Tiger Force
Page 33
For the section on the Central Highlands campaign and the Vietnam War in June 1967, we relied on historical records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. We also drew on information from newspaper articles, books, and memos from the MACV.
Our account of General William Westmoreland’s visit to the battalion’s base camp was based, in part, on interviews with Tiger Force soldiers.
Army Records
A unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry in Quang Ngai. It described the dangers facing soldiers after the battalion arrived in Quang Ngai province in May 1967. It contained the following:
The area around Duc Pho had been an old Marine stronghold, but very little had been done to conduct operations in the area. The terrain consisted of gentle rolling beaches with prominent hill masses overlooking partially destroyed hamlets. Trails and villages were well fortified with spider holes and prepared positions. Mines and booby traps were frequently encountered, especially along trails, at village entrances, and in hedgerows. The enemy sniper was effectively employed and could disappear quickly without leaving a trace.
The Marines had practically no pacification program, leaving the civilian populace at the mercy of the VC in the area. The few inhabitants that were in the area were VC dominated and lived in constant fear of both VC and friendly units. The area had long been a known enemy infiltration route for supplies and equipment.
The sworn witness statement of battalion surgeon Captain Bradford Mutchler on January 21, 1975. The document was Exhibit 323 of the Coy Allegation. It included the following:
QUESTION: Was the Tiger Force a volunteer force?
MUTCHLER: Yes, for the most part, unless they were hit unusually hard and needed replacements badly. They were also all seasoned combat veterans, both enlisted and officer personnel. The Tiger Force was considered an elite unit within the elite and as such wore a special uniform. They wore soft hats and camouflaged jungle fatigues. There was a great deal of pride within the unit and when an outsider wore their uniform he was told to change it by a member of the Tiger Force.
QUESTION: What was the mission of the TF in comparison with the other line companies in the battalion?
MUTCHLER: They were mainly a recon platoon with search-and-destroy missions. They were given greater leeway while they were on their missions, which was different from the other line companies.
Books
Bilton, Michael, and Kevin Sim. Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
Fall, Bernard. Street Without Joy. Rev. ed. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole, 1994.
Herring, George. America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam. New York: Knopf, 1996.
Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
Langguth, A. J. Our Vietnam: The War 1954-1975. New York: Touchstone, 2000.
The Pentagon Papers. New York: Bantam Books, 1971.
Schell, Jonathan. The Military Half. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Westmoreland, William C. A Soldier Reports. New York: Doubleday, 1976.
CHAPTER 3
Main Sources
We interviewed numerous Tiger Force soldiers, including William Carpenter, William Doyle, Joseph Evans, Ken Kerney, and Barry Bowman. We talked at length to Sam Ybarra’s mother, Therlene Ramos. We also interviewed friends and family members of Donald Wood, including his wife, Joyce, and brother, Jim. In addition, we talked to Lu Thuan and dozens of Vietnamese villagers who lived in the Song Ve Valley in the summer of 1967.
For information about Tiger Force’s first two months in Quang Ngai province, we drew on numerous interviews with platoon soldiers. We also drew on sworn statements that the soldiers gave to CID agents during the Coy Allegation. In addition, we examined the duty officer log and unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry.
For biographical information about Donald Wood, we drew on information from his friends and family. Our account of Tiger Force members killing a mother and child during a firefight was based, in part, on interviews with Carpenter, who was on Wood’s team.
For the section about the Struggle Movement and the South Vietnamese pacification programs, we relied on books, newspaper articles, and interviews with historians.
Our account of the evacuation of the Song Ve Valley was based on interviews with soldiers and Vietnamese civilians. In addition, we drew on Army documents from the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, and the unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry.
Army Records
“The Nine Rules of War,” a card handed to U.S. soldiers on the importance of treating civilians with respect.
U.S. military instruction cards on how to properly handle prisoners of war and civilian detainees.
Directives from the U.S. military defining eighteen war crimes mirroring the prohibitions of the Geneva conventions. All soldiers were required to immediately report war crimes to a commander.
Books
Bilton, Michael, and Kevin Sim. Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
Fall, Bernard. Street Without Joy. Rev. ed. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole, 1994.
Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
Schell, Jonathan. The Military Half. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Topmiller, Robert J. The Lotus Unleashed: The Buddhist Peace Movement in South Vietnam 1964-1966. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002.
CHAPTER 4
Main Sources
We interviewed numerous Tiger Force members, including William Carpenter. We also talked to the friends and family members of Donald Wood, including his wife, Joyce, and brother, Jim. In addition, we talked at length with Lu Thuan and numerous Vietnamese villagers.
For information about relocation camps, particularly Nghia Hanh, we drew on extensive interviews with villagers who lived in Quang Ngai province in the 1960s. These included interviews with villagers forced to move to Nghia Hanh.
Our account about the Army moving civilians from the Song Ve Valley to Nghia Hanh was based on interviews with Tiger Force soldiers and historians, books, newspaper articles, and military records, including the unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry.
For the section about Lieutenant Colonel Harold Austin’s relationship with Tiger Force, we drew on interviews with platoon members, Austin, and documents related to the CID’s investigation of the platoon.
Army Records
A June 1967 news release from the 101st Airborne about the cattle drive.
The unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry, which included the following:
At 1150H, 21 June, the battalion entered into Operation Rawhide. The Cobra Cowboys received 2 herds (BS612559), one from the 2nd Battalion (Airborne)/ 502nd Infantry and one from the 2nd Battalion (Airborne)/ 327th Infantry. The herds totaled 846 cattle and 125 water buffalo. The Cobra Cowboys drove the herd northeast toward a point where it would be picked up by the Nghia Hanh District Chief the following morning. Everything went smoothly and all precautions were taken to protect the herd from VC rustlers.
Books
Bilton, Michael, and Kevin Sim. Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
The Pentagon Papers. New York: Bantam Books, 1971.
Schell, Jonathan. The Military Half. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Topmiller, Robert J. The Lotus Unleashed: The Buddhist Peace Movement in South Vietnam 1964-1966. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002.
CHAPTER 5
Main Sources
We interviewed numerous Tiger Force soldiers, including William Carpenter, Ken Kerney, and Barry Bowman. In addition, we talked to family members of Manuel Sanchez Jr. and James Barnett. We also talked to dozens of Vietnamese who lived in the Song Ve Valley in 1967.
Our account of Ybarra killing the teenager and severing his ears was based on interviews with Carpenter as well as CID records related to the Tiger Force inves
tigation. Many platoon members said Tiger Force wasn’t the only fighting unit in Vietnam severing ears from dead enemy soldiers. But former medic Barry Bowman said, “Cutting off ears was a rite of passage in Tiger Force. When I was a cherry medic, they actually took little plastic bags out and showed me the ears. Those were like notches cut on your six-gun in the era of the Old Wild West. Cutting off ears was a way of showing you belonged in the unit.” As Tiger Force medic Larry Cottingham told CID investigators in 1973, “There was a period when just about everyone had a necklace of ears.”
We based the section about Barnett’s altercation with Sanchez on interviews with soldiers and CID records.
Army Records
The sworn witness statement of Sergeant Benjamin Edge on January 18, 1974. The document was Exhibit 69 of the Coy Allegation. It included the following information about Ybarra killing the teenager:
QUESTION: Was the man shot by Ybarra armed with any type of weapon?
EDGE: After making a check of the immediate area around where he had run from and where he laid, we could not find a weapon.
The duty officer log and unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry.
The sworn witness statement of William Carpenter on January 18, 1973. The document was Exhibit 23 of the Coy Allegation. It included the following information:
CARPENTER: We were nearing a hillside in the Song Ve Valley while walking on a foot trail when Ybarra fired his M16 twice. As soon as we heard the shots we took defensive positions, then Sgt. Edge and I went over to Ybarra, who was kneeling over a Vietnamese boy. The body had blood all over its head and a large portion of the head was missing as a result of being shot twice by Ybarra. As I got to Ybarra, he was holding a hunting knife in one hand and a human ear in his other hand. While I was watching, I saw Ybarra cut the remaining ear from the dead body. Ybarra put both of these ears into a ration bag that he had taken from his jacket pocket. While he opened his ration bag, I could see that there were several human ears in it also. Ybarra replaced the bag of ears into his pocket just as calmly as he removed it.
QUESTION: Why was Ybarra permitted to cut this boy’s ears off?
CARPENTER: Cutting the ears off of the dead was an accepted practice within the Tiger Force. By accepted practice, I mean it was accepted by the men in the field that were actually doing the fighting.
Books
Bilton, Michael, and Kevin Sim. Four Hours in My Lai. New York: Penguin Books, 1992.
Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
Langguth, A. J. Our Vietnam: The War 1954-1975. New York: Touchstone, 2000.
The Pentagon Papers. New York: Bantam Books, 1971.
Schell, Jonathan. The Military Half. New York: Knopf, 1968.
The Winter Soldier Investigation: An Inquiry into American War Crimes. Boston: Beacon Press, 1972.
CHAPTER 6
Main Sources
We interviewed Dennis Stout—a military journalist who witnessed atrocities committed by Tiger Force soldiers—and other troops from the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry. We also talked at length with numerous Tiger Force soldiers, including those who served in Quang Ngai province in May and June 1967. In addition, we interviewed friends and family members of Donald Wood, Sam Ybarra, Kenneth Green, and James Barnett.
For information about Quang Ngai province and conditions at relocation camps, we drew on military records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. We also drew on numerous interviews with villagers who lived in the province in the 1960s, including Nyugen Dam, Lu Thuan, Tam Hau, and Vo Thanh Tien. It’s interesting to note that when Vo Thanh Tien escaped from Nghia Hanh in 1971, he joined the Vietcong: “The mistreatment of civilians—the lack of food, poor conditions, and beatings from soldiers forced many people to flee. We were treated so poorly we had no choice but to join the other side.”
For the section on the history of Tiger Force, we drew on historical and military documents and interviews, including interviews with soldiers and officers who served in the unit in 1965 and 1966.
For the section about Ybarra and Green killing the NVA solider, we drew on interviews with soldiers. Some Tiger Force members told us that they saw the scalp braided on the end of Ybarra’s M16. They also said they heard Ybarra and Green brag about the killing.
Army Records
Duty officer log of November 23, 1965. It contained the first reference of Tiger Force’s whereabouts in the field: “Tiger Force (relay): 300 meters north of the objective recon area by sight. Neg contact.”
The unit history of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry in 1965. It included one of the first references of Tiger Force in combat. The following appeared on page 28:
Phase I commenced at 121155H December 1965. TF 1/ 327 conducted a helimobile assault on LZ Sierra. The assault consisted of two lifts of 40 UH-1D helicopters and Companies A and B (1st lift) securing of the LZ at 121217H meeting no resistance. The second lift consisting of Company C and Tiger Force (a composite unit made up of elements of the Recon, AT, and Mortar Platoons of HHC) touched down at 1215H and received small arms fire from the wooded western portion of the LZ.
The sworn witness statement of William Carpenter on January 18, 1973. The document was Exhibit 23 of the Coy Allegation. It included the following:
CARPENTER: This LTC came to the field in his chopper. I know his call sign was Night Rider. He called us a bunch of barbarians and just chewed us out for stealing money from the Vietnamese. To my knowledge this LTC didn’t know anything about the mutilations going on in the Tiger Force. The day he came down he had the Vietnamese woman with him and she pointed out the man that took her money and the LTC made him return it to her. I’m almost sure it was Barnett who took the money.
CARPENTER: The next morning my team left the village for a patrol mission, for some reason Ybarra did not accompany the team on that particular patrol. When we returned to the village, I found a dead North Vietnamese soldier in my position in the village. This North Vietnamese had its throat cut from ear to ear. Ybarra and SP4 Kenneth Green were standing near me at the time and were laughing. Ybarra explained to me that he and Green had found this North Vietnamese hiding after my patrol left. Ybarra said he and Green brought the North Vietnamese into the village and killed him by cutting his throat. Ybarra specifically said, “I cut his throat.”
CARPENTER: There was another incident involving a very large prisoner, he was about six feet tall, a Chinese, I think. This was in May 1967, around the time when Hatten was killed (6 May 67). We had taken the guy prisoner and he had some explosives with him, either tied to his body or in a bag that he was carrying. The guys took the explosives and were going to blow the guy up, but someone said we’d get into trouble if the guy was mutilated, the guys there then started beating the prisoner and told him to Didi, when the guy ran away, he hollered something that the interpreter said was “Long Live Ho Chi Minh” and the guys shot him. I saw the dead body just after that, also, I had seen the man alive too.
Books
Fall, Bernard. Street Without Joy. Rev. ed. Mechanicsburg: Stackpole, 1994.
Hackworth, David. About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior. New York: Touchstone, 1990.
Herring, George. America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam. New York: Knopf, 1996.
Just, Ward. To What End. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
Karnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. New York: Viking Press, 1983.
Langguth, A. J. Our Vietnam: The War 1954-1975. New York: Touchstone, 2000.
The Pentagon Papers. New York: Bantam Books, 1971.
Schell, Jonathan. The Military Half. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Topmiller, Robert J. The Lotus Unleashed: The Buddhist Peace Movement in South Vietnam 1964-1966. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2002.
Periodicals
Several editions of Stars and Stripes and Diplomat & Warrior published in 1967
CHAPTER 7
Main Sources
We interviewed Dennis Stout, a military journalist who watched Tiger Force soldiers kill unarmed civilians in the Song Ve Valley. We talked at length with numerous Tiger Force members who served with the fighting unit in 1967. In addition, we interviewed dozens of Vietnamese villagers who lived in Quang Ngai province and the Song Ve Valley in the summer of 1967.
For information about civilians fleeing to the foothills encircling the Song Ve Valley, we drew on dozens of interviews with Vietnamese villagers, including Lu Thuan. They provided us with extensive details about how they survived. They talked about how they moved along the rough terrain—mountains, ridges, and jungles—without being detected by U.S. troops, Vietcong, or North Vietnamese Army regulars.
For the section about U.S. policy in Vietnam, and the Central Highlands in particular, we relied on numerous historical and Army records from the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.
Our account of the execution of two men holding the Chieu Hoi leaflets was based, in part, on interviews with Dennis Stout, who accompanied Tiger Force soldiers on several missions in June and July 1967.
For the section on free-fire zones, we drew on Army documents. In addition, we interviewed numerous military experts and historians about free-fire zones.
Army Records
Documents from an investigation known as the Stout Allegation. It contained the following information: “Stout alleged witnessing and being informed of numerous atrocities perpetrated by members of his unit in RVN,” including “rape, mutilation, and torture of the enemy, murder, and other indiscriminate acts.”
Maps of Tiger Force’s operational movements in Quang Ngai province in late June 1967. They included Exhibit 447 of the Coy Allegation.
Radio logs with grid coordinates showing Tiger Force’s daily combat activities in the province. The documents included Exhibit 438 of the Coy Allegation.
Books