The Viet Cong, with their lack of funding, was more skilled in this area given the necessity of their style of warfare. If it did not force the enemy out, those inside the tunnels often suffocated to death instead. This attempt enjoyed more success than Crimp but was short-lived as the tunnels were in working order again within weeks. SS recruiters for the division accepted boys as young as 14 into the . When it comes to headgear, some soldiers wore a helmet or a visored cap along with a microphone and/ or transistor radio attached. No offense intended, but most armies have minimal-height, like here in my country you can't go to the army or police when being less than 1.55m as a man (don't know if this is still accurate, but it was in the past. The Marines have adopted a new program as of January 2017. To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Answer (1 of 17): I didn't serve in Vietnam. Though this article will explore specific examples later, these traps were particularly brutal in the tunnels. One of his men got stung and came out screaming, refusing to ever go into a tunnel again. He appealed to his Connecticut Senator, Christopher Dodd, and was able to get a special waiver into the Army. Capt. Photo credit: Funker360. He actually had a pretty sad ending. 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. October 2001 to 2016. However, he was initially turned down because of his size. Infantry Advanced Individual Training also helped them to deal more in-depth with other issues. The War also claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 allied soldiers in Vietnam, nearly one million North Vietnamese/ Communist allied deaths . Capt. 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 . Soldiers learned to carefully probe the sides, roof, and floor of the tunnels attentively listening and trying to smell the enemy or look for trap doors. How many other Richard Flahertys are there living among us as homeless veterans? Because of this, they often targeted their legs instead. Tho claims the Viet Cong prepared both the necessary troops and assembled the supplies needed in these tunnels to conduct the Tet Offensive of 1968. short-timer's stick. He wasnt flat-footed, he had no debilitating conditions, and he was an otherwise perfectly healthy young man. Lauri Trni (Larry Thorne) in his three military uniforms. Owned and operated by CharityUSA.com, LLC. Flaherty took Yuzuk to a storage locker he rented to pull out photos and documents that might be useful in the documentary, and they returned several times in the following weeks until May 9, 2015 the date Flaherty was struck and killed by a hit and run driver near his palm-shaded campsite. A Soldier's Thoughts. Photo credit: USMC Archives. The World War Two story of David and Goliath - an Allied 5ft 3in soldier who captured Germany's tallest soldier at 7ft 6in has been uncovered. *Warning: Some people may find these pictures disturbing.*. During the course of two tours in Vietnam, because of his size, Flaherty often did tunnel rat searches. Using this tactic, they added yellow dye to the water to enable aerial observers to spot any entrances that ground troops had missed. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. We often look at college students as punk kids, lazy frat guys or any other kind of social stereotype. Invalid password or account does not exist. Some 385,000 American troops were sent to Vietnam in 1966, the year Richard Flaherty graduated from high school. They carried out tunnel rat duties as and when they needed in addition to any other duties they performed. BTS will be on hiatus until all seven members complete their mandatory military service in South Korea. 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. An average Liberian man is 163.66cm (5 feet 4.43 inches) tall. Neither family, nor friends know why. His decommission in 1971 due to the military budget downsizing (RIF Reduction in Force) was unexpected and devastating, and Flaherty sank into the murky world of private contract work. Winds light and variable.. Cloudy with occasional rain after midnight. He showed his fearsome warrior spirit during the Vietnam War, and later entered the roster of the Army's elite task . Since completing her degrees, she has decided to take a step back from academia to focus her career on writing and sharing history in a more accessible way. By the time RichardFlaherty graduated from high school in 1966, the US was already heavily involved in Vietnam. They became known as some special forces who skied into battle against enemy forces. His size also meant he worked as a tunnel rat during his tour of duty, crawling through enemy tunnels to destroy them. Short Story / War and Military. Later that year, he was reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 20002023 The Veterans Site and GreaterGood. . It has a rating of 7.4 on IMDb. But it wasnt until 2015 that Flaherty first spoke of his time as a platoon leader and Green Beret in Vietnam. 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. Flaherty would be considered a dwarf in medical terms, meaning that his height was less than 4 10.. Active military action was carried out for almost 20 years, from 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975.The Vietnam War is also referred to as the Second Indochina War, due to the involvement of all three countries previously constituting the French territory of Indochina. Americans often carpet bombed areas under suspicion to try flushing out the enemy. Under Lieutenant Flahertys astute direction and leadership, the enemy bunker was swiftly destroyed, enabling his platoon to advance and continue its devastating attack against the enemy.. One of the huge psychological issues for tunnel rats was the closeness of combat. Another particularly horrific tactic became known as the spike ball or the mace. 11 talking about this. Join IrishCentrals Book Club on Facebook and enjoy our book-loving community. The center offered classes designed to show the best techniques of searching, detecting, and destroying hiding places. Flaherty was killed on May 9, 2015 in a hit and run. If the army located an entrance and needed it explored, the team lowered a tunnel rat into the area to scout out the surroundings. A colleague dragged him out before he grabbed a frag and threw it into the hole too. This restoration was pivotal as it enabled some of the key successes enjoyed by the Viet Cong. 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. This early condition stunted his growth. Initially, America used hunting dogs to locate the enemy. I just tell them Im 35 pounds of muscle, 14 pounds of dynamite and one pound of uranium-238, and it gets a lot of laughs.. He first deployed to Southeast Asia in 1968 as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. To even attempt Special Forces training, Flaherty had to gain six pounds and get another height waiver. 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. He was often mistaken as a freshman when he was a senior. The incompatibilities in the blood caused hormonal imbalances and stunted his growth. Capt. We'd love to hear eyewitness The first point to keep in mind is that there was a lot of "tail" in Vietnam. Network news was filled with the stories of young men dying in combat to stem the spread of Communism to South Vietnam. 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. Here we go: 1. 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. 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. Submitted photo. He met Flaherty as a homeless man in 2000. After his girlfriend died in a car accident, his life also took a sharp turn. With a passion for historical learning and historical education, her writing interests include social history, and war history, especially researching obscure facts about the Second World War. Well anything under 4'10" is legally a disability under the law. Though there was nothing he could do to grow three inches in less than a year (or any other time frame, likely) he could gain weight. Many American men were trying to avoid serving the U.S. military in the 1960s and 1970s. 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. Low near 45F. The stakes would then spear any soldier that fell into the pit. He came home from Vietnam after his second tour and moved to Hallandale, Florida, where he worked for a time with the U.S. Create a password that only you will remember. Shortest US soldier in Vietnam War was not short in courage. Tragically, he was killed in a hit and run during the early hours of May 9, 2015. ODA was tasked with training the Royal Thai Army in counterinsurgency operations and prepare them for a deployment to Vietnam. Both known as the shortest soldiers in their units, each would serve in numerous battles as soldiers. Source of data: the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File, as of April 29, 2008, of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Files, part of Record Group 330: Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Photo credit: The Chive. After this, he refused to ever go into a tunnel again. Lance Corporal Robert A. Bishop explores a Viet Cong tunnel complex found by Leathernecks of the 2d Battalion, 26th Marines. He served as both an A and B detachment Commander. But I went home, got on the computer and looked him up, and it checked out.. It is here that his story begins to take many twists and turns. Most likely a member of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" which sustained 43% casualties during the Normandy campaign. When the Vietnam War heated up, Flaherty volunteered for the Army. So began a wild adventure involving guns, cash, and High Altitude Low Opening parachute jumps into the Florida Everglades swamps. 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. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Richard Flaherty returned to the U.S. and trained at the Army's Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, becoming a member of the Green Berets. This article was originally published 1/7/2021. On the other hand, combat troops had nearly an even chance of getting wounded, roughly 50%. Was the shortest soldier in US military history a CIA operative who had been assassinated? The action took place on April 20, 1968, when Flahertys platoon was ambushed and came under withering enemy fire. limit, but he could do nothing about the height part. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. He would also earn two Bronze Stars, a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and five Purple Hearts during his two tours in the Nam. There is an average of five names per line. Richard James Flaherty (November 28, 1945 May 9, 2015) was a captain in the United States Army who served in the Vietnam War. I quote the half-inch ants have such a powerful bite that to pull them off means losing a bit of skin. 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. Photo credit: American Yesteryear Metal Signs. The Giant Killer is available on Amazon Prime and iTunes. Or were his missions something much darker? 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. 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. 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 openings to these tunnels were very small and those tunnel rats who went into them did so armed only with a flashlight, a K-bar (knife), and a .45 pistol. A particular Special Forces member, Capt. world war ii. During his first tour in Vietnam, Flaherty is placed in command of the Airborne's Delta Platoon. 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. franklin roosevelt. Here, leaders forced soldiers into specific chambers and made to recite their name, rank, and service number. Once in, he was able to qualify both for Special Forces training and for Officer Candidate School (OCS). How does he get kicked out due to reduction of force? A colleague he worked with recovered his body by dragging his violet-colored corpse out of the tunnel. This was devastating news to Yuzuk. More from us: Phil Bucklew: The Father of US Naval Special Warfare. As each day passed he would cut the stick off another notch until on his rotation day he was left with only a small stub. According to archives held by the US government, there were 58,220 US military deaths overall as a result of the Vietnam War. 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. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group and assigned to the 46th Special Forces Company in Thailand. If possible they also used gas to disorient, scare, and suffocate tunnel rat soldiers. Mai Chi Tho, brother of Le Duc Tho (a prominent Hanoi Politburo member) highlights how they used the tunnels to infiltrate Saigon. 4' 9" 97lb Vietnam War Vet Green Beret Captain Richard J. Flaherty was the smallest US soldier to ever serve in the military. At 4 9 and 97 pounds, Richard J. Flaherty was the smallest and most unconventional man to serve in the U.S. military and needed a congressional waiver just to join the Army. Here are 10 of the most dangerous: 1. Shortest US soldier in Vietnam War was not short in courage. Not only was he the shortest Green Beret to serve in Vietnam, he was also the shortest US serviceman in history. The 'Hanoi Hilton' Is No Trump Hotel. Due to his small stature (he was just 4feet 9inches (1.45m) tall), he was known as "The Giant Killer". Comprised of 12 Special Forces soldiers, an ODA can operate independently behind enemy lines for long periods of time without supervision. Capt. The following year, 1971, he was discharged from active duty and transferred to the Army Reserves, where he served until 1983. Miami Police officer David Yuzuk befriended Richard J. Flaherty when the former soldier was living on the streets as a homeless man. It helped give them the experience and confidence to cope with gas, should they encounter it in combat. Pictured left to right: Topsy, Fatty, Cotton (killed fitty men and got his shins blowed off), Brooklyn, Stinky, and Fatty. The CIA? He was discharged in October 1971 as a Captain. An Army Infantryman (MOS 11B) currently has the shortest amount of time in AIT at four weeks. Later he's assigned to command Recon's Echo Platoon. When an American soldier tripped the wire, the grenade would detonate inside the tunnel. A retired Miami cop spends three years trying to unearth the truth about a homeless gentleman he'd befriended. After a few brushes with law enforcement, Flaherty reportedly worked as a confidential informant for the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in the early 1980s before becoming homeless in Aventura by 1990. Friendships sometimes happen casually, the former policeman said. He would see Flaherty and talk with him every day; they would even eat lunch together. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. The two maintained a long friendship. That did not deter Flaherty. 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. Flaherty was given a Silver Star for his actions in combat during the Tet Offensive, when his unit was ambushed with machine guns and grenades by Northern Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops in a hidden bunker. The soldiers then camouflaged the pit using natural undergrowth, mud, or crops. Despite the superior firepower of the American military, the determination of the Viet Cong was on another level entirely. An average Liberian woman is 155.66cm (5 feet 1.28 inches) tall. Flaherty was the shortest of these elite soldiers, standing at only four feet, nine inches tall. He eraned the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, and 2 Purple Hearts -smallestsoldier.com . 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 really knew he was there, in the corner, not even hiding anymore. In 2018 David was forced to retire due to a back injury sustained as a police officer. 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E-Mail address will be on hiatus until all seven members complete their mandatory military service in South.!, some soldiers wore a helmet or a visored cap along with a microphone and/ or transistor radio attached run., crawling through enemy tunnels to destroy them Vietnamese/ Communist allied deaths initially turned down because of men. They carried out tunnel rat soldiers on Facebook and enjoy our book-loving community kids, lazy guys! Quote the half-inch ants have such a powerful bite that to pull them off means losing a bit of.! In addition to any other kind of social stereotype counterinsurgency operations and prepare them a... May 9, 2015 in a car accident, his life also a... Gas, should they encounter it in combat to confirm your account those the! Southeast Asia in 1968 as a Police officer David Yuzuk befriended Richard Flaherty. 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