushes and searching for the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese in the close-quarters battles in the jungle. On Morris’ website, he had an excerpt from his book where he described an ambush with his close friend, Montagnard, Philippe Drouin aka “Cowboy” on one such operation.

“We were all firing. Tracers from the thirty caliber weapons were ricocheting so high I thought the Cong were sending up flares. I fired up one magazine and then another. I kept firing. We all did. I wanted nothing to live out there. I felt nothing, neither elation nor horror, just the cold astringent calm.

I fired up five magazines before I stopped. Then everybody stopped and I called out, “Cowboy, let’s check out the stiffs.”

We got up and moved onto the trail. The bodies were lying to the left, to the right, on the trail, cut down running. I fired a round in the ground beside each man to see if he would move. None did. Cowboy moved beside me, covering.

When we came to the last one I moved in on him and he raised up, his arms extended, eyes wide. I said, “Good, we got a pris…”

Cowboy stitched him up the middle with his AR-15. He didn’t even twitch.

I said, “We could have got some good information from that guy.”

“Sorry,” said Cowboy. “I get, you know, excited.”

Morris minces no words on how the war was mismanaged and opportunities to win it was lost on the people in charge of prosecuting it. “There is only one way to fight a guerrilla war and that is to out-guerrilla the guerilla. You have to steal his political issues and his social issues and his tactics; and if you do that he has nothing left to sell and the war is won. It was so easy. Why couldn’t the bastards see it?”

One of the highlights of the book was the chapter where he spoke with an SF legend in Ludwig Faistenhammer. He was an expert on guerrilla warfare and was featured in Robin Moore’s book, “The Green Berets”.

There weren’t many like Ludwig. He was the character Fritz Scharne in Robin Moore’s The Green Berets. It was the story of how he managed to ambush a VC battalion commanded by a Frenchman… It was such an improbable story that I asked him if it was true. He said it was. “I lay awake nights dreaming up ways to get that son of a bitch,” he said. Part of how he set him up was by feeding him false information while playing tennis with him at the Cercle Sportif in Saigon.’

Morris was a guest on SOFREP Radio’s podcast this week with Host Ian Scotto and Jack Murphy and you can listen to it in its entirety here:

This brought me way back. As a young man as I was preparing to go to Special Forces training, I heard about Morris’ book and must have read it about 4-5 times enthralled. He was a big influence on me in those early years.

He wrote for Soldier of Fortune magazine and whenever he had anything in it it was a must read article.His Vietnam war stories and subsequent work covering some of the hotspots around the globe were manna from heaven for an aspiring Special Forces soldier.

For those young men of today who are planning on taking the road to go to Special Forces training, ensure that you put “War Story” on your must reading list. Although the copies are harder to come by today, on Amazon.com you can download a Kindle version of the book to your favorite device or laptop. It is worth the time and effort.

On the podcast, Murphy told Morris that if you substituted the words Communist or Viet Cong with the word “Terrorist”, the book would read much like what Special Operations troops face today in the hot spots around the Globe.

But “War Story” doesn’t delve into politics or policies, it is one man’s story of his involvement in the war. For him, it was a deeply personal one and he wanted to be involved in it all the way thru. Morris is a master storyteller and this will be guaranteed to keep you enthralled.

Photo: Amazon.com

Gary Beikirch, Green Beret, Medal of Honor, For Actions on April 1, 1970

Prior to the war in Afghanistan, the conflict in Vietnam was the longest in United States history. And on April 1, 1970, Green Beret medic Gary Beikirch showed incredible bravery during an attack on his Dak Seang A-Camp. He was exposing himself repeatedly to enemy fire to treat wounded comrades, despite his own serious wounds that he was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor by President Nixon.

Beikirch was born August 29, 1947, in Rochester, New York. After successfully completing two years of college, he withdrew from school to enlist in the Army with the goal of becoming a Special Forces trooper and going to Vietnam.

In August of 1967, he attended and successfully completed Basic and Advanced Infantry Training at Ft. Dix, NJ. That was followed by the Airborne Course at Ft. Benning, Ga. Beikirch then attended the Special Forces Qualification Course at Ft. Bragg, NC. He successfully completed the Special Forces Medical Sergeant Course and was shipped to Vietnam.

Beikirch deployed to Kontum Province, Vietnam, in July 1969. During his deployment, he was the medic for Detachment B-24, of the 5th Special Forces Group, assigned to the remote Montagnard village of Dak Seang in the central highlands of Vietnam. The camp was very remote, about 3 miles from the Laos border.

Beikirch, in an interview later said that due to his affinity to the Montagnard people, he “went native”, living with the mountain people and went days at a time without speaking any English. The SF A-Team with 12 men had about 500 Montagnard “strikers” who the Green Berets trained and the remainder of about 2300 personnel in the camp were civilians, mostly families of the men that were being trained and led by the Americans.

On April 1, 1970, three regiments of North Vietnamese troops numbering 10,000 began shelling Camp Dak Seang, intent on taking the camp. The North Vietnamese artillery pounded the camp and Beikirch was wounded when shrapnel from a 122 mm rocket bruised his spinal column, not allowing him to rise and run inside the compound.

The NVA artillery pounded the camp causing a number of casualties among the camp’s defenders. Unable to move on his own, Beikirch had his two Montagnard medical assistants carry him around the camp under heavy, intense fire to treat the wounded American and Vietnamese defenders.

Beikirch, with complete disregard for his own safety, moved out into the open while everyone else around him was ducking and hiding from the artillery. The “Bac-Si” or doc as the tribesman called him went down to the aid station where he assisted the other American medic until he collapsed.

Coming to, he urged the medic to help him up, where his Montagnard medics carried him from place to place in the compound. He then would help them get to the aid station. His one Montagnard aid man Dao covered him with his own body getting killed in the process. He was just 15 years old.

Sgt. Beikirch refused treatment and continued his search for other casualties until he collapsed again. He said the last thing he remembered was the sight of a helicopter coming in. “And then I remember these hands, picking me up and throwing me into the chopper,” he said. The medics onboard the helicopter immediately stuck IVs in Beikirch telling him he was going to be okay.

He was taken to Pleiku, then to Japan, and then finally to the Valley Forge Medical Center, where he remained for six months, recovering from his injuries. He exited the army and went back to college, majoring in pre-med after his experience but the country wasn’t a great place for Vietnam veterans, especially the college campuses.

Spat on and called a baby killer, Beikirch had enough. He took off for the White Mountains in New Hampshire. His hair grew long, halfway down his back. He’s was chilling out in a cave on Mount Washington when he came down into town for supplies, he was told to wait for a call that evening.

“Is this Gary Beikirch who served with the 5th Special Forces in Vietnam?” the person asked. When Beikirch said that it was, he was told that he was being awarded the Medal of Honor. “It was things I was trying to forget,” he said. “It all came back.”

For his gallantry during the battle of Dak Seang, Sgt. Beikirch was
awarded the Medal of Honor by President Nixon in 1973. He didn’t go out to celebrate that night. He stayed in his hotel room. Feelings of unworthiness and the horror of war flooded back to him. For many years, Beikirch didn’t take part in many of the other events that veterans and other Medal of Honor recipients take part in.

Now, he’s more at peace with it and states the Medal isn’t about him or anything that he did but represents men and women that value something so strongly that they are willing to die for it and be willing to defend our country for it.

It is he said, a valuing of something greater than self.

Beikirch’s other awards and decorations include the Medal of Honor; Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star Medal; Bronze Star Medal; Purple Heart Medal with one oak leaf cluster; Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Vietnam Service Medal; Vietnam Campaign Medal; Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with silver star; Combat Medic Badge; Parachutist Badge; and Vietnamese jump wings.

Medal of Honor Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sgt. Beikirch, medical aidman, Detachment B-24, Company B, distinguished himself during the defense of Camp Dak Seang.

The allied defenders suffered a number of casualties as a result of an intense, devastating attack launched by the enemy from well-concealed positions surrounding the camp. Sgt. Beikirch, with complete disregard for his personal safety, moved unhesitatingly through the withering enemy fire to his fallen comrades, applied first aid to their wounds and assisted them to the medical aid station.

When informed that a seriously injured American officer was lying in an exposed position, Sgt. Beikirch ran immediately through the hail of fire. Although he was wounded seriously by fragments from an exploding enemy mortar shell, Sgt. Beikirch carried the officer to a medical aid station. Ignoring his own serious injuries, Sgt. Beikirch left the relative safety of the medical bunker to search for and evacuate other men who had been injured. He was again wounded as he dragged a critically injured Vietnamese soldier to the medical bunker while simultaneously applying mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to sustain his life.

Sgt. Beikirch again refused treatment and continued his search for other casualties until he collapsed. Only then did he permit himself to be treated. Sgt. Beikirch’s complete devotion to the welfare of his comrades, at the risk of his life are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.

Beikirch’s interview with the American Legion can be seen here:

Photos: US Army

Remembering Charles “Snake” Hosking Jr. MOH, March 21,1967

Charles Ernest Hosking Jr. was a career soldier who fought as a U.S. paratrooper in World War II and then was one of the original Green Berets when the unit was created in 1952. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for Valor in the Republic of Vietnam for his actions on March 21, 1967.

Hosking leaped on the back of a Viet Cong prisoner who held a hand grenade. Holding the grenade between him and the prisoner, he gave up his life bearing the brunt of the blast but protected several of his commanders nearby who the VC was looking to take out with the grenade.

Beginnings and Itching to Serve: Hosking was born in May of 1924 in Ramsey, New Jersey. With World War II underway and before Pearl Harbor in 1941, Hosking ran away from home and hitchhiked to Canada. He enlisted in the Canadian’s famous “Black Watch” Regiment trying to get into the fight.

He eventually was tracked down by his U.S. congressman and others and being underage was shipped home. He then tried to join the Coast Guard with his grandfather’s permission but a heart murmur ended that venture as well. Undeterred, Hosking sought out his congressman, he received a waiver and was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1943.

But just serving wasn’t enough. Hosking volunteered for airborne duty and was assigned to Company B of the 509th Airborne Infantry Battalion. He joined them in Italy and served in the Rome-Arno, Southern France, and Ardennes-Alsace campaigns during the war in Europe. Of the 1500 men in the 509th, only 29 would serve the war and go without being killed or wounded. Hosking was wounded by machine-gun fire during the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes.

He missed serving in Korea due to a training accident when a bazooka round exploded and he suffered two broken legs and severe shrapnel wounds that required many months to recover from.

When Colonel Aaron Bank created the new Special Forces unit at Ft. Bragg, Hosking volunteered and served as a demolition or Engineer as well as a Weapons Sergeant on his A-Team. He was assigned to both Smoke Bomb Hill on Ft. Bragg and to Bad Tolz in Germany. He went to different training programs including language training and spoke Czech, German and Vietnamese.

Hosking served three different tours in Vietnam, in 1963, 1965-66 and his final tour in 1967.

On his final tour in Vietnam, Hosking was a sergeant first class in Company A of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces Regiment. He was assigned to the Mike Force. On an earlier tour, “Snake” Hosking developed such rapport with the civilian CIDG strikers, both Cambodian and Chinese Nung, that many came out of retirement to rejoin the unit with the word that “Snake” was back in-country. He was a legend with the men that Special Forces had trained and led.

On March 21, 1967, he was working as an advisor to a Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) battalion in Đôn Luân district, Phuoc Long Province, when his unit captured a Viet Cong sniper.

Hosking was preparing the VC prisoner to transport to the A-Team’s base camp, when the man grabbed a hand grenade from Hosking’s belt, armed it, and ran towards the 4-man company command group. That consisted of four men, two American and two South Vietnamese officers.

Hosking tackled the prisoner and held him to the ground, using the VC’s body and his own to shield others from the grenade blast. He knew what that entailed. But in an attempt to save the officers’ lives he gave his own. Both he and the Viet Cong prisoner were killed in the ensuing explosion. Hosking was posthumously promoted to master sergeant and awarded the Medal of Honor for this action in 1969. President Nixon awarded the Medal to Hosking’s son Wesley at the White House.

Medal of Honor Citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Master Sergeant Hosking (then Sergeant First Class), Detachment A-302, Company A, greatly distinguished himself while serving as company advisor in the III Corps Civilian Irregular Defense Group Reaction Battalion during combat operations in Don Luan District.

A Viet Cong suspect was apprehended and subsequently identified as a Viet Cong sniper. While MSG Hosking was preparing the enemy for movement back to the base camp, the prisoner suddenly grabbed a hand grenade from MSG Hosking’s belt, armed the grenade, and started running towards the company command group which consisted of 2 Americans and 2 Vietnamese who were standing a few feet away.

Instantly realizing that the enemy intended to kill the other men, MSG Hosking immediately leaped upon the Viet Cong’s back. With utter disregard for his personal safety, he grasped the Viet Cong in a “Bear Hug” forcing the grenade against the enemy soldier’s chest. He then wrestled the Viet Cong to the ground and covered the enemy’s body with his body until the grenade detonated. The blast instantly killed both MSG Hosking and the Viet Cong.

By absorbing the full force of the exploding grenade with his body and that of the enemy, he saved the other members of his command group from death or serious injury.

MSG Hosking’s risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in the highest tradition of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country

He was buried in New Jersey and the Police Benevolent Association dedicated a monument to him in 2000 in Veteran’s Park on East Main St. in Ramsey, NJ.

Hosking’s daughter Gail who was just 17 when he died, had a hard time coming to terms with the war that kept her father out of the family’s life for so long and his death. But nearly a quarter of a century later, she wrote a book, “Snake’s Daughter”, in which she finally came to realize what a hero her father was.

Master Sergeant Charles E. Hosking, Jr. Memorial Marker (photo: Don Morfe)

Photos: US Army/ Don Morfe

Bob Kerrey, SEAL, Awarded the MOH For Actions on 14 March 1969

Joseph Robert (Bob) Kerrey was a U.S. Navy SEAL in Vietnam during the 1960s and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Richard Nixon in the White House in May of 1970 for actions he conducted where he lost the lower part of his leg in Vietnam during an action on March 14, 1969. His wounds would end his military service.

But Kerrey later entered politics and served as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska and as the 35th Governor of Nebraska. He ran unsuccessfully in 1992 as a Democratic nominee for President, losing to Bill Clinton.

He also briefly dated actress Debra Winger while she was in Omaha to film the motion picture, “Terms of Endearment”. Hounded by the press over the affair, Kerrey responded, “She swept me off my foot,” making light of his Vietnam injuries.

Military service: Kerrey entered Naval Special Warfare after completing Officer Candidate School in 1967. He went thru and successfully completed Basic Underwater Demolition/Sea, Air, Land (BUD/S) training with class 42 in 1968.

Kerrey volunteered to be assigned to SEAL Team One which was in the Republic of Vietnam. After pre-deployment training, he was assigned to Vietnam as an assistant platoon commander with Delta Platoon, SEAL Team ONE in January 1969.

On March 14, 1969, he was assigned to a mission to Hon Tre Island off of Nha Trang to capture a high-value target which was Viet Cong cadre. It was during this action that Kerrey and the SEALs would have to scale a 350-foot cliff to get to a position above the enemy village to achieve their mission.

While assaulting down the hill into the village under heavy fire, a Vietnamese grenade exploded right at his feet, severely injuring his lower body and hurling him backward. Despite his painful wounds, he directed his men, split into two teams into neutralizing the enemy’s fire. He then directed his men to secure and defend an extraction site despite being immobilized by his wounds which were severe.

The Viet Cong POWs captured were instrumental in the extraction of intelligence for the war effort. Eventually, he and the SEAL team were extracted back to their base. Kerrey’s wound resulted in the loss of the lower part of his leg.

On May 14, 1970, President Richard Nixon, awarded Kerrey the Medal of Honor at the White House.

Medal of Honor Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 14 March 1969 while serving as a SEAL Team Leader during action against enemy aggressor (Viet Cong) forces in the Republic of Vietnam.

Acting in response to reliable intelligence, Lieutenant (jg) Kerrey led his SEAL Team on a mission to capture important members of the enemy’s area political cadre known to be located on an island in the bay of Nha Trang.

In order to surprise the enemy, he and his team scaled a 350-foot sheer cliff to place themselves above the ledge on which the enemy was located. Splitting his team into two elements and coordinating both, Lieutenant (jg) Kerrey led his men in the treacherous downward descent to the enemy’s camp.

Just as they neared the end of their descent, an intense enemy fire was directed at them, and Lieutenant (jg) Kerrey received massive injuries from a grenade which exploded at his feet and threw him backward onto the jagged rocks. Although bleeding profusely and suffering great pain, he displayed outstanding courage and presence of mind in immediately directing his element’s fire into the heart of the enemy camp. Utilizing his radioman, Lieutenant (jg) Kerrey called in the second element’s fire support which caught the confused Viet Cong in a devastating crossfire.

After successfully suppressing the enemy’s fire, and although immobilized by his multiple wounds, he continued to maintain calm, superlative control as he ordered his team to secure and defend an extraction site. Lieutenant (jg) Kerrey resolutely directed his men, despite his near-unconscious state, until he was eventually evacuated by helicopter. The havoc brought to the enemy by this very successful mission cannot be overestimated. The enemy who were captured provided critical intelligence to the allied effort.

Lieutenant (jg) Kerrey’s courageous and inspiring leadership, valiant fighting spirit, and tenacious devotion to duty in the face of almost overwhelming opposition sustain and enhance the finest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

The incident at Thanh Phong:
The New York Times and 60 Minutes in 2001 ran a story about a SEAL raid in February 1969 about a month after Kerrey arrived in-country. On February 25, Kerrey led a raid on the village of Thanh Phong, Vietnam, targeting an HVT (high-value target) Viet Cong leader whom intelligence believed would be present.

During the raid, Kerrey’s team took fire from a house in the village, they returned fire and upon moving thru the objective area were surprised to find several villagers, civilians, women and children killed in the fire.

Kerrey, in 1998 interviews, recalls the horror of what they found. “The thing that I will remember until the day I die is walking in and finding, I don’t know, 14 or so, I don’t even know what the number was, women and children who were dead”, he said. “I was expecting to find Vietcong soldiers with weapons, dead. Instead, I found women and children.”

One member of Kerrey’s SEAL platoon, Gerhard Klann told a completely different tale, which was corroborated by a Vietnamese survivor that the SEALs rounded up the civilians and killed them for fear that they’d warn the Viet Cong.

When Kerrey was pushed to respond to Klann’s account of the raid, he stated that his recollections of it were different than his. Kerrey’s other former SEAL platoon members all stuck to his account of the events. Kerrey stated that Klann had very hard feelings against him because he wouldn’t support Klann’s possible Medal of Honor award during a later mission and was jealous of him.

Kerrey did express regret over the mission and the lives taken during it. He was subsequently awarded a Bronze Star for the raid. He said of killing in combat, “You can never, can never get away from it. It darkens your day. I thought dying for your country was the worst thing that could happen to you, and I don’t think it is. I think killing for your country can be a lot worse. Because that’s the memory that haunts.”

In 2016, Kerrey was announced as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Fulbright University in Vietnam. Some Vietnamese civilians complained over this and Kerrey later resigned his post although he hasn’t been replaced.

Photos: Wikipedia

March 9-12, 1966, CSM Bennie Adkins Awarded Medal of Honor

CSM (retired) Bennie Adkins was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery above and beyond the call of duty during the Vietnam War. Fifty-two years ago today from March 9-12, 1966 Adkins distinguished himself during a 38-hour close-combat battle against North Vietnamese Army forces during the Battle of A Shau. During this pitched battle with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), Adkins was a then sergeant first class serving as an Intelligence Sergeant with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces.

Adkins was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery during the battle in 1967, however, in 2002, several awards of the DSC were being reviewed to see if the recipients had been given awards beneath the level of what the men had performed. Adkins’ story was one of them. He was finally awarded the Medal of Honor by President Obama in the White House in August 2014. Adkins was credited with killing 175 of the enemy and taking on a tiger outside the camp during the battle and subsequent evacuation.

Adkins graduated the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1961 and served for more than 13 years in several SF groups including the 3rd, 7th, 6th, and 5th SFGs. He served three combat tours in Vietnam, in 1963, 1965-66, and 1971. He was a graduate of the Sergeant Majors Academy and was the Sergeant Major at the Jungle Warfare School before retiring in 1978.

A Shau Combat: Adkins team was assigned to A-Camp 102 in A Shau and was being targeted by the NVA’s 325B Division and specifically by two regiments, the 18B and the 95B regiments augmented with reconnaissance and engineer elements. They were also supported with three battalions of artillery.

Camp A Shau had 210 CIDG “strikers” who were local men who were trained by the SF team. They were augmented with 143 Nungs and seven additional SF men from the A-503, the Nha Trang Mike Force. The total force consisted of 435 friendly troops of which only 17 were American SF troops, going against two NVA regiments. The camp’s only artillery consisted of one 4.2 inch mortar, four 81mm mortars, nine 60mm mortars and one 57mm recoilless rifle.

The NVA were building in the A Shau Valley and a feared attack was imminent. At 0350 hours on March 9, a thick ground fog enveloped the low hanging clouds in the vicinity. It was then that the NVA unleashed a mortar barrage, that pounded the camp’s defenses until 0630. During the shelling, the NVA moved up two companies who probed the south wall of the camp and was intent on blowing gaps in the concertina wire with Bangalore torpedoes.

During the shelling, two American SF troops were killed and five others wounded as well as several Vietnamese. The antennas for the camp’s radio were knocked out.

By 0900, the camp was receiving emergency resupply drops as well as wounded men were evacuated. At 1100 hours the first tactical airstrikes were conducted around the camp by USAF pilots.

Manning a mortar position, Adkins was wounded numerous times, being blown out of the mortar pit more than once. He then learned of more soldiers wounded in the center of the camp. He left the mortar position to another soldier and dodged mortar rounds and sniper fire, getting the wounded men to a securer location.

Later, under enemy fire, some of it coming from the South Vietnamese LLDB SF allies who had defected to the North during the battle, Adkins took the wounded troops to an airstrip outside the camp for evacuation and drew the enemy’s fire away from the Medevac aircraft. He left the camp again to retrieve supplies from an airdrop that fell into a minefield. And that was just the first day of the battle.

“The bottom line is that it was just not my day to go,” Adkins said later in an interview.

According to the Army’s report on the battle, on the 10th, he continued his bravery:

“Within two hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins was the only defender firing a mortar weapon. When all mortar rounds were expended, Adkins began placing effective rifle fire upon the enemy as they infiltrated the camp perimeter and assaulted his position. Despite receiving additional wounds from enemy rounds exploding on his position, Adkins fought off relentless waves of attacking North Vietnamese soldiers,” the Army report says.

After falling back to a smaller bunker in Camp A Shau, Adkins killed more enemy troops with small arms fire, destroyed equipment and classified documents to prevent them from getting into North Vietnamese hands, and led a group of soldiers in digging their way out of the rear of the bunker and escaping the besieged camp.

They escaped and evaded into the jungle with the NVA hot on their heels. But they were also stalked by an even scarier predator, a tiger. The tiger smelled the blood of the wounded Americans and CIDG troops and began stalking them in the dark, foreboding jungle.

“The North Vietnamese soldiers had us surrounded on a little hilltop and everything started getting quiet,” Adkins said. “We could look around and all at once, all we could see were eyes going around us. A tiger had stalked us that night. We were all bloody and in this jungle, the tiger smelled us and the North Vietnamese soldiers were more afraid of the tiger than they were of us. So, they backed off some and we were able to escape.”

The men evaded capture until March 12 when they were finally rescued. By then Adkins had suffered 18 different wounds.

Adkins remembered his CIDG troops who fought by his side and didn’t quit when the going got tough.

“There were about 410 indigenous Civilian Irregular Defense Group soldiers there with us, and of those, only about 122 survived, and most of those were wounded. It was a horrible, horrible battle. There was valor on all sides, not only from the Americans but from the CIDG soldiers also,” he said.

“I’m just a keeper of the medal for those other 16 (U.S. troops) who were in the battle, especially the five who didn’t make it,” Adkins said.

Medal of Honor Citation: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of Congress the Medal of Honor to

SERGEANT FIRST CLASS
BENNIE G. ADKINS
UNITED STATES ARMY

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Sergeant First Class Bennie G. Adkins distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Intelligence Sergeant with Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces, during combat operations against an armed enemy at Camp A Shau, Republic of Vietnam from March 9 to 12, 1966.

When the camp was attacked by a large North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force in the early morning hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins rushed through intense enemy fire and manned a mortar position continually adjusting fire for the camp, despite incurring wounds as the mortar pit received several direct hits from enemy mortars.

Upon learning that several soldiers were wounded near the center of camp, he temporarily turned the mortar over to another soldier, ran through exploding mortar rounds and dragged several comrades to safety. As the hostile fire subsided, Sergeant First Class Adkins exposed himself to sporadic sniper fire while carrying his wounded comrades to the camp dispensary.

When Sergeant First Class Adkins and his group of defenders came under heavy small arms fire from members of the Civilian Irregular Defense Group that had defected to fight with the North Vietnamese, he maneuvered outside the camp to evacuate a seriously wounded American and draw fire all the while successfully covering the rescue. When a resupply airdrop landed outside of the camp perimeter, Sergeant First Class Adkins, again, moved outside of the camp walls to retrieve the much-needed supplies.

During the early morning hours of March 10, 1966, enemy forces launched their main attack and within two hours, Sergeant First Class Adkins was the only man firing a mortar weapon. When all mortar rounds were expended, Sergeant First Class Adkins began placing effective recoilless rifle fire upon enemy positions. Despite receiving additional wounds from enemy rounds exploding on his position, Sergeant First Class Adkins fought off intense waves of attacking Viet Cong.

Sergeant First Class Adkins eliminated numerous insurgents with small arms fire after withdrawing to a communications bunker with several soldiers. Running extremely low on ammunition, he returned to the mortar pit, gathered vital ammunition and ran through intense fire back to the bunker. After being ordered to evacuate the camp, Sergeant First Class Adkins and a small group of soldiers destroyed all signal equipment and classified documents dug their way out of the rear of the bunker and fought their way out of the camp. While carrying a wounded soldier to the extraction point he learned that the last helicopter had already departed.

Sergeant First Class Adkins led the group while evading the enemy until they were rescued by helicopter on March 12, 1966. During the thirty-eight-hour battle and forty-eight hours of escape and evasion, fighting with mortars, machine guns, recoilless rifles, small arms, and hand grenades, it was estimated that Sergeant First Class Adkins killed between one hundred thirty-five and one hundred seventy-five of the enemy while sustaining eighteen different wounds to his body.

Sergeant First Class Adkins’ extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, Detachment A-102, 5th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces and the United States Army.

Photos: US Army

On This Day in 1966, Barry Sadler’s Ballad of the Green Beret Goes to #1

In 1966, the average house cost $14,200 or less than a decent Harley today. The median income was $6900.00, the price of gas was 32 cents a gallon, the Dow Jones Average at years end was 785. Batman, the campy comic book come to life, debuted on Network television as did Star Trek… “Space the final frontier.”

Americans found out what a “Miranda Warning” meant and why it was important. And mass killings weren’t a 2010s only phenomenon. Richard Speck murdered eight nurses in Chicago and Charles Whitman, who perched himself in the bell tower of the University of Texas with a rifle (not an AR-15) shot and killed 14 people and injured 31.

In China, the Cultural Revolution starts and Mao Tse-Tung begins to purge intellectuals. Mini-skirts are in fashion. Ronald Reagan enters politics and becomes the Governor of California, and the Houston Astrodome opens, complete with a 710 diameter of the dome. And there are now 500,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam.

And finally, in January 1966 Barry Sadler, a Green Beret from the 7th SFG appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and sang his “Ballad of the Green Berets” to a national audience. Sadler later appeared on other television shows such as the Jimmy Dean Show and the Hollywood Palace. He and the unit by the same name became household words in the United States. By March 6, his song skyrocketed to #1 on the Billboard Top 100 hits of the USA. It would remain there at #1 for five weeks.

Sadler’s song was co-written by Robin Moore who wrote the book about Special Forces, “The Green Berets” which became a 1968 pro-US involvement in the war film by John Wayne. The song was a tribute to SP5 James Gabriel, a Special Forces soldier who was killed in Vietnam in 1962. The original song had a verse with a reference to Gabriel but it wasn’t included in the recorded version by Sadler.

Sadler was an SF soldier who suffered a severe punji stick wound to his leg, which cut short his tour in Vietnam in 1965 where he was a team medic. During his long rehabilitation from his injuries, Sadler submitted his song to RCA after he and Moore cut the song from a 12-verse long version to a length that was more palatable for pop radio at the time.

Within two weeks after its release by RCA, the song sold a million copies. It would become Billboard’s top song of 1966. In an era of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys et al, it is amazing that Sadler’s anti-war song was the top-selling song of the year. And make no mistake, while it is a VERY pro-Special Forces song, it speaks of the cost of war and how it never seems to end. Something we can all understand quite well 52 years later.

The album which sold two million copies, (the single sold nine million) had a total of 13 tracks on it.

Ballad of the Green Berets
I’m a Lucky One
Letter From Vietnam
Badge of Courage
Saigon
Salute to the Nurses
I’m Watching the Raindrops Fall
Garet Trooper
The Soldier Has Come Home
Lullabye
The Trooper’s Lament
Bamiba
The A-Team

Sadler was sent by the Army on a publicity tour during 1966, and it turned him against the military, although he loved being a part of Special Forces. He left the military in 1967 and had a few walk-on roles in television westerns. He then tried Nashville but his career never took off.

Later he was writing a series of pulp fiction books about a Roman soldier, Casca Rufio Longinus, who is assigned to watch Christ die on the crucifix. Bored, he thrust his lance into Jesus’ side to shorten his time. Because of this, Chris sentences Casca to be a soldier who cannot die to wander the earth aimlessly until the Second Coming.

Sadler sadly died at the age of 49. He was shot in the head in a cab in Guatemala and died a year later. The circumstances have always been murky surrounding his shooting and have never fully been explored. His was a tragic life cut far too short.

But for a brief period in 1966, the Ballad of the Green Berets was the top song in the land.

Photos: Wikipedia

Franklin D. Miller MAC-V SOG Awarded Medal Of Honor January 5, 1970

On this day in 1970, Franklin D. Miller, a Green Beret from the 5th SFG, who was assigned to MAC-V SOG was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions conducted as a long-range reconnaissance team member in Vietnam. He was decorated by President Nixon in the White House on June 15, 1971. Asked where he wanted to be assigned next, Miller replied “Vietnam.”

Miller served six tours of duty in Vietnam, a full six years of combat. Besides the Medal of Honor, Miller was awarded the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with “V” device, six Purple Hearts, and the Air Medal.

Miller enlisted in the Army in February 1965. After Basic and AIT, he joined Special Forces and after graduation was shipped to Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division after running afoul of his commander. But Miller stayed in Vietnam for two years with the Cav and then transferred to the 5th SFG which was then in Vietnam.

Miller later became a member of the elite and highly-secretive Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MAC-V SOG) which contained Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Air Force Commandos and CIA operations personnel.

Franklin Miller (top right) and his team with MAC-V SOG in Vietnam.

January 5, 1970: On the day of this particular mission, Miller was part of a seven-man long-range reconnaissance patrol of American Special Forces and Montagnard tribesmen. After inserting in Laos, one of the Montagnards tripped a booby trap, which wounded five men in the patrol and brought down a much larger force of North Vietnamese troops.

Wounded in the chest in the fighting, Miller along with every member of the patriot was now wounded. In an interview done much later, he said he felt like he was drowning. Miller then had what classified as a “religious experience.” His mentor, SSG Roy Bumgarner, who led Miller with the 1st Cav, appeared to him and told to him to calm down or his panic would lead him to go into shock.

“It was like a religious experience. I knew something had happened. I was actually falling and thinking, “Why am I falling? When you see that much blood, and you know that it is yours, it has a tendency to scare you.”

Miller said, “I then calmed down and tried to figure out what I had to do.”

Miller single-handedly repelled two attacks by a platoon-sized enemy element, crawling to an exposed position and engaging the enemy, after rescue helicopters were driven off by heavy ground fire. During the heavy fighting, four of the members of his patrol were killed.

Miller was the only man in the patrol that could continue to fight and by nightfall, was nearly out of ammunition. Finally, a relief patrol was able to reach him and the other two survivors and they were able to get out safely.

Miller (right) at the SOG compound in Vietnam.

The President gave Miller his wish and he returned to Vietnam for another tour. He returned from Vietnam and remained in the Army, retiring in 1992 as a Command Sergeant Major. He then went to work for the VA as a benefits counselor.

Miller would still occasionally visit Ft. Bragg and the Special Forces students at Camp Mackall where he would talk to the students about leadership and survive in combat. His message to the young SF troops? “Share your fears only with yourself, share your courage with others…and you will inspire people to do incredible things.”

Miller passed away from cancer on June 30, 2000, at the age of 55. Army Gen. Henry Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke for Special Forces men everywhere. “We have lost an individual, I think, who served as an icon to what service in the armed forces is about,” Shelton said.

Miller’s attention to detail, combined with his moral and physical courage, made him the ideal soldier, he added. “Doug Miller epitomized that,” Shelton said. “He will be sorely missed.”

MEDAL OF HONOR CITATION:

For The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Franklin Douglas Miller, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving with 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, in action against enemy aggressor forces at Kontum Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 5 January 1970.

Staff Sergeant Miller was serving as team leader of an American-Vietnamese long-range reconnaissance patrol operating deep within enemy controlled territory. Leaving the helicopter insertion point, the patrol moved forward on its mission. Suddenly, one of the team members tripped a hostile booby trap which wounded four soldiers.

Staff Sergeant Miller, knowing that the explosion would alert the enemy, quickly administered first aid to the wounded and directed the team into positions across a small stream bed at the base of a steep hill. Within a few minutes, Staff Sergeant Miller saw the lead element of what he estimated to be a platoon-size enemy force moving toward his location.

Concerned for the safety of his men, he directed the small team to move up the hill to a more secure position. He remained alone, separated from the patrol, to meet the attack. Staff Sergeant Miller single-handedly repulsed two determined attacks by the numerically superior enemy force and caused them to withdraw in disorder. He rejoined his team, established contact with a forward air controller and arranged the evacuation of his patrol. However, the only suitable extraction location in the heavy jungle was a bomb crater some 150 meters from the team location.

Staff Sergeant Miller reconnoitered the route to the crater and led his men through the enemy controlled jungle to the extraction site. As the evacuation helicopter hovered over the crater to pick up the patrol, the enemy launched a savage automatic weapon and rocket-propelled grenade attack against the beleaguered team, driving off the rescue helicopter.

Staff Sergeant Miller led the team in a valiant defense which drove back the enemy in its attempt to overrun the small patrol. Although seriously wounded and with every man in his patrol a casualty, Staff Sergeant Miller moved forward to again single-handedly meet the hostile attackers. From his forward exposed position, Staff Sergeant Miller gallantly repelled two attacks by the enemy before a friendly relief force reached the patrol location.

Staff Sergeant Miller’s gallantry, intrepidity in action, and selfless devotion to the welfare of his comrades are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.

Photos: US Army

Lt. James Fleming, Awarded Medal of Honor November 26, 1968

US Air Force pilot Lt. James Fleming, assigned to the 20th Special Operations Squadron in Vietnam was awarded the Medal of Honor for risking his life and his aircraft above and beyond the call of duty to rescue the lives of seven Green Berets on November 26, 1968.

The seven-man Green Beret unit was conducting a long-range reconnaissance patrol about 20 miles of west of Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam near the Cambodian border.

Not long after infiltration, the SF team got into a firefight with a large number of enemy soldiers. They were hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned and were pushed back against a river with the NVA surrounding them on three sides. Heavy machine gun fire was keeping the Green Berets pinned down and they radioed for an emergency, immediate extraction. The call was picked up by a US Air Force Forward Air Controller (FAC) who relayed the information to Fleming and the other aircraft.

Fleming, piloting a UH-1F helicopter and five other gunships of his unit were finishing a mission and en route back to their base at Ban Me Thuot when they heard the distress call. Despite being low on fuel, they answered the call and flew towards the beleaguered SF troops.

Immediately upon arriving in the area, one of the gunships was brought down by the heavy enemy fire. A second helicopter was forced to peel off to pick up the downed aircrew and return them to the base. A third chopper had its fuel warning light come on and was forced to abandon their rescue attempt as well.

The SF troops were attempting to get to a clearing that was only 25 meters away from where Fleming and the other gunship, who was nearly out of ammunition would attempt to pick them up. They popped smoke in front of their position and Fleming and the other gunship raked the enemy’s position, knocking out two machine gun positions.

Fleming buzzed the small clearing and realized that he couldn’t land there, he decided to try a very dangerous maneuver by flying along the river and resting his skids on the riverbank and having the Green Berets sprint the short distance to the river and his waiting chopper.

It didn’t work. The ground fire was so great, the SF team leader radioed that they couldn’t make it to the chopper. All hope was about to be lost. Fleming was undeterred, however. He then lifted off and although coming under intense ground fire, he flew around to make a final pass. He and the FAC decided on one final course of action.

The FAC instructed the SF team leader to detonate all of their mines and explosives as soon as Fleming tried to land on the riverbank again. Then make a dash for the helicopter. As Fleming settled in, the Green Berets detonated their mines and rushed for the helicopter firing all the way.

The enemy knew exactly what the Green Berets and Fleming were trying to do and rushed in a desperate attempt to kill the team and down the helicopter. As the Green Berets made it to the riverbank they dove into the waiting helicopter and killed three enemy soldiers who had gotten to within a few feet of the helicopter. Fleming lifted off and flew down the river thru intense enemy fire that shattered his windscreen before getting the troops out of harm’s way. His selfless action saved the lives of seven men that day.

Fleming was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Nixon at the White House on May 14, 1970. His official citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Fleming (then 1st Lt.) distinguished himself as the Aircraft Commander of a UH-1F transport Helicopter. Capt. Fleming went to the aid of a 6-man special forces long-range reconnaissance patrol that was in danger of being overrun by a large, heavily armed hostile force.

Despite the knowledge that 1 helicopter had been downed by intense hostile fire, Capt. Fleming descended and balanced his helicopter on a river bank with the tail boom hanging over open water. The patrol could not penetrate to the landing site and he was forced to withdraw. Dangerously low on fuel, Capt. Fleming repeated his original landing maneuver.

Disregarding his own safety, he remained in this exposed position. Hostile fire crashed through his windscreen as the patrol boarded his helicopter. Capt. Fleming made a successful takeoff through a barrage of hostile fire and recovered safely at a forward base.

Capt. Fleming’s profound concern for his fellow men, and at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

Fleming remained in the Air Force, rising to the rank of Colonel before retiring at Lackland AFB in 1996. His other decorations include the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and eight Air Medals.

Photos: DOD

Vietnam

This book is dedicated to anybody whoever died for something he believed in, whether he was right or not.

The difference between a fairy tale and a war story, is that a fairy tale starts out with “Once upon a time,” and a war story starts out with, “This is no shit.”

This book is dedicated to anybody
whoever died for something he
believed in, whether he was right
or not.

The difference between a fairy tale and a war story,
is that a fairy tale starts out with “Once upon a time,” and
a war story starts out with, “This is no shit.”