We encountered reinforced bunkers, heavy machine gun and mortar fire from what seemed like every direction, way more fire power than we’d encountered to date. Sam Ybarra 2n from left the 3rd row. In spite of my reason for being there, I couldn’t help but be in awe of the magnificence of the jungle with its huge plants, ancient trees, pure water, and until we arrived, unspoiled serenity. Under the command of Lt. Fred Raymond, John Gertsch, Dave Fields, and others, Tiger Force worked with a smoothness and efficiency that even surprised the enemy. Everything would grind to a halt and a hole would be cut in the jungle to accommodate the medevac helicopters. Together John and the other Tigers forced the enemy troops to withdraw and recovered two wounded comrades.Sometime later his platoon came under attack for the third time by a company sized NVA element. Exhausted, out of food and low on ammo, but our mission completed, we were extracted the next day. The Tiger Force commanders were never held accountable for what occurred, despite compelling evidence, he said. It was between two of these fortifications that my squad was ambushed while on patrol. 1/327/101 Abn.Div. The platoon fired at civilians after being told to kill anything that moved, former solders told investigators, but team leaders enforced a code of silence. All the enemy had to do to stop the advance of the Americans was to wound a few of them. The government called that an isolated incident not indicative of the behavior of American personnel in the war. Tiger Force members in 1967... Admin Butch Leake 6th member from the left-back row. We were in the jungle only a few weeks when we discovered something that told me how determined our enemy really was. As a medic treated the man’s wounds while he knelt before him, the platoon leader, Lt. James Hawkins, lifted Mr. Dao and shot him in the face with a CAR-15 rifle. “You have to prevent it from happening again.”, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/26/opinion/vietnam-tiger-force-atrocities.html. Two former platoon members told Army investigators that many members from the unit had been drinking beer all afternoon on July 23, 1967, when they came upon the old man with the geese. The platoon’s 45 members were expected to survive for weeks at a time in the bush as they searched for enemy camps and called in air strikes. At certain times during the year, the rains prevented Americans from moving into this valley. During the attack, he noticed a medic treating a wounded officer. The angry troops told him to be quiet. The oldest was in the Marines already, one was in military school and another was still in high school. But in an interview with The Blade in 2003, he said he shot the elderly carpenter because he was “making a lot of noise. Operation Nevada Eagle and Massachusetts Striker were a scout’s dream of endless camping. Tigers ran recon for the First Brigade and would be the unit called on if one of the line companies was in trouble or needed help. The final report was filed away in 1975, with no public announcement. Nov 1968, © 2006) by T.J. McGinley, D Company led the way followed by C Company in support. This website is intended to honor the men of one of the most highly decorated small units in the Viet Nam war. Then D Company started receiving fire from somewhere in front of us. ”In the middle of our second day at this site, a message came around that a friendly unit would penetrate the perimeter in our sector and to be aware. Task Force Oregon â made up of numerous Army units including Tiger Force â to clear out enemy troops and relocate civilians. Rather than soldiers fighting soldiers, they were destroying peoples’ lives, uprooting them from their homes. By early 1968, the war was changing. Tiger Force was created in 1965 as an elite unit to defeat an enemy that operated in underground tunnels, set deadly booby traps and disappeared into the jungle as they were counterattacked. John Gertsch was walking-point that day, when we came across a well-used trail. “We had to bury them all in one grave.”. By dawn we reached the southern end of the valley. The platoon-sized unit, approximately 45 paratroopers, was founded by Colonel David ⦠This audacity by the NVA extended into the night, as we started to receive mortar fire from Hill 937, and artillery fire from somewhere in Laos. Within 15 minutes, a small patrol of six NVA appeared on the trail. (Photo provided by Hank Ortega: John Gertsch.). North Vietnam began its own campaign -- the Tet Offensive -- attacking 100 villages and cities in the south. Pops 3rd from the left in the second row. ” When there was any kind of fighting going on, you could find John diving into it doing what had to be done to get his fellow paratroopers out of danger with no thought for his own safety.John Gertsch was raised in Pittsburgh in the late fifties and sixties. Gerald Bruner This former Tiger Force member and native of Colon, Michigan recorded a tape about his recollections of Vietnam in 1988. But based on The Bladeâs interviews with former soldiers and Vietnamese civilians, the platoon is believed to have killed hundreds of unarmed villagers in the Central Highlands between May and November of 1967. â¦â ), 327th Inf. The operation was named Nevada Eagle, which consisted of hiking up and down every jungle covered mountain between the South China Sea and the Laotian border; all the while looking for an enemy who was as familiar with this landscape as I was with my backyard at home. But that policy did not permit firing on unarmed civilians, military experts say. By the end of the Vietnam War, Tiger Force had seen more combat than any other unit in the Brigade and become one of the highest decorated units of ⦠(Photo by Stan Parker: Phil Blevins, John Toberman, Dave Fields and TJ McGinley.). American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have carried out war crimes, too, including the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. Gerald Bruner recalling an incident in an attack on a village. “I ask myself why my uncle had to die.”, Mr. Hawkins, 76, who retired from the military in 1978 as a major, could not be reached. They hurled grenades into bunkers where women and children were hiding, shot prisoners and then cut off their ears and scalps for souvenirs, murdered villagers for no reason and left many of them behind in mass graves. Under the command of Lt. Fred Raymond, John Gertsch, Dave Fields, and others, Tiger Force worked with a smoothness and efficiency that even surprised the enemy. Mr. Dao’s niece, Tam Hau, told The Blade that she and another villager pulled her uncle’s body from the grass the next morning. (Photo by Jeff Paige: The A-Shau Valley 1968.). But in the end, no one was prosecuted, and the case was concealed in the military archives for the next three decades. Welcome to Tiger Force. The Army began investigating Tiger Force after a soldier from another unit told officials that a member of the force had beheaded an infant. 06/20/18 Comments: My name is Marvin Albertson, I was in Tiger Force from 12/65 to 06/66, I came to Vietnam fresh from the little skirmish we had in the Dominican Republic, I was in the 82nd ABN at that time, proud to have served in both Airborne units. ". Act well your part. The Vietcong dubbed Petersen's force 'tiger Men'. It was hateful work, and a dozen Tiger Force veterans told The Blade that it led them to become more brutal and begin taking out their aggression on the people they were supposed to protect. For the first time in months, large groups of men were totally exposed – no canopy, no jungle, no place to hide in this enemy stronghold. While the wounded officer was being moved to safety, John was mortally wounded.In all, John was awarded one CIB, one Air Medal, four Army Commendation Medals, three Bronze Stars, two Silver Stars, three Purple Hearts, and for his gallantry on July 19th John was awarded the nation’s highest honor, The Congressional Medal of Honor.That November evening in 1968, sitting in the dark jungle with Gertsch, Campos and Zeke, I didn’t know what the future would bring for any of us. He then assumed command of the heavily engaged platoon and led his men in a fierce counterattack that forced the enemy to withdraw. In the ensuing weeks, Tiger Force would leave the Central Highlands. Gertsch stopped and put his left fist up, which meant that everyone should stop and be perfectly quiet. Central Highlands, West of Hue Realizing that both men were in imminent danger of being killed, John rushed forward and positioned himself between them and the enemy. Together, they won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for their Tiger Force stories. In response to recent questions about Tiger Force, the Army said in a statement it has implemented training and special programs to change the culture of the military and rectify the breakdowns that took place in Vietnam. Tiger Forceâs violence reached a peak when the soldiers faced fierce fighting with North Vietnamese soldiers in a neighboring province in September. I didn’t know I was serving with a true American hero like John Gertsch. They came out of the jungle like the name implied, silent, intelligent, cautious, deadly--Tiger Force. Our history is one of honor and bravery. Tiger Force Platoon Sgt Harold G Trout deceased 2n from left in the second row. Firefights raged all over the valley that night as encamped Americans were being probed by NVA.Because we were on the move, the enemy didn’t quite know how to deal with us and we were left relatively alone except for the artillery fire that chased us. He died in 1997. Little did I know that walking through some of the most difficult and remote terrain in South Vietnam would be what I did for the next fourteen months. Sallah is currently the investigations editor for the Miami Herald. The sound of gunfire filled the air. Tiger Force Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), a joint covert Vietnam War-era task force composed of 2,000 American soldiers and over 8,000 indigenous mercenaries Project GAMMA/Project SIGMA MACV-SOG recon units that operated in ⦠A typical day involved breaking camp, packing our gear, descending the mountain, humping up the next mountain, checking for signs of enemy, and setting up night perimeter. It was in this elite group that I first met men who could “out-Indian” the Indians. The First Cavalry Division was making a helicopter assault into the valley. They knew where we were and had the firepower to reach us. The African American Black Panthers of the 761st Tank Battalion completed their distinguished combat record by breaching Germany's Siegfried Line and crossing the Rhine in 1945. The NVA used this valley as a major supply route to funnel weapons and supplies, such as we found in the Ruong-Ruong Valley. Most of us were sent on patrol during this time so that the lifers wouldn’t have to be disturbed by the appearance of soldiers not looking ready for a parade down “Main Street” U.S.A. , as we looked more like General Longstreet’s Confederate soldiers in 1862. John was ending his third consecutive tour in Vietnam when he was chosen to represent the 101st Airborne Division at an annual reunion in Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.John knew Tiger Force was headed back into the notorious A Shau Valley and his experience was needed for this dangerous mission. We did. Gertsch and I checked the trail for traps and other signs. Includes bibliographical references and index The true story of the seven-month rampage of an elite army unit in Vietnam, an experiment gone terribly wrong, is told from the viewpoints of the soldiers who tried to resist the descent into hell, and those who did not, and includes accounts from Vietnamese who witnessed the Tiger Force's rampages. In the morning, I discovered that Tiger Force had vanished silently into the jungle while we slept.After another month or so of endless humping through the jungle, we arrived at our objective, the northern face of a mountain overlooking the A Shau Valley. They would be given a long leash, allowed to operate in the field with less supervision. Over 33 days, he said, Tiger Force rampaged across the province. But in May 1967, as American commanders grew frustrated by a war in which their foes could blend into the civilian populace, Tiger Force was sent to Quang Ngai province to move civilians into relocation centers so the farmers couldn’t grow rice, depriving the enemy of a crucial food supply. I still had a lot to learn about point, so I started walking slack for John. The object was to find out if there was enemy activity up there, not to take the hill. Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss were co-authors of the Toledo Blade's remarkable series on the Tiger Force massacre. Besides, I felt if I went to Vietnam the chances of my brothers going too would be slim. Revealing a 40-year-old horror The Pulitzer-winning reporters who exposed the U.S. Tiger Force's atrocities in Vietnam discuss why the case was whitewashed -- and its scary parallels to Iraq. Bruner died of cancer six years ago. One of the unwritten rules of this particular conflict was, “if you’re not a target, you don’t get shot at. It was a great privilege and honor to have served with John. (Photo by Bill Lang, KIA 10-08-68: 2 Squad, 2 Platoon, C Co. 1/327/101 1968.). The enemy used this time and weather to their advantage.
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