Have the latest local news delivered every afternoon so you don't miss out on updates. He was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and went to Vietnam serving as a Platoon Leader and Recon Platoon Leader with companies B, C, and D, & E. He and his platoon were engaged in some of the heaviest fighting on the outskirts of Hue during the Tet Offensive. Oct 15, 2015 Ian Harvey, Guest Author. Approximately 2.7 million American men and women served in Vietnam. When he reached adolescence, Flaherty was small compared to his peers. Officer Yuzuk had really been taken by the personality of this little homeless man. After a while, whenever Id see him, Id give him a little head nod and hed do the same. We can imagine that it may have had something to do with his Vietnam combat experiences. How many other Richard Flahertys are there living among us as homeless veterans? Later that year, he was reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens. Pararescue. Upon enlisting, Richard became the shortest soldier in US military history. But it wasnt until 2015 that Flaherty first spoke of his time as a platoon leader and Green Beret in Vietnam. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. The 'Hanoi Hilton' Is No Trump Hotel. Most helpful for tunnel rats, however, was the brief amount of training time spent detecting, removing, and laying booby traps. Well anything under 4'10" is legally a disability under the law. 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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. Richard Flaherty had to get a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War. They became known as some special forces who skied into battle against enemy forces. Capt. SS recruiters for the division accepted boys as young as 14 into the . Not only was he the shortest Green Beret to serve in Vietnam, he was also the shortest US serviceman in history. Larry Burrows / Getty Images. Flaherty served with the 101st Airborne & the 3rd Special Forces Group. I have been stewing over it for several months now. All rights reserved. Marine Corps: (Accession and Regular Standards) Male - 18%. In a 1977 interview with the Associated Press, a Vietcong survivor recalled how the Americans wasted so much time pulling their dead back that it gave them time to re-group and prepare accordingly. It was the year of the Tet Offensive, where U.S. troop numbers peaked at more than half a million. Sometimes, they would smear the tip of the stakes with urine, feces, poison, or other contaminants to infect the wound when it penetrated the skin. In the 1940s Ho Chi Minh, one of the founders of the Viet Cong, stated You can kill ten of my men for every one I kill of yours. We had built the runway surface with 2 ft by 12 ft Marston Mat aluminum planks with interlocking grooves along each edge. Putting people in that situation changes them. he said. On November 28, 1945, doctors in Stamford Connecticut's Regional Hospital intensely worked to save newborn Richard James Flahertys life. Hed traveled a lot, read a lot and was interesting to talk with.. Photo credit: The Chive. After his discharge from active service, Richard Flaherty worked as a mercenary in Rhodesia and Angola, before being recruited by the CIA for his impressive intelligence knowledge. Similarly, the bamboo whip was a very traumatic trap. If you look at all of the things the radio operators were tasked with, it becomes abundantly . Flaherty and Yuzuk were friends for roughly 15 years before he felt he could share his story with the officer. After college David moved to Miami and became a 19-year veteran of the Aventura Police Department working as a uniformed road patrolman, undercover officer, and detective. You can check it out here. Johns Hopkins University. He was struck and killed in a hit and run in 2015. But first he had to fight simply to get into the Army. Yuzuk used his own funds and a crowdsourcing campaign to produce The Giant Killer, an 80-minute documentary available on Amazon Prime and iTunes, released late last year. If they hesitated at all, it is highly likely they would be the ones to die in such close confines. The enemy would litter a concrete ball with barbed spikes. On February 12 the first of 591 U.S. military and civilian POWs were released in Hanoi and flown directly to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. Though this article will explore specific examples later, these traps were particularly brutal in the tunnels. Indirect Fire Infantrymen (MOS 11C), Combat Engineers (MOS 12B), and Bridge Crewmembers (MOS 12C) also have short . In most cases, tunnel rats were engineers, infantrymen, cavalry scouts, or chemical specialists. If you are squeamish or hate thinking about claustrophobic conditions, take this as a warning: gruesome facts lie ahead! Retired, David enjoys writing, walking on hikes, and spending time with his dog Simon. 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. Captain Flaherty's incredible life story was captured in the Amazon #1 Best Selling book, "The Giant Killer" available on Amazon as a Paperback, eBook, & Audiobook, and the award-winning documentary, "The Giant Killer Finding Flaherty" available worldwide on Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, iTunes, and Tubi. In many ways, Yuzuk became Flahertys friend. You can also learn about how these soldiers came about, who opted to become one, how they trained, and what equipment they used. You can view the full DCAS record for an individual named in the list via the Access to Archival Databases resource, or AAD. Chance of rain 90%. Capt. On one side towered a 7ft 3in (2.21m) German man-mountain who quit his job with an American freak show to join the Wehrmacht. The stakes would then spear any soldier that fell into the pit. To avoid running into issues, tunnel rats remained very cautious of the number of shots they fired. Most useful for tunnel rats, however, was the experience gained in the dreaded gas chambers. Punji stake traps found in the tunnels highlight one of the most disgusting and feared examples of Vietnamese booby traps. Private contractors? In particularly horrendous circumstances, enemy soldiers would dig another pit directly beside it. Example of a spike ball booby trap on display. According to archives held by the US government, there were 58,220 US military deaths overall as a result of the Vietnam War. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 3rd Special Forces Group and assigned to the 46th Special Forces Company in Thailand. This is a dangerous condition that can lead to serious complications for the fetus or even death. He actually had a pretty sad ending. . Some of the basic combat training (BCT) soldiers undertook helped though. He had a few run-ins with the law before becoming a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. And, is this general or do several different troop branches have different requirements? Again, tripwires would trigger the release of snakes hidden somehow inside bamboo sticks, known to soldiers as bamboo vipers. Richards future, therefore, was sealed before he took his first breath. During the war, more than 58,000 servicemen and women lost their lives. After the military he got into some pretty dicey stuff like gun trafficking. That did not deter Flaherty. Jeremiah Purdie (center) is led past a stricken comrade after a fierce firefight for control of Hill 484. Initially, America used hunting dogs to locate the enemy. He was a Special Forces Green Beret Captain and was awarded the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, and 2 Purple Hearts for his actions in Vietnam. God only knows what that experience and so many other combat experiences did to Flahertys mind. Just 10 days before Flaherty's death, Flaherty told Yuzuk his story. However, only about 20 percent of those served in generally recognized 'combat' roles. Using this tactic, they added yellow dye to the water to enable aerial observers to spot any entrances that ground troops had missed. Wounded Marine Gunnery Sgt. 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. When he graduated high school in 1966, the 4-foot-9-inch man . The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Later he's assigned to command Recon's Echo Platoon. For his leadership and heroism, he was awarded the Silver Star. He returned to Vietnam in 1969 and was stationed there until 1971. Create a password that only you will remember. If the army located an entrance and needed it explored, the team lowered a tunnel rat into the area to scout out the surroundings. In his new life as a civilian, Flaherty studied at the University of Miami in Florida, but entered a period of despondency after a girlfriend died in a car wreck in 1975. Thus, when Richard was born, he was different. The soldiers then camouflaged the pit using natural undergrowth, mud, or crops. We won't share it with anyone else. As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. Flaherty was tasked with training the Royal Thai Army in counterinsurgency, in preparation for being sent to Vietnam. According to studies conducted during the war, after one year of service, the hearing and smell of a typical tunnel rat became sixty percent better than that of an average man. Yuzuk came to know Richard Flaherty, not just as a homeless man, but as a man of intelligence and goodness. Tiger traps were also particularly violent. I am going to cite some data here and I wish I could recall the sourcesI don't have them. 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. A Soldier's Thoughts. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. What it also doesn't mention in the video is how absolutely ruthless this dude was. Some of us may have known Richard Flaherty only because of his small size. Flaherty served with the 101st Airborne during Vietnam. Stories reveal that one American soldier raised his head through a tunnel entrance only to have a piece of metal automatically speared through his neck. 45 calibers with a seven-round magazine as they were readily available. Related: How to make it through Special Forces selection. A young German soldier, 1944. I wonder that he could get into the army in the first place? Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, Flaherty enlisted late that year. This would-be Captain America was just 49, three inches too short for Army service. Still, his skills, tenacity, and leadership can tear down an entire enemys. Winds light and variable.. Cloudy with occasional rain after midnight. He also fell below the Army's weight requirement of 100 pounds. Released in 1973. He served as both an A and B detachment Commander. accounts, the history behind an article. When the Vietnam War heated up, Flaherty volunteered for the Army. Some volunteered to go to Vietnam. He also weighed less than 100 pounds, further disqualifying him from serving in the Army. Afghan war. But due to the Vietnam draft they would have likely taken him anyway if that was his only disqualifier from serving. Although the driver fled the scene, they were eventually caught. He said he hopes the movie makes people think twice before being dismissive or hateful toward the homeless, many of whom are veterans, and make politicians think carefully before sending American men and women to foreign places to kill people. However, 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. 10,422 Vietnam War Soldiers Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images. 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. 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. 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. John Zander in Chu Lai, Vietnam in 1965. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, officially bringing to an end the American war in Vietnam. It was also the most expensive and deadliest year of the war. The action took place on April 20, 1968, when Flahertys platoon was ambushed and came under withering enemy fire. Remote-controlled explosive charges and small smoke grenades kits were primarily to signal exit locations to fellow comrades. Send the smallest soldier to clear the VC ratholes. 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 was expected to only grow to the height of 4 7 but Richard proved them wrong as he grew to 4 9.. "The true story of the smallest Green Beret soldier who became a war hero-only to be killed homeless and alone, whose life and death are shrouded in mystery." He first deployed to Southeast Asia in 1968 as a member of the 101st Airborne Division. Most likely a member of the 12th SS Panzer Division "Hitlerjugend" which sustained 43% casualties during the Normandy campaign. Archives held in Texas revealed this happened to one unfortunate soldier. lkunl/Shutterstock. Photo credit: USMC Archives. Standard weapons carried by most infantrymen were unsuitable for use in such tight confines. pearl harbor. the shortest have one line. One American man was trying anything to get in. When it came time to weigh in, Flaherty barely tipped the scale of 100 pounds. 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. This way, they smelled the same as the GIs and the dogs became unable to locate the enemy. Got the VC screaming "we said no Oddjob! racist or sexually-oriented language. Flaherty was killed during a hit and run attack on May 9, 2015, in Miami. Lance Corporal Robert A. Bishop explores a Viet Cong tunnel complex found by Leathernecks of the 2d Battalion, 26th Marines. 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. One Viet Cong soldier highlighted their lack of discreteness. What are we doing that causes the disease of homelessness? Somewhere along his path, Flaherty became homeless. 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. He returned to the US at the end of his tour and attended Special Forces Officer Course at Fort Bragg. He was always recommending books and talking about philosophy, work and politics and eventually giving me advice. His size also meant he worked as a tunnel rat during his tour of duty, crawling through enemy tunnels to destroy them. Team Mighty. soldier has to be fit both physically and mentally to endure the hardship in an adverse environment such as a battle field. After being discharged, Flaherty did private and military contract work in Rhodesia and Angola in Africa. Unless medical issues had something to do with it. Lots of tunnel rats used the standard-issue colt. However, he was eventually arrested for possession of gun silencers and removed from the agency. May they rest in peace. A colleague he worked with recovered his body by dragging his violet-colored corpse out of the tunnel. When you used to stack bodies, but your 15 yo great grandson keeps calling you "Piper Perri" and you don't know why. He was discharged in October 1971 as a Captain. Richard was my friend and I promised him I would finish the project, Yuzuk said. Flaherty, who had to obtain a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War because of his size, was a paratrooper and platoon leader with the 101st and received a Silver Star for leading his platoon on a flanking assault of an enemy bunker. This network connected villages, cities, and districts. . ~15 years. Was the shortest soldier in US military history a CIA operative who had been assassinated? He had spent his last years alive homeless. We owe them the dignity that they deserve. Though Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders claim to know these hideouts existed, they overlooked their size and importance. korean war. 4' 9" 97lb Vietnam War Vet Green Beret Captain Richard J. Flaherty was the smallest US soldier to ever serve in the military. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. Captain Flaherty's Irish lineage is traced back to his grandfather Joseph Patrick Flaherty who was born in the Aran islands and his grandmother Bridget Smythe was born in the village of Feakle next to the Sliabh Aughty Mountains. On the other stood a 5ft 7in (170 . 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. After completing basic training, Richard Flaherty qualified for Infantry Officer Candidate School, earning the rank of second lieutenant. The Veterans Site asks that you take a moment out of your day to consider donating to help house homeless veterans. I didnt believe him at first, Yuzuk recalled. 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. each comment to let us know of abusive posts. 11 talking about this. Infantry Advanced Individual Training also helped them to deal more in-depth with other issues. 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. vietnam war battle. Provide food and supplies to veterans at The Veterans Site for free! If possible they also used gas to disorient, scare, and suffocate tunnel rat soldiers. 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. Today, the mistreatment of American POWs and the suffering they endured remains a powerful legacy of the Vietnam War. A particular Special Forces member, Capt. Finally, this list will look at how successful these attempts were in the grand scheme of things. 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. A few years later, we started talking. A small donation goes a long way. Due to his small stature (he was just 4feet 9inches (1.45m) tall), he was known as "The Giant Killer". He was later reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. He was awarded a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and two Purple Hearts during his service. He deployed for the first time in 1968 as part of the 101st Airborne Division, acting as a platoon and reconnaissance platoon leader with companies B, C, D and E. While making parachute jumps, Flaherty would be the first to leap, so his men could see where the wind took him and ensure he didnt get carried somewhere alone because of his light weight. Tragically, he was killed in a hit and run during the early hours of May 9, 2015. It has a rating of 7.4 on IMDb. The first point to keep in mind is that there was a lot of "tail" in Vietnam. Overall, the Vietnamese were very quick to restore damages and continue as if nothing happened. Richard Flaherty had to get a waiver to join the Army during the Vietnam War. There is a story about a fiancee who died in a car accident, and another about Flaherty doing undercover work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. . Myanmar 159.52cm (5 feet 2.80 inches) The Temples of Bagan in Mandalay, Myanmar. The army sent in tunnel rat soldiers with the aim of locating the enemy, finding their resources, and cutting off their supplies. 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. vietnam war memorial. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism Marines who score 285 or higher on BOTH the PFT and CFT are exempt from height/weight standards. Just sitting and waiting. At 4-foot-nine-inches tall and 97-pounds he was the. We often look at college students as punk kids, lazy frat guys or any other kind of social stereotype. By REP. SAM JOHNSON. The Viet Cong used this to their advantage to scare, and even kill, American soldiers. The enemy used this to their advantage. By 1990, the US Army veterans was homeless and living in Aventura, Florida. The War also claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 allied soldiers in Vietnam, nearly one million North Vietnamese/ Communist allied deaths, and an incomprehensible number of civilians. Flaherty left the Army in 1971 and attended the University of Miami in Florida. Captain Flaherty is the shortest man to have served in the Army's Special Forces Regiment. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch. We here at the Veterans Site offer our sincerest thanks to Richard Flaherty for his service to the nation. Be Nice. Another particularly horrific tactic became known as the spike ball or the mace. It included an article about Flahertys tragic death in Aventura, Florida. 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. These story remain nothing more than bits and pieces of a life that seems to have become shrouded in anonymity. They reported to Aventura police that they had seen what looked like a body in some bushes alongside the road. Soldier in Vietnam War was the Army's Badass Combatant . During the Second World War, the Vietnamese first constructed underground tunnels to fight Japanese invasion. Copyright 2023 Military.com. Even at those odds, you will lose and I will win. A retired Miami cop spends three years trying to unearth the truth about a homeless gentleman he'd befriended. Flaherty and his men did not escape that violence. 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. The Vietnam War was the longest military battle in the history of the United States. The documentary is supposed to come out sometime this year and I have included a trailer for it here. 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 . This meant naturally handguns were most commonly chosen. 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. Awarded Medal of Honor for escape and resistance as a POW. October 2001 to 2016. After being removed from the CIA, Flaherty helped catch a smuggling ring at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and worked undercover for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as an informant. After his girlfriend died in a car accident, his life also took a sharp turn. Photo credit: The New York Times. 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