The life expectancy of a radio operator in the Vietnam War ranged between five to six seconds all the way up to a slightly-more-optimistic thirty seconds, depending on your source. He deployed with the Screaming Eagles to Vietnam and served as a platoon and recon platoon leader. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, MIGHTY NETWORKS, 2023 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Mandalorian recap before Season 3: Everything you need to know, serving the U.S. military in the 1960s and 1970s, He returned to the U.S. that same year to attend the Army Special warfare School. Archives held in Texas revealed this happened to one unfortunate soldier. A soldier holding a small but venomous snake. Trni was a dedicated and brave soldier, and he quickly rose to the rank of captain and took command of a group of ski troops. Even at those odds, you will lose and I will win. Comprised of 12 Special Forces soldiers, an ODA can operate independently behind enemy lines for long periods of time without supervision. Due to his small stature (he was just 4feet 9inches (1.45m) tall), he was known as "The Giant Killer". . The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc. is the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress in 1980 to fund and build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. . However, only about 20 percent of those served in generally recognized 'combat' roles. U.S. involvement in the Southeast Asian country had more than doubled from 1965. by Tom Rosenbeck. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, officially bringing to an end the American war in Vietnam. We offer our condolences to his family and to his friends. But many of the soldiers who went were drafted into the service, ineligible for a student deferment because they had never been to college. Even if they could deal with the claustrophobic conditions, air and artillery support had not prepared them for the type of old-fashioned combat that relied on savage behavior, individual strength, guts, and cunningness. As a man, he stands tall in my book. But then everything we know about him gets lost in a blur of fragmentary vignettes. Many American men were trying to avoid serving the U.S. military in the 1960s and 1970s. At the end of him career he had such bad PTSD that he pretty much couldn't function in a normal way and spent for the most part the remainder of his life homeless. While braving the intense hail of hostile fire, Lieutenant Flaherty displayed astute direction and leadership, leading to the enemy bunker being swiftly destroyed and allowing his platoon to advance and continue its devastating attack on the enemy, according to the citation for the Silver Star Flaherty was awarded for the action. How many other Richard Flahertys are there living among us as homeless veterans? Click Today's Obituaries to view all of the listings. Wounded Marine Gunnery Sgt. While tunnel rats often wanted to wear hearing protection to help lessen the consequences of this noise and avoid damage to their eardrums, they risked not being able to hear the enemy approaching. They belong to us. 1968 was a tumultuous year for service members in Vietnam. What we do know comes to us from a Hallandale police officer, David Yuzuk. [7] Flaherty was buried at Forest Memorial Park in Milton. The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. [5] Fifteen years before Flaherty's death, he was befriended by Miami Police officer David Yuzuk after Flaherty became homeless. His stint with the CIA came to an end when he was arrested for possessing silencers. This is a story about a real American military hero. Flaherty served with the 101st Airborne & the 3rd Special Forces Group. Giant Killer: The incredible mysterious life of the shortest US soldier A dwarf, a Vietnam hero, a CIA operative, and a homeless man the almost unbelievable life of Richard James Flaherty. 45 calibers with a seven-round magazine as they were readily available. After shooting a maximum of three bullets, soldiers would typically reload to avoid letting the enemy know when they were out of ammo. American soldiers were often prepared for traps that may be on the ground, but they had not prepared for those coming from above. Don't Threaten. After a while, whenever Id see him, Id give him a little head nod and hed do the same. Threats of harming another His size also meant he worked as a tunnel rat during his tour of duty, crawling through enemy tunnels to destroy them. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. He ended up leading a reconnaissance platoon, showing great . If the army located an entrance and needed it explored, the team lowered a tunnel rat into the area to scout out the surroundings. Start Reading. He left the Army in 1971 at the rank of captain due to a reduction in force. Yet, both of these tactics were not as successful as they hoped. Flaherty had an admiration for the Army Special Forces known as the Green Berets. While many draft-age males of that era sought ways to avoid being among the 385,000 troops sent to the beleaguered Southeast Asian nation that year, Flaherty was working the angles to find a way in. Operation Crimp hoped to target a key Viet Cong headquarter location believed to be unground. *Warning: Some people may find these pictures disturbing.*. A few years later, we started talking. The Vietnam War is also known as the Second Indochina War. The American Soldier in VietnamMore than 2.5 million American men served in Vietnam during the war. After completing basic training, Richard Flaherty qualified for Infantry Officer Candidate School, earning the rank of second lieutenant. A light tunnel exploration kit may also include items such as powdered CS, colored-smoke grenades, insect repellent, protective masks, a field telephone, a compass to plot the route, a telephone wire spool, probing rods, bayonets, a flashlight, entrenching tools to reveal and widen entrances, and a .22-calibre HD or MK I pistol. We can imagine that it may have had something to do with his Vietnam combat experiences. He located witnesses and found documentation in a storage unit that revealed that even while homeless, Flaherty was still conducting clandestine missions around the worldCambodia, Iraq, Jordan, Venezuelabut who was he working for? He was a Platoon Leader and Recon Platoon Leader with companies B, C, D, & E. Flaherty participated in some fierce combat outside of Hue City during the Tet Offensive which earned him a Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars and 2 Purple Hearts.[4]. He had a few run-ins with the law before becoming a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169 or follow. Saddest to me is that Flaherty was a man who had done much and who could have offered so much more, but he got lost in ways well never understand. The healthy soldier/worker effect gradually subdued over time. It was if he was hardening himself up for some special task.. Communications, public relations, and marketing professional, and content creator during free time. Alternate title, "Dating on tinder when you're 5'11" or shorter". This restoration was pivotal as it enabled some of the key successes enjoyed by the Viet Cong. The War also claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 allied soldiers in Vietnam, nearly one million North Vietnamese/ Communist allied deaths . He wasnt flat-footed, he had no debilitating conditions, and he was an otherwise perfectly healthy young man. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy. The Viet Cong were experts at creating very sophisticated tunnel systems that would sometimes be so large that they could be used as company-sized staging areas for hiding and for rest, even for hospital facilities. Richard Flaherty had to get a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War. By 1990, the US Army veterans was homeless and living in Aventura, Florida. That medically makes you a dwarf (little person). How does he get kicked out due to reduction of force? Capt. Col. Floyd J. Thompson, who endured nearly nine years of torture, disease and starvation in Vietnam as the longest-held prisoner of war in American history, has died. When he graduated from high school, Flaherty was 4 feet, 9 inches tall three inches too short to meet the Armys height requirement at the time. I didnt believe him at first, Yuzuk recalled. He fought and distinquished himself in Vietnam. A heavier tunnel-exploration kit may also include nylon rope, body-armor vests, grappling hooks, work gloves, kneepads, and earplugs. Many knew him over the last decade and a half of his life as a nameless little homeless guy in Hallandale, but he was much more than that. Punji stake traps found in the tunnels highlight one of the most disgusting and feared examples of Vietnamese booby traps. He graduated the year before me from Stamford Catholic High School, now known as Trinity Catholic High school. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. Flaherty led his platoon in a flanking assault on the enemy position, during which an NVA bunker was spotted. Pictured left to right: Topsy, Fatty, Cotton (killed fitty men and got his shins blowed off), Brooklyn, Stinky, and Fatty. Oct 15, 2015 Ian Harvey, Guest Author. I have been stewing over it for several months now. After his service in Vietnam, Richard Flaherty applied for Special Forces training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. I quote the half-inch ants have such a powerful bite that to pull them off means losing a bit of skin. too light. One of the other problems soldiers faced is the deafening sound of gunshots echoing through the tunnels. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. MILTON The shortest soldier to serve in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, a highly decorated officer who completed one tour of duty as a platoon leader with an airborne battalion and another as a Green Beret captain, lies at rest in an as-yet unmarked grave in a Milton cemetery. The US army now sought alternate measures. . This way, they smelled the same as the GIs and the dogs became unable to locate the enemy. They are our brothers and sisters. He worked for a while as a confidential informant for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the 80s but he was homeless in Aventura, just north of Miami, by 1990. Although the driver fled the scene, they were eventually caught. Vietnam War. I didnt know.. Photo credit: USMC Archives. What's the minimum requirement in the US army today? He met Flaherty as a homeless man in 2000. Yuzuk was stunned by both the sudden loss of a friend and the realization that he would need to do his own detective work to discover what Flaherty had not gotten around to telling him about his life. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Statements in the storage unit showed that he had several thousand dollars in bank accounts, while a passport and receipts from a travel agent indicated that during the time he was homeless, he had made trips to such countries as Jordan, Venezuela, Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia. He earned the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars (w/V, 3OLC), and 2 Purple Hearts. When he graduated OCS and his Special Forces training, he volunteered for combat duty with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. He first deployed to Southeast Asia in 1968 as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. A young man emerging from his journey in a Viet Cong tunnel. Although he is the subject of a new documentary available on Amazon Prime and iTunes and a soon-to-be-released book, the full story of Capt. These story remain nothing more than bits and pieces of a life that seems to have become shrouded in anonymity. Flaherty was killed during a hit and run attack on May 9, 2015, in Miami. However, he was eventually arrested for possession of gun silencers and removed from the agency. Thankfully, Richard Flahertys story lives on, as he shared it with David Yuzuk, a local police officer, before his death. But many others were poor or working-class teenagers who enlisted or were drafted into the military right out of high school. Despite this, Yuzuk honored his friend by producing a documentary called The Giant Killer,which tells the full story of Richard Flahertys service in Vietnam and his life after he returned to the US. the shortest have one line. Here are 10 of the most dangerous: 1. Reports state the soldier in question had no time to scream or to unsheathe his knife, the snake had already knotted tighter around his neck and badly bit his face. Unbeknownst to his parents, Richard and his mother, Beatrice Rose, shared incompatible blood types (Richard, Rh-Positive; Beatrice, Rh-Negative). During the war, more than 58,000 servicemen and women lost their lives. Already well-adapted to subterranean life, many insects and animals of the Vietnamese jungle found the underground tunnels to be a worthy living environment. pearl harbor. A lot of the time it really depended on the size of the soldiers in the infantry division. Rosemary Giles is a history content writer with Hive Media. He was a Special Forces Green Beret Captain and was . I mean really small. Vietnam-era Radiomen life expectancy was 5 seconds. Standing at 4 feet, 11 inches, Popoca may be the shortest Soldier during missions, but she has a "tiny but mighty" mindset, she said. The Tropic Lightning Tunnel Rat School at Cu Chi base camp provides an example of this. Captured U.S. pilot major Dewey Waddell is guarded by a militiawoman with a gun and a bayonet on a rice field. The Viet Cong also made use of explosive booby traps and pressure detonated mines. During one search and destroy operation, for example, a unit destroyed 6000 pounds of rice, 40 pounds of salt, 8 rifle grenades, 8 bunkers, numerous dwellings, and one 120-foot-long tunnel. Equally, these countries failed to understand how difficult it would be to detect and neutralize such networks. But it wasnt until 2015 that Flaherty first spoke of his time as a platoon leader and Green Beret in Vietnam. Thus, when Richard was born, he was different. A friend of his from high school told me he had fond memories of watching Richard breaking boards with his hands when he walked past the Flahertys garage. Initially, America used hunting dogs to locate the enemy. When the soldier triggered the tripwire, foot-long spikes placed all over a long bamboo pole catapulted into the soldiers face and chest at a rapid speed. When he finally got past the 100-pound mark, he petitioned his Congressman to obtain a waiver for the Armys height restrictions. Vietnam Veterans represent the largest cohort of American Veterans in . Finally, this list will look at how successful these attempts were in the grand scheme of things. When it came time to weigh in, Flaherty barely tipped the scale of 100 pounds. In 1970 he was reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens. By that time, Flaherty had been promoted to captain and awarded two Bronze Stars for bravery and two Purple Hearts for combat wounds, in addition to the Silver Star. . So for a combat soldier, there was about a 10% chance of being killed in action. Miami Police officer David Yuzuk befriended Richard J. Flaherty when the former soldier was living on the streets as a homeless man. The shortest soldier to fight in Vietnam was a Green Beret. But he may have left me with more mysteries than Ill ever be able to solve.. A Soldier's Thoughts. He was successful and joined the US Army. Capt. By REP. SAM JOHNSON. Id known him for 15 years, and this was the first time he ever mentioned the military. When an American soldier tripped the wire, the grenade would detonate inside the tunnel. Short in size he might have been, but short in courage he wasnt. David Yuzuk's police radio blared from his shoulder as he leaned against his patrol car outside Boston Market in Aventura. *The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement. As you may have guessed, life expectancy was low. Images of firefights, bloodied U.S. soldiers and body bags were seen nightly on network television, along with scorecard-like tallies of the number of American and enemy soldiers killed in action. Needless to say, sadly many of those Americans who did enter the tunnels ended up dying. Tweets from https://twitter.com/heralddispatch/lists/hd-news-4. Men most often explored these tunnels in pairs. If they were feeling particularly cruel they may point the sticks downwards at an angle. He returned to Vietnam in 1969 and stayed there until 1971 when he left the Army. There is, in fact, a waiver for everything. Millions of Americans and tens of thousands of veterans and soldiers opposed the war in Vietnam. Read. Since last May I have thought about him off and on and finally felt that I needed to tell his story, or as much of it as I could find out. Bob Roberts, who was photographed when Jakob Nacken was captured, has been awarded France's highest military honour, the Legion d'Honneur, by the French . His ODA was tasked with training the Royal Thai Army in counterinsurgency operations and prepare them for a deployment to Vietnam. Shortest U.S. These guerrillas were fighting the colonial power of France. Some tunnel rats were also fortunate enough to take part in Combat Engineer Advanced Individual Training. Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, perfectly summarised the problem in 1969: The conventional army loses if it does not win, the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. when a soldier had approximately two months remaining on his tour in Vietnam, he might take a long stick and notch it for each of his remaining days in-country. Phases of captures. (Petty Officer 2nd Class . During these ongoing operations, he gained a reputation for intelligence, and the CIA in the late 1970s recruited him to supply the Contras in Central America with weapons and cash. The tunnels also hosted armament workshops, training depots, headquarters, and a variety of other facilities. All of that ends when hes arrested for possession of gun silencers. Four-foot, nine-inch tall veteran Richard J. Flaherty claimed to be the shortest man ever to serve in the United States military. When he graduated high school in 1966, the 4-foot-9-inch man . One tunnel rat claimed that the booby traps and Viet Cong did not frighten them as much as encountering the local ants. Similarly, the bamboo whip was a very traumatic trap. He also weighed less than 100 pounds, further disqualifying him from serving in the Army. The enemy used this to their advantage. The CIA? You can also learn about how these soldiers came about, who opted to become one, how they trained, and what equipment they used. Theres a documentary on his life/death. When it comes to headgear, some soldiers wore a helmet or a visored cap along with a microphone and/ or transistor radio attached. top . A young German soldier, 1944. May they rest in peace. He was a tough, determined guy, said David Yuzuk, who befriended Flaherty more than two decades after the war ended, when both were living in Aventura, Florida, a planned community in the suburbs north of Miami. He returned to the U.S. that same year to attend the Army Special warfare School at Fort Bragg, where he earned his green beret. Shortest US soldier in Vietnam War was not short in courage. The War also claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 allied soldiers in Vietnam, one million North Vietnamese/ Communist allied deaths, and an incomprehensible number of civilians, CW Bowman recalled how his fellow colleagues bet money. . He had crossed the DMZ back into South Vietnam where he was shot as he was recaptured. Historians, for example, estimate that booby traps caused around 11 percent of US causalities in the Vietnam War. Richard Flaherty returned from war and studied at the University of Miami in Florida. Pararescue. An Army Infantryman (MOS 11B) currently has the shortest amount of time in AIT at four weeks. During the Second World War, the Vietnamese first constructed underground tunnels to fight Japanese invasion. He is believed to have worked as a military contractor throughout Africa and most notably in Rhodesia and Angola. 11 talking about this. That did not deter Flaherty. 22. The Viet Cong were simply experts at utilizing their surroundings to their advantage. When interviewed he stated: We often wondered how things happened in the night and we never saw what was going on, guys getting their throat cut. He knew he wanted to enlist, but was faced with a problem: he was too short. Although the percent who died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. Nobody ever knew where these guys were coming from they pointed out in jungle school that there was a tunnel system we had numerous tunnel rats, but we never knew exactly where or how extensive or where the entrance was. The Giant Killer is one of those stranger-than-fiction tales that would never make it as a movie pitch because its just so unbelievable. It was the year of the Tet Offensive, where U.S. troop numbers peaked at more than half a million. Consequently, given the average smaller size of Vietnamese men, tunnel rat soldiers, by necessity, were the shortest, skinniest, and most limber men in the army: a maximum height of 1.58 meters. Tragically, he was killed in a hit and run during the early hours of May 9, 2015. He began to eat and stay in fighting shape, as he was an avid sportsman in high school, especially good at martial arts. Naturally, there were only first chances, never second, so some simply killed as they had to. After being discharged, Flaherty did private and military contract work in Rhodesia and Angola in Africa. Soon after, Flaherty is killed by a hit-and-run driver. The only reason anything is known about his own past is that he shared it with an Aventura cop before he died. On average, tunnels in this underground network were 1.2 meters wide and only 0.8 to 1.8 metres high. The Marines have adopted a new program as of January 2017. There is a story about Flaherty being involved in a federal investigation that ended in the arrest of two Green Berets in the 1980s. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Photo credit: Funker360. October 2001 to 2016. Capt. Photo credit: Pinterest. He came home from Vietnam after his second tour and moved to Hallandale, Florida, where he worked for a time with the U.S. Because of this, they often targeted their legs instead. Yuzuk also found papers showing that Flaherty had paid a deposit for a burial plot in Miltons Forest Memorial Park, with a request to be buried near Lisa Davis Anness, whom the Vietnam vet described as the love of his life. In addition to exposing himself to enemy fire while leading the charge on the bunker, Flaherty displayed extraordinary heroism while engaged in close combat with a well dug-in enemy force, in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service.. See what its like to jump out of a C-17 with the Armys 82nd Airborne, How to make it through Special Forces selection, How one unusual vehicle helped create Americas Special Forces, Special Forces officer slated to lead NATO special operations, This new Special Forces video mixes history and heroism in the best ways, 8 Green Berets on what it means to be Army Special Forces, ST Idaho: The Special Forces team that vanished in the jungle, Putin has a Problem: Russia can barely build any tanks to fight in Ukraine, Controlling killer swarms of swarms: Inside DARPAs AMASS, The Marine Corps is closing down its Scout Sniper platoons, Get Out: Making The Most of a Duty Station. Due to the blood type, his growth was stunted which resulted in him being diagnosed with dwarfism.[2]. Each panel is numbered from "1" to "70" at the base, with West Panel 1 and East Panel 1 . Have been, but was faced with a seven-round magazine as they had to get a waiver to the. 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