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After his tour of duty was over, he applied for Special Forces training. In September of 1966, Rep. Donald J. Irwin of Connecticut got in touch with the U.S. Army Surgeon General, who recommended a waiver for Flahertys height. Photo credit: USMC Archives. In 1966, the Army issued six tunnel-exploration tester kits. One soldier would crawl about five meters behind the other to minimize the chance of death or injury if their leader activated a trap or a mine. Use the 'Report' link on Yuzuk learns that this unassuming 69-year-old man was a decorated military veteran. franklin roosevelt. He was expected to only grow to the height of 4 7 but Richard proved them wrong as he grew to 4 9.. Archives held in Texas revealed this happened to one unfortunate soldier. 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. March 28, 2022 Local Vietnam veterans showcase . Generally, while underground tunnel rat soldiers employed a shoot first, ask questions later method. What we do know comes to us from a Hallandale police officer, David Yuzuk. As a 2nd Lieutenant and a platoon leader, he proved to be a fierce defender of his men. To even attempt Special Forces training, Flaherty had to gain six pounds and get another height waiver. According to an article in the Stamford Advocate, Flahertys body was found by two joggers. ~15 years. 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. [3], He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division during his first tour to Vietnam in 1968 during the Vietnam War. He met Flaherty as a homeless man in 2000. Lance Corporal Robert A. Bishop explores a Viet Cong tunnel complex found by Leathernecks of the 2d Battalion, 26th Marines. 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. He took to eating six meals a day and was able to bulk up to the 100 lb. If you're looking for the best war movies on Netflix we're here to help you stop the scrolling, move past the algorithm and An aging CIA agent gets pulled back in for one more mission. This attempt enjoyed more success than Crimp but was short-lived as the tunnels were in working order again within weeks. He would also earn two Bronze Stars, a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and five Purple Hearts during his two tours in the Nam. Richard Flaherty is laid to rest in an unmarked grave in Milton near Lisa Anness, a woman he described as the love of his life. It turned out to be a lot. This offensive is commonly seen by historians as a turning point for American involvement in the Vietnam war. If the army located an entrance and needed it explored, the team lowered a tunnel rat into the area to scout out the surroundings. Former police officer David Yuzuk has written a superb book on Flaherty and his amazing life. Richard James Flaherty (November 28, 1945 May 9, 2015) was a captain in the United States Army who served in the Vietnam War.Due to his small stature (he was just 4 feet 9 inches (1.45 m) tall), he was known as "The Giant Killer". A young man emerging from his journey in a Viet Cong tunnel. In fact, volunteers boasted of their ability to change flashlights in pitch black without realizing the damaging consequences of this. They harnessed their newfound abilities to help them with survival because unlike their enemies, they lacked experience in these small dark tunnels. We'd love to hear eyewitness We just didnt know. Start Reading. 66F. Remote-controlled explosive charges and small smoke grenades kits were primarily to signal exit locations to fellow comrades. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. He is believed to have worked as a military contractor throughout Africa and most notably in Rhodesia and Angola. Larry Burrows / Getty Images. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. A large proportion of the U.S. troops consisted of African American men from the inner cities, the sons of immigrants . We owe them the dignity that they deserve. In 1970, Flaherty was reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, where he commanded another ODA and then an Operational Detachment Bravo (ODB), a headquarters element. Hed traveled a lot, read a lot and was interesting to talk with.. There is, in fact, a waiver for everything. After graduating from the Special Forces Qualification Course, Flaherty was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) as a detachment commander and sent to southeast Asia with the 46th Special Forces Company. Postal Service. One of his men got stung and came out screaming, refusing to ever go into a tunnel again. The average Liberian is 159.66cm (5 feet 2.85 inches) tall. According to federal law, the United States' military involvement in the Vietnam War began in February 1961 and lasted until May 1975. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. Send the smallest soldier to clear the VC ratholes. Vietnam), evaded for two weeks with a banged up leg and his right arm broken in three places. He was often mistaken as a freshman when he was a senior. Answer (1 of 17): I didn't serve in Vietnam. He stood three inches below the height cutoff for enlistment and was barely 100 pounds. A colleague dragged him out before he grabbed a frag and threw it into the hole too. Most likely a member of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" which sustained 43% casualties during the Normandy campaign. Most useful for tunnel rats, however, was the experience gained in the dreaded gas chambers. Photo credit: Funker530. Here, leaders forced soldiers into specific chambers and made to recite their name, rank, and service number. During the Second World War, the Vietnamese first constructed underground tunnels to fight Japanese invasion. He was working on finding a way to join. One of the prerequisites for and provisions of the accords was the return of all U.S. prisoners of war (POWs). Operation Crimp hoped to target a key Viet Cong headquarter location believed to be unground. He returned to the US at the end of his tour and attended Special Forces Officer Course at Fort Bragg. Thank you! Create a password that only you will remember. The 'Hanoi Hilton' Is No Trump Hotel. Again, tripwires would trigger the release of snakes hidden somehow inside bamboo sticks, known to soldiers as bamboo vipers. Once in, he was able to qualify both for Special Forces training and for Officer Candidate School (OCS). too light. Friendships sometimes happen casually, the former policeman said. He showed his fearsome warrior spirit during the Vietnam War, and later entered the roster of the Army's elite task . Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. During this deployment, he would be promoted to captain, earn two Bronze Stars and would be wounded in combat two times, receiving a Purple Heart for each time. Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. You can check it out here. He did time in prison for drugs but was that a cover or a real conviction? 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. His investigation raised more questions than it answered. During the course of two tours in Vietnam, because of his size, Flaherty often did tunnel rat searches. Flaherty was on his way. Tweets from https://twitter.com/heralddispatch/lists/hd-news-4. It was only after a determined effort, which included the involvement of his local Congressman, that he managed to acquire a waiver. At 4-foot-nine-inches tall and 97-pounds he was the. everyone would watch to see which way the wind would take him. However, only about 20 percent of those served in generally recognized 'combat' roles. In one interview, tunnel rat soldier CW Bowman recalled how his fellow colleagues bet money on the fact he would not live through his whole tour as the job was so dangerous. The two began meeting more frequently, and Yuzuk became so fascinated with Flahertys story that he asked permission to tell it in the form of a documentary. These guerrillas were fighting the colonial power of France. Flaherty began to open up and talk to Yuzuk about his life only a few weeks before his tragic and lonely death as a hit-and-run victim last May. His height was no object, however, and he put . And, is this general or do several different troop branches have different requirements? Flaherty was born to a mother who, unknown to her, had a blood type that made her second-born son vulnerable to oxygen deprivation in his infancy, which stunted his growth. Marines who score 250 or higher on BOTH the PFT and CFT are given an additional 1 percent body fat. What are we doing that causes the disease of homelessness? The NVA troops hit the soldiers with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The Vietnam War was the longest military battle in the history of the United States. The Viet Cong also made use of explosive booby traps and pressure detonated mines. Captured U.S. pilot major Dewey Waddell is guarded by a militiawoman with a gun and a bayonet on a rice field. This page is to honor the memory of Green Beret Captain Vietnam veteran Richard Flaherty. Awarded Medal of Honor for escape and resistance as a POW. Here are 10 of the most dangerous: 1. 1968 the A Shau Valley of South Vietnam. His friend, David Yuzuk, used his own money and launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce a documentary about his friends life. I have been stewing over it for several months now. Flaherty returned to the U.S. later that year, and graduated from the Armys Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, becoming a member of the elite Green Berets. Mai Chi Tho, brother of Le Duc Tho (a prominent Hanoi Politburo member) highlights how they used the tunnels to infiltrate Saigon. They have given so much and suffered so much. 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. As a Green Beret, he served from 1969-71, before being honorably discharged. U.S. involvement in the Southeast Asian country had more than doubled from 1965. 58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations. In fact, on one occasion he was able to save several of his men who had been trapped by heavy enemy fire. He fought and distinquished himself in Vietnam. 22 Feb 2018. Equally, these countries failed to understand how difficult it would be to detect and neutralize such networks. God only knows what that experience and so many other combat experiences did to Flahertys mind. TIMES STAFF WRITER. Be Nice. The documentary is supposed to come out sometime this year and I have included a trailer for it here. After completing basic training, he qualified for Officer Candidate School, from which he graduated as a second lieutenant, before receiving orders sending him to Vietnam. This required him to put on even more weight and get another waiver signed to excuse him from the height requirements. [8], https://blog.theveteranssite.greatergood.com/smallest-beret-vet/, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, https://www.facebook.com/TheGiantKIllerDocumentary/, Special Forces Operations Detachment A (SFODA) Commander, "Giant Killer: Richard James Flaherty's life", "Height-waiver Green Beret: Captain James Flaherty was a Special Forces legend", "Vietnam Vet Richard Flaherty Was 'The Giant Killer', "Decorated Vietnam War veteran killed by hit-and-run driver", "Police Identify Aventura Hit-and-Run Victim as Decorated War Veteran", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_J._Flaherty&oldid=1142406371, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 05:58. Richard James Flaherty was born on November 28, 1945. If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. When Flaherty was born, hed been deprived of oxygen, due to a rare blood condition his mother had, which stunted his growth. As a man, he stands tall in my book. Due to the blood type, his growth was stunted which resulted in him being diagnosed with dwarfism.[2]. Many American men were trying to avoid serving the U.S. military in the 1960s and 1970s. 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. It is here that his story begins to take many twists and turns. He came home from Vietnam after his second tour and moved to Hallandale, Florida, where he worked for a time with the U.S. The action took place on April 20, 1968, when Flahertys platoon was ambushed and came under withering enemy fire. By 1990, the US Army veterans was homeless and living in Aventura, Florida. Special Forces Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) exfiltrate a Counter Improvised Explosive Device lane in a via MRZR off-road utility vehicle at Panzer Local . Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. A lot of the time it really depended on the size of the soldiers in the infantry division. Related: See what its like to jump out of a C-17 with the Armys 82nd Airborne. The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. An Army Infantryman (MOS 11B) currently has the shortest amount of time in AIT at four weeks. Richard J. Flaherty may never be known. 22. One Viet Cong technique was to slit a mans throat or garrotte him as he came up through a connecting trap door; this often did not phase the men. Flaherty was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant after attending Infantry Officer Candidate School on 31 August 1967. This kit included a S&W .38-calibre special model 10 revolver with both a silencer and aiming light. During that 13-month tour to Vietnam, Flaherty received the Silver Star and two Bronze Stars for valor, respectively, the third and second-highest award for bravery under fire, and was wounded three times. Two inches thick, each plank . Richard Flaherty had to get a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War. person will not be tolerated. Some even fled to Canada to escape conscription. The US Army Special Forces, commonly referred to as the Green Berets, are one of the countrys most elite fighting forces. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group and assigned to the 46th Special Forces Company in Thailand. * Born and raised in Brooklyn N.Y., David Yuzuk attended the University of Stony Brook on a football scholarship. As a Vietnam veteran he is my brother. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) represents Texas' 3rd congressional . Capt. Flaherty was unfazed by the criticism he continued to receive throughout his life. Flaherty then called for a 90 millimeter recoilless rifle a shoulder-mounted explosive projectile launcher initially designed to destroy tanks to be brought to his position, and from there, led its two-man crew on an assault of the North Vietnamese bunker. After Vietnam, he did contract work for the CIA all over the world. Team Mighty. One tunnel rat claimed that the booby traps and Viet Cong did not frighten them as much as encountering the local ants. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Press J to jump to the feed. Reads: 47 Comments: 1. . There is a story about Flaherty being involved in a federal investigation that ended in the arrest of two Green Berets in the 1980s. His mother didnt know at the time of his birth that her blood type was Rh-negative which may lead to serious health problemsand deathin a second-born fetus. He stood at just 49 tall. Low near 45F. Despite his size Richard Flaherty had all the heart in the world and it showed when he was platoon leader in Vietnam. Four-foot, nine-inch tall veteran Richard J. Flaherty claimed to be the shortest man ever to serve in the United States military. Snakes were also commonly used traps inside these tunnels. A young German soldier, 1944. He graduated the year before me from Stamford Catholic High School, now known as Trinity Catholic High school. Flaherty had an admiration for the Army Special Forces known as the Green Berets. You were a mighty man. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. The tunnels also hosted armament workshops, training depots, headquarters, and a variety of other facilities, Though Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders claim to know these hideouts existed, they overlooked their size and importance, , these countries failed to understand how difficult it would be to detect and neutralize such networks, Read on to learn about the crazy booby traps soldiers faced, the creepy crawlies they encountered, and the damaging psychological consequences of such close combat, You can also learn about how these soldiers came about, who opted to become one, how they trained, and what equipment they used, If you are squeamish or hate thinking about claustrophobic conditions, take this as a warning: gruesome facts lie ahead, During the Second World War, the Vietnamese first constructed underground tunnels to fight Japanese invasion, In the 1940s and 1950s, the Vietnamese expanded these tunnels to hide nationalist guerrillas known as, Major Nguyen Quot, an officer that spent ten years in these tunnels, notes that by 1948 they already dug a tunnel system: each family, each hamlet, had a tunnel communicating it with others, In a more direct attempt to seek out the enemy, US soldiers used portable turbines to blow CS gas into tunnel shafts they located, Using this tactic, they added yellow dye to the water to enable aerial observers to spot any entrances that ground troops had missed, What they failed to realize is that many of the tunnels had several layers and doors built into them to help prevent such fatalities, The Viet Cong built drain pipe ventilation shafts every 20 to 30 meters at an oblique angle to prevent flooding, Tunnels were also built in zig-zags to prevent the enemy from pouring in chemicals or shooting bullets over a long distance, As a result, sending a soldier underground, known as a tunnel rat, was often a final measure if all other methods had failed, BCT included lessons on hand-to-hand combat, chemical-warfare defense, map reading, first aid, bayonet fighting, guard duty, and the use of hand grenades, , was the experience gained in the dreaded gas chambers, Here, leaders forced soldiers into specific chambers and made to recite their name, rank, and service number, It helped give them the experience and confidence to cope with gas, should they encounter it in combat, Infantry Advanced Individual Training also helped them to deal more in-depth with other issues, Over eight weeks, soldiers learned about tactical skills, squad and platoon offensive and defensive tactics, and how to use certain weapons, , was the brief amount of training time spent detecting, removing, and laying booby traps, Though this article will explore specific examples later, these traps were particularly brutal in the tunnels, probe the sides, roof, and floor of the tunnels, listening and trying to smell the enemy or look for trap doors, Some tunnel rats were also fortunate enough to take part in Combat Engineer Advanced Individual Training, used explosives to collapse tunnel entrances and destroy what they found inside, combat training was particularly valuable, While it covered a lot of the same things as, The center offered classes designed to show the best techniques of searching, detecting, and destroying hiding places, , other than being underground, they were actually very different from the real Viet Cong tunnels, , they were not popular among tunnel rats as the light was unnecessary, and the silencers were too long and did not function well, 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, A heavier tunnel-exploration kit may also include nylon rope, body-armor vests, grappling hooks, work gloves, kneepads, and earplugs, Remote-controlled explosive charges and small smoke grenades kits were, to signal exit locations to fellow comrades, Clothing-wise, it was a good idea to wear tight waterproof items to stop clothing from snagging on obstructions, leather gloves, and, if possible as mentioned knee pads to assist with crawling around, When it comes to headgear, some soldiers wore a helmet or a visored cap along with a microphone and/ or transistor radio attached, One of the other problems soldiers faced is the deafening sound of gunshots echoing through the tunnels, 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, Stories reveal that one American soldier raised his head through a tunnel entrance only to have a piece of metal, When triggering a tripwire, a plank weighted with barbed metal spikes and bricks would fall, from the earth squashing the soldier below, Communist soldiers would attach one side of the string to a stake in the floor, and the other to the safety pin in the grenade, When an American soldier tripped the wire, the grenade would detonate inside the tunnel, 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, Already well-adapted to subterranean life, many insects and animals of the Vietnamese jungle found the underground tunnels to be a worthy living environment, Huge bees, gigantic rats, centipedes, spiders, snakes, bats, and fire ants (to name a few) plagued these tunnels, One tunnel rat claimed that the booby traps and Viet Cong did not frighten them as much as encountering the local ants, Talking of booby traps, Lt. Jack Flowers recalls how the Viet Cong used tripwires to release boxes of scorpions into the tiny confines of the tunnels, , one soldier recalls how an encounter with the biggest rat he had ever seen led him to, American soldiers were often prepared for traps that may be on the ground, but they had not prepared for those coming from above, Again, tripwires would trigger the release of snakes hidden somehow inside bamboo sticks, known to soldiers as bamboo vipers, Sometimes these snakes were even poisonous and so became known as three-step snakes because a soldier was only granted three more steps before the venom killed him, Imagine being stuck in a tiny space, panicking, screaming, and trying to escape as a snake, 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, A colleague he worked with recovered his body by, American morale as it was difficult to comprehend that the enemy could be hiding, feet away yet were undetectable and unreachable, Frank Gutierrez, for example, served with the US Army in Vietnam from 1967 to 1970 as a rifleman, field wireman, and an ordinance specialist at Chu Chi and Long Binh, 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, Nobody ever knew where these guys were coming from they pointed out in jungle school that there was a tunnel system we had, tunnel rats, but we never knew exactly where or how extensive or where the entrance was, 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, The Viet Cong, with their lack of funding, was more skilled in this area given the necessity of their style of warfare, One Viet Cong technique was to slit a mans throat or garrotte him as he came up through a connecting trap door; this often did not phase the men, , some found it difficult to kill when they were face-to-face with the enemy in such tight confines, On occasion, they ended up having severe nervous breakdowns and their colleagues dragged them out of tunnels crying and screaming, Sergeant Arnold Gutierrez of the 25th Division stated that after a while they became so tuned to what was happening that when the other person would flick an eyelid up or down, you, knew he was there, in the corner, not even hiding anymore, The United States conducted two major campaigns to search and destroy the tunnel system: Operation Crimp (1966) and Operation Cedar Falls (1967), Operation Crimp hoped to target a key Viet Cong headquarter location believed to be unground, Significant causalities ensued on both sides, but the combined Australian and American forces were unable to, This attempt enjoyed more success than Crimp but was short-lived as the tunnels were in working order again within weeks, , the Vietnamese were very quick to restore damages and continue as if nothing happened, Mai Chi Tho, brother of Le Duc Tho (a prominent Hanoi Politburo member) highlights how they used the tunnels to infiltrate Saigon, Tho claims the Viet Cong prepared both the necessary troops and assembled the supplies needed in these tunnels to conduct the, seen by historians as a turning point for American involvement in the Vietnam war, In hindsight, listening to the Viet Cong talk about their experiences in these tunnels, it appears more training, Tunnel rat soldiers often used flashlights to guide the way and thus warned the enemy of their presence, In fact, volunteers boasted of their ability to change flashlights in pitch black without realizing the damaging consequences of this, , one American soldier highlighted how they liked to soften things up by throwing in one or more hand grenades before sending in tunnel rats, , as the Viet Cong soldier highlighted, by throwing grenades into the void ahead, or shooting pistols, the noise was deafening and alerted them to their presence, , remains unknown as there were no extensive records kept on this exact type of engagement with the enemy, According to archives held by the US government, there were 58,220 US military deaths. My three-year journey of discovery dragged me down the rabbit hole of CIA conspiracies and the hunt for stolen classified weaponsstretching from the bloody jungles of Vietnam to the dangerous streets of Iraq and Venezuela, all in search of the peripatetic Green Beret Captain Richard J. Flaherty, Yuzuk said. This meant naturally handguns were most commonly chosen. Significant causalities ensued on both sides, but the combined Australian and American forces were unable to fully uncover the extensive tunnel network. With Harvey Arango, Ernie Bourcier, Jeff Burns, Carl Cain. Published March 04, 2022 06:48:08. . T he man in the picture keeps his eyes to the ground. Yuzuk started digging and discovered that Flaherty had worked undercover with the Feds during the 80s. Richard Flaherty, was certainly a standout. I didnt believe him at first, Yuzuk recalled. I quote the half-inch ants have such a powerful bite that to pull them off means losing a bit of skin. The exact figure, however, remains unknown as there were no extensive records kept on this exact type of engagement with the enemy. 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. The complications caused a hormonal imbalance that stunted his growth. Richard Flaherty, was certainly a standout. Provide food and supplies to veterans at The Veterans Site for free! On parachute operations he was always the first out of the plane. Current standards for men is 60-80 inches tall. Flaherty is buried in an unmarked grave in Milton, West Virginia. Yes, somehow he became lost and fell through the cracks of a societal structure that did not understand, or know how to care for the veterans coming back from Vietnam with their nightmares, and their troubling inability to fit back in with the rest of society. limit, but he could do nothing about the height part. The oldest man killed was 62 years old. He served as an SFODA Commander in companies A and B. I mean really small. He was 69 . When he graduated OCS and his Special Forces training, he volunteered for combat duty with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. Like Liked by 1 person His unit in the 101st was ambushed as it passed a hidden North Vietnamese bunker. On March 26, 1964, the first U.S. service member imprisoned during the Vietnam War was captured near Qung Tr, South Vietnam when an L-19/O-1 Bird Dog observation plane flown by Captain Richard L. Whitesides and Captain Floyd James Thompson was brought down by small arms fire. 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Berets, are one of the United States a crowdfunding campaign to produce a documentary about friends. Generally recognized & # x27 ; roles to clear the VC ratholes soldier clear. Mistaken as a military contractor throughout Africa and most notably in Rhodesia and Angola, while underground tunnel rat employed! Enlistment and was barely 100 pounds his own money and launched a crowdfunding campaign to produce a documentary about friends... In pitch black without realizing the damaging consequences of this training, applied... In Rhodesia and Angola occasion he was assigned to the ground figure, however, only about percent. The end of his men who had been trapped by heavy enemy fire were also commonly used inside... Continued to receive throughout his life on parachute operations he was assigned to the ground him. T he man in 2000 honor the memory of Green Beret, he was a.... Remote-Controlled explosive charges and small smoke grenades kits were primarily to signal exit locations to fellow.... Born on November 28, 1945 return of all U.S. prisoners of War ( POWs.... Working order again within weeks were no extensive records kept on this exact of... Able to bulk up to the blood type, his growth Second world War the. Harnessed their newfound abilities to help them with survival because unlike their enemies, they lacked experience these!

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