May 17, 2024 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, long before Chris Kyle penned "American Sniper,” which became Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-nominated movie masterpiece — Carlos Hathcock was already a legend. Hathcock was so efficient and fearless during the Vietnam War, that he wore a white feather on his gear—taunting the Communists to come find him.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. No single soldier
on the battlefield is more revered or more.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Reviled than the sniper.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
They are seen as either cowardly assassins or surgical soldiers.
With a single bullet, snipers can change the outcome of
a battle or even a war. Long before Chris Kyle
penned American Sniper, which became Clint Eastwood's Oscar nominated movie masterpiece,
Carlos Hathcock was already a legend.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hathcock was so.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Efficient and fearless during the Vietnam War that he wore
a white feather on his gear, taunting the Communists to
come find him. Our next story comes to us from
Colin D. Heaton and Mike Droberg, two military veterans and
the founders of the YouTube channel Forgotten History. Their videos
focus on military heroes, actions and events spanning across the
(01:05):
globe and are watched by hundreds of thousands of people.
Here's Colin Heaton with the story.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Carlos Norman Hathcock was born on May twentieth, nineteen forty two,
in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hathcock supported his extremely poor family
by shooting and hunting. At an early age, with a
twenty two caliber J. C. Higgins single shot rifle. He
later graduated to using a car ninety eight German Mauser
that his father had brought back from World War II.
(01:36):
Hathcock joined the Marines on May twentieth, nineteen fifty nine,
at the age of seventeen, and rapidly became a known quantity.
He had won the matches at Camp Perry in nineteen
sixty five and the Wimbledon Cup Shooting Championships in nineteen
sixty six. Hathcock deployed to South Vietnam as a military policeman,
but later became a sniper after Captain later Major Edward
(01:58):
James Land wanted papers in every infantry platoon. At that time,
there was no formal snipers school in the Marine Corps,
and snipers were designated according to a marine's marsmanship record
and field expertise. Land knew right away that Hathcock was
a natural. Hathcock soon went to work protecting Marines, and
one enemy was a woman. The story of the woman
(02:20):
VC called the Apache has been questioned, but here is
how Carlos explained it.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
I really don't like to talk about her to you.
True she was a I don't like these bad words.
She was a very a very bad woman, had her
own sniper platoon down there, and I don't think they
(02:48):
were about to get all my snippers, myself, everybody. And
she had been torturing a lot of people prior to
us getting there, and that was a primary objective kind
of for me.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
And Uh, I was in her own backyard.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
She was trumpling out of mind and I didn't like that.
And she skip that one kid that she captured. This
was a very very person.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
Very person.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Saw her kind of saw the group coming in, about
five of.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
'em, and UH saw her squat down to tinkle.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And I certained it was her, and UH guy in
front of her was trying to get her to stop,
cause they were running eight ta towards us, for we're
where they had seen her. For he trying to get
her stop. She didn't, but I stopped her. I pulled
(04:03):
one extra for good measure, because I I was the
best shot I ever made.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
I think the best shot ever made.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The NBA and BC called Hathcock long Train, which means
white feather, because of the white feather he kept in
the band on his bush hat.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
At that time of Vietnam.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
All the troops was wearing garbage on the dog tags
peace symbols, right, we need to peace someone in all
kinds of garbage, grenade pins, all kind of mess and
the hats and stuff.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
Well, I picked it up. Why I picked it up
just because I was just going to the bed. Guys
see and the snipers don't do this. I'm not supposed
to do it.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
But I was kind of a very belligerent individual, I
guess as a sniper, and kind of like to flump
my authority.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
After platoon of Vietnamese snipers failed to kill him, many
Marines in the same area donned white feathers to deceive
the enemy and confuse them. Hochemen placed a bounty of
thirty thousand dollars on Hathcock because he was so effective,
and through a mishap they learned his name. It was
believed that one of the local women working on the
base accessed hathcock service record book. In those days, sniper
(05:24):
kills were recorded in the SRB. Generally, rewards put on
US snipers ranged from eight dollars to two thousand dollars.
Hathcock held the record for the highest bounty ever placed
on a marine, and he killed every Vietnamese sniper who
came after him. In one of the most remarkable sniper
versus snipery duels in history, Hathcock and his spatter, John
(05:44):
Roland Burke, were stalking the enemy sniper called the Cobra
in the jungle.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Near Hill fifty five.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
This was a firebase southwest of Denang, where the Cobra
had already killed several Marines to lure Hathcock out to
kill him. The stalking lasted for two days.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Carlo said, the snow if any sniper was sent down
there to get me and uh, which I rather didn't appreciate,
and he was doing a bad job on the hill.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
They killed a gun over certain right.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Outside my door by hooch uh and uh I watched
him die, and uh I took a bow at then
I was gonna get him somewhere or another. And uh
cause I left Vietnam the first time with eighty six
and firmed and the whole gob of probables, and I
(06:33):
figured I was a little bit better than what they were, so.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
Just a smidge, cause I was still alive.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And uh I got John Burke, who's my partner, and
we went out as the teenmader. I trailed him, a
very cagy, very smart individual, and I figured he was
close to me, as good as I was. But it
ain't no way, ain't no nobody that could so. And
(07:04):
you got to think like that too, You got to
think like that. And I made a mistake. I fell
on a old rotted tree, and he made a shot
and hit my partner's canteen, and working up, both thought
he was hit cause all the woman's running down overs
(07:25):
lads and stuff. M and uh, I noticed the homeless canteens.
You ain't hurt, Yeah, you ain't hurt. Just to kill
the devil outed canteen, that's all. And we mosed it
around and mingled around, and he started running. The bad
guy started running now, and we worked around to where
(07:45):
I was in his old spot. He was in my
n old spot, which was a bad thing for him,
cause he was facing the sun by that time.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
That was afternoon by then.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And uh, the son glented off his lands of the scope,
I guess, and which I didn't know at that time.
I saw the glint. I shot at where the glint
was and it just happened me the right time, and
by books of things, I was just the quickest on
(08:18):
the trigger.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Otherwise, Andy kill me because I.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Shot right through his cup, right straight through his cup,
didn't touch sides, didn't touch his side, and it didn't
do his eyesight no good in that side either.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Hathcock and Burke collected the dead sniper's rifle, as Hathcock
wanted to keep it as a trophy, but it was
later stolen from the armory after he checked it in.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And you're listening to the story of Carlos Hathcock, and
it's being told by Colin Heaton and Mike Droberg of
Forgotten History, and you're also hearing from Carlos Hathcock himself.
Born in Little Rock, he supported his family hunting and
obviously that marksmanship came in handy when at seventeen he
(09:03):
signed up for the Marines. There was a thirty thousand
dollars bounty on his head by Ho Chi Minh himself.
That's how feared Hathcock was. When we come back, more
of this remarkable story a true American sniper, And believe me,
you want a good sniper on your team in deployment
for sure. More of this remarkable story here on our
(09:27):
American Stories, and we continue with our American stories. Few
Vietnam era marines are more storied than legendary sniper Carlos Hathcock.
(09:49):
Yet his legend is not rooted in confirmed kills or
the longest shots taken, but we held both records in
his lifetime. It was his talents for tracking and hunting.
There were his greatest weapons. He taught himself to shoot
as a boy, just like Alvin York and Audie Murphy
before him. He dreamed of being a US Marine his
(10:09):
whole life and enlisted, as I said before, at the
age of seventeen. Hathcock was a world class sharpshooter, by then,
winning the Wimbledon Cup shooting Championship in nineteen sixty five,
the year before he would deploy to Vietnam and change
the face of American warfare forever. I liked shooting and
(10:29):
I love hunting, but I never did enjoy killing anybody.
It's my job, he said famously. Let's continue with the story.
Here again is Colin Heaton.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Hathcock was offered a top secret mission, which he accepted,
knowing nothing about it until he was briefed after acceptance.
The mission was to kill a North Vietnamese general far
behind the enemy lines and he would be alone this time.
Following his insertions miles away, he entered the enemy controlled area.
It took him four days and three nights without sleep
(11:06):
as he crawled inch by inch over one thousand, five
hundred yards of an open field, after already covering two
miles just to get to that point. Hathcock was wearing
a hastily assembled gilla suit from the local vegetation to
blend in with the surrounding terrain, and he was almost
stepped on by patrols as he laid camouflage with grass
and vegetation in a meadow shortly after sunset. During this process,
(11:31):
he came face to face with a deadly bamboo viper
and managed to outlast the reptile until it crawled away.
He then managed to complete the stalk and get into
a concealed position, and not long afterward, the general came
into view.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
I did not want none of my people did, so
I took the mission on myself, and, figuring I was
maybe a little bit better than I'll, rushed up because
I was one training supposed to be better. And Uh,
I come out of tree line back there, and UH
(12:07):
got onto the oak Land, and I went to my side.
I didn't go flat on the belly, cause I made
a bigger slug trail when I was on my belly,
and I wormed on my side very minutely, very minutely.
I knew had a long ways to get. They want
to tire myself up too much, and uh patrols were
(12:30):
went in alarms for each on me.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
I could have.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Tripped the majority some of 'em.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
And they didn't even know I was there.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
I was in their backyard. I was in their backyard,
and they did expect a one man attack. They didn't
expect that, okay, And I knew from the first time
when they's come up wildy gag and buy me.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
That I hadn't made. Now this be good, this be
real good.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
So I just continued swirming along, worming along, and uh
come many patrol many patrols come by.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
There was two.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Uh twenty fifty one on my left, two twin fifty
ones on my right, and I see him cooking their
groceries and wishing I was there to have a little
bit of it. But I was definitely hungry. I was thirsty.
But he got a job today, King Lendon that entered
(13:26):
just you're in your bubble, and that's all it is.
Your job, your job, And crawl up on that little
rise with an escape route to my right, and i's
wade her to win, and the temportary humidity, the whole
ball of wax try to run through my mind real quick,
(13:52):
and I dumped the bad guy.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Halfcock fired a single shot that struck the general in
the chest, killing him from a distance of seven hundred
yards using his preferred Winchester three hundred magnum bolt action rifle.
Carlos was deep inside the enemy compound, but this was
the easy part. Now he had to escape the area
without being captured. His egress and evasion was on. He
(14:18):
egressed out of the area as the soldiers went into
the trees to hide, and he made his escape without
being actively pursued. That is the toughest part of a
deep penetration mission, surviving After making the shot. On September sixteenth,
nineteen sixty nine, Hathcock was riding on an LVTP five
armored personnel carrier full of marines on Highway one north
(14:40):
of Landing Zone Baldy, a US Marine Corps and Army
Army of Republic Vietnam base located northwest of Chuli in
Quangdam Province. When the APC rolled over an anti tank mine.
The explosion rocked the heavy vehicle and wounded all the
Marines on board and a fire broke out. Hathcock jumped
(15:00):
off and ran to the rear and pulled seven marines
from the vehicle, which was an incinerator. Hathcock then collapsed,
suffering first, second and third degree burns to his face, arms,
and legs, and his uniform was aflame. Another marine grabbed
him and pulled him away and placed him in the
water alongside the road in a rice paddy, and he
was still smoking while recovering. Hathcock received the Purple Heart.
(15:22):
Nearly thirty years later, he received the Silver Star for
this action saving those Marines. Although Hathcock had ninety three
confirmed kills which had to be confirmed about the spotter
and a third party who had to be an officer,
he estimated that he had killed between three hundred and
four hundred enemy personnel during the Vietnam War. However, not
(15:43):
to be sidelined, Hathcock returned to active duty and along
with now Major ed Land, established the Marine Corps Sniper
School at Marine Corps based Quantico, Virginia. The results of
his efforts saw the establishments of Scout sniper schools at
Stones Bay, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Camp Pendleton, California, and
Marine Corps based County Yoe Bay in Hawaii. Despite returning
(16:06):
to active duty, Hathcock was in daily constant pain, but
he continued teaching snipers. Hathcock's health began to deteriorate, and
in nineteen seventy five he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,
and he was medically retired with full benefits and one
hundred percent of his pay, just fifty five days short
of the full twenty year retirement requirement. Hathcock was honored
(16:28):
by having a rifle named after him, derived from the
older semi automatic in fourteen and named the Springfield Armory
M twenty five White Feather due to his nickname. I
met Carlos Hathcock twice. Having been a sniper myself, I
was well versed in his exploits. Carlos summed up his philosophy.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Second live fact was great. It's very very great, and
very harmful. The bad guys very harmful. One shot, one
shot upon a whole company, now a whole company, Denis movement.
It denis, some movement restricts their movement, and that's which
(17:08):
is good for Lanian, very good for Lanian.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I did not like to kill him. I really didn't
like to killing.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
But to pit myself against another living, breathing human being.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Who could kill me just as squeak as I could
m that was a challenge of it. That was a challenge.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
See only when you're needed, Only when you're needed, or
you the good guy, only when you're needed, seems like
because that's training in the powers that are they look
down on snipers and everybody else looks down on snippers because.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
We have a job.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
People down below do not understand that job, do not
understand what can be done for bys Night.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Carlos Hathcock, the legendary White Feather, died on February twenty
secondineteen ninety nine in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is buried
at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia, and his legend
still stands.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And a terrific job on the editing storytelling in production
by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
Colin D. Heaton and Mike Droberg. Two military veterans and
the founders of the YouTube channel Forgotten History and terrific
partners of this show.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Visit their YouTube channel. Visit it often.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
And a special thanks posthumously to the legend to the
great Carlos Hathcock, this sniper par excellence who in the
end started marine sniper training it had not existed before.
And my own mother's brother, well, he did something called
(18:49):
paratrooping which had not existed before in World War Two,
and so many of those innovators and those dreamers paid
the price of being the first. Imagine being a sniper
without training, because it is one of the deadliest jobs
there is in the military, because the other guy sniper
(19:09):
is looking for yours and yours theirs.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
It is a very special and very singular type of talent.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And my goodness, that secret assignment that he described to
kill a Vietnamese general, and how many lives it could
save crawling those fifteen hundred yards, as he said, squirming,
not just crawling like a snake, and then I dumped
the bad guy with his Winchester Bolt action rifle.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
The hard part, of course, to get away.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And what a thing so many of our soldiers do
for us, doing things like this, crawling in a swamp,
and of course the record is surreal, ninety three confirmed
kills and estimated three hundred or more by his account,
and then establishing the Marine Corps Sniper School, and ultimately
(20:03):
his final statement, I did not like the killing.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It was his job.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The story of Carlos Hathcock, the legendary White Feather, an
American sniper.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Here on our American stories
And we continue with our American stories. No single soldier
on the battlefield is more revered or more.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Reviled than the sniper.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
They are seen as either cowardly assassins or surgical soldiers.
With a single bullet, snipers can change the outcome of
a battle or even a war. Long before Chris Kyle
penned American Sniper, which became Clint Eastwood's Oscar nominated movie masterpiece,
Carlos Hathcock was already a legend.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hathcock was so.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Efficient and fearless during the Vietnam War that he wore
a white feather on his gear, taunting the Communists to
come find him. Our next story comes to us from
Colin D. Heaton and Mike Droberg, two military veterans and
the founders of the YouTube channel Forgotten History. Their videos
focus on military heroes, actions and events spanning across the
(01:05):
globe and are watched by hundreds of thousands of people.
Here's Colin Heaton with the story.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Carlos Norman Hathcock was born on May twentieth, nineteen forty two,
in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hathcock supported his extremely poor family
by shooting and hunting. At an early age, with a
twenty two caliber J. C. Higgins single shot rifle. He
later graduated to using a car ninety eight German Mauser
that his father had brought back from World War II.
(01:36):
Hathcock joined the Marines on May twentieth, nineteen fifty nine,
at the age of seventeen, and rapidly became a known quantity.
He had won the matches at Camp Perry in nineteen
sixty five and the Wimbledon Cup Shooting Championships in nineteen
sixty six. Hathcock deployed to South Vietnam as a military policeman,
but later became a sniper after Captain later Major Edward
(01:58):
James Land wanted papers in every infantry platoon. At that time,
there was no formal snipers school in the Marine Corps,
and snipers were designated according to a marine's marsmanship record
and field expertise. Land knew right away that Hathcock was
a natural. Hathcock soon went to work protecting Marines, and
one enemy was a woman. The story of the woman
(02:20):
VC called the Apache has been questioned, but here is
how Carlos explained it.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
I really don't like to talk about her to you.
True she was a I don't like these bad words.
She was a very a very bad woman, had her
own sniper platoon down there, and I don't think they
(02:48):
were about to get all my snippers, myself, everybody. And
she had been torturing a lot of people prior to
us getting there, and that was a primary objective kind
of for me.
Speaker 5 (03:03):
And Uh, I was in her own backyard.
Speaker 4 (03:07):
She was trumpling out of mind and I didn't like that.
And she skip that one kid that she captured. This
was a very very person.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
Very person.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
Saw her kind of saw the group coming in, about
five of.
Speaker 5 (03:30):
'em, and UH saw her squat down to tinkle.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
And I certained it was her, and UH guy in
front of her was trying to get her to stop,
cause they were running eight ta towards us, for we're
where they had seen her. For he trying to get
her stop. She didn't, but I stopped her. I pulled
(04:03):
one extra for good measure, because I I was the
best shot I ever made.
Speaker 5 (04:10):
I think the best shot ever made.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
The NBA and BC called Hathcock long Train, which means
white feather, because of the white feather he kept in
the band on his bush hat.
Speaker 5 (04:24):
At that time of Vietnam.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
All the troops was wearing garbage on the dog tags
peace symbols, right, we need to peace someone in all
kinds of garbage, grenade pins, all kind of mess and
the hats and stuff.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
Well, I picked it up. Why I picked it up
just because I was just going to the bed. Guys
see and the snipers don't do this. I'm not supposed
to do it.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
But I was kind of a very belligerent individual, I
guess as a sniper, and kind of like to flump
my authority.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
After platoon of Vietnamese snipers failed to kill him, many
Marines in the same area donned white feathers to deceive
the enemy and confuse them. Hochemen placed a bounty of
thirty thousand dollars on Hathcock because he was so effective,
and through a mishap they learned his name. It was
believed that one of the local women working on the
base accessed hathcock service record book. In those days, sniper
(05:24):
kills were recorded in the SRB. Generally, rewards put on
US snipers ranged from eight dollars to two thousand dollars.
Hathcock held the record for the highest bounty ever placed
on a marine, and he killed every Vietnamese sniper who
came after him. In one of the most remarkable sniper
versus snipery duels in history, Hathcock and his spatter, John
(05:44):
Roland Burke, were stalking the enemy sniper called the Cobra
in the jungle.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
Near Hill fifty five.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
This was a firebase southwest of Denang, where the Cobra
had already killed several Marines to lure Hathcock out to
kill him. The stalking lasted for two days.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Carlo said, the snow if any sniper was sent down
there to get me and uh, which I rather didn't appreciate,
and he was doing a bad job on the hill.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
They killed a gun over certain right.
Speaker 4 (06:13):
Outside my door by hooch uh and uh I watched
him die, and uh I took a bow at then
I was gonna get him somewhere or another. And uh
cause I left Vietnam the first time with eighty six
and firmed and the whole gob of probables, and I
(06:33):
figured I was a little bit better than what they were, so.
Speaker 5 (06:38):
Just a smidge, cause I was still alive.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And uh I got John Burke, who's my partner, and
we went out as the teenmader. I trailed him, a
very cagy, very smart individual, and I figured he was
close to me, as good as I was. But it
ain't no way, ain't no nobody that could so. And
(07:04):
you got to think like that too, You got to
think like that. And I made a mistake. I fell
on a old rotted tree, and he made a shot
and hit my partner's canteen, and working up, both thought
he was hit cause all the woman's running down overs
(07:25):
lads and stuff. M and uh, I noticed the homeless canteens.
You ain't hurt, Yeah, you ain't hurt. Just to kill
the devil outed canteen, that's all. And we mosed it
around and mingled around, and he started running. The bad
guy started running now, and we worked around to where
(07:45):
I was in his old spot. He was in my
n old spot, which was a bad thing for him,
cause he was facing the sun by that time.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
That was afternoon by then.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
And uh, the son glented off his lands of the scope,
I guess, and which I didn't know at that time.
I saw the glint. I shot at where the glint
was and it just happened me the right time, and
by books of things, I was just the quickest on
(08:18):
the trigger.
Speaker 5 (08:18):
Otherwise, Andy kill me because I.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Shot right through his cup, right straight through his cup,
didn't touch sides, didn't touch his side, and it didn't
do his eyesight no good in that side either.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
Hathcock and Burke collected the dead sniper's rifle, as Hathcock
wanted to keep it as a trophy, but it was
later stolen from the armory after he checked it in.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And you're listening to the story of Carlos Hathcock, and
it's being told by Colin Heaton and Mike Droberg of
Forgotten History, and you're also hearing from Carlos Hathcock himself.
Born in Little Rock, he supported his family hunting and
obviously that marksmanship came in handy when at seventeen he
(09:03):
signed up for the Marines. There was a thirty thousand
dollars bounty on his head by Ho Chi Minh himself.
That's how feared Hathcock was. When we come back, more
of this remarkable story a true American sniper, And believe me,
you want a good sniper on your team in deployment
for sure. More of this remarkable story here on our
(09:27):
American Stories, and we continue with our American stories. Few
Vietnam era marines are more storied than legendary sniper Carlos Hathcock.
(09:49):
Yet his legend is not rooted in confirmed kills or
the longest shots taken, but we held both records in
his lifetime. It was his talents for tracking and hunting.
There were his greatest weapons. He taught himself to shoot
as a boy, just like Alvin York and Audie Murphy
before him. He dreamed of being a US Marine his
(10:09):
whole life and enlisted, as I said before, at the
age of seventeen. Hathcock was a world class sharpshooter, by then,
winning the Wimbledon Cup shooting Championship in nineteen sixty five,
the year before he would deploy to Vietnam and change
the face of American warfare forever. I liked shooting and
(10:29):
I love hunting, but I never did enjoy killing anybody.
It's my job, he said famously. Let's continue with the story.
Here again is Colin Heaton.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
Hathcock was offered a top secret mission, which he accepted,
knowing nothing about it until he was briefed after acceptance.
The mission was to kill a North Vietnamese general far
behind the enemy lines and he would be alone this time.
Following his insertions miles away, he entered the enemy controlled area.
It took him four days and three nights without sleep
(11:06):
as he crawled inch by inch over one thousand, five
hundred yards of an open field, after already covering two
miles just to get to that point. Hathcock was wearing
a hastily assembled gilla suit from the local vegetation to
blend in with the surrounding terrain, and he was almost
stepped on by patrols as he laid camouflage with grass
and vegetation in a meadow shortly after sunset. During this process,
(11:31):
he came face to face with a deadly bamboo viper
and managed to outlast the reptile until it crawled away.
He then managed to complete the stalk and get into
a concealed position, and not long afterward, the general came
into view.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
I did not want none of my people did, so
I took the mission on myself, and, figuring I was
maybe a little bit better than I'll, rushed up because
I was one training supposed to be better. And Uh,
I come out of tree line back there, and UH
(12:07):
got onto the oak Land, and I went to my side.
I didn't go flat on the belly, cause I made
a bigger slug trail when I was on my belly,
and I wormed on my side very minutely, very minutely.
I knew had a long ways to get. They want
to tire myself up too much, and uh patrols were
(12:30):
went in alarms for each on me.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
I could have.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Tripped the majority some of 'em.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
And they didn't even know I was there.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
I was in their backyard. I was in their backyard,
and they did expect a one man attack. They didn't
expect that, okay, And I knew from the first time
when they's come up wildy gag and buy me.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
That I hadn't made. Now this be good, this be
real good.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
So I just continued swirming along, worming along, and uh
come many patrol many patrols come by.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
There was two.
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Uh twenty fifty one on my left, two twin fifty
ones on my right, and I see him cooking their
groceries and wishing I was there to have a little
bit of it. But I was definitely hungry. I was thirsty.
But he got a job today, King Lendon that entered
(13:26):
just you're in your bubble, and that's all it is.
Your job, your job, And crawl up on that little
rise with an escape route to my right, and i's
wade her to win, and the temportary humidity, the whole
ball of wax try to run through my mind real quick,
(13:52):
and I dumped the bad guy.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Halfcock fired a single shot that struck the general in
the chest, killing him from a distance of seven hundred
yards using his preferred Winchester three hundred magnum bolt action rifle.
Carlos was deep inside the enemy compound, but this was
the easy part. Now he had to escape the area
without being captured. His egress and evasion was on. He
(14:18):
egressed out of the area as the soldiers went into
the trees to hide, and he made his escape without
being actively pursued. That is the toughest part of a
deep penetration mission, surviving After making the shot. On September sixteenth,
nineteen sixty nine, Hathcock was riding on an LVTP five
armored personnel carrier full of marines on Highway one north
(14:40):
of Landing Zone Baldy, a US Marine Corps and Army
Army of Republic Vietnam base located northwest of Chuli in
Quangdam Province. When the APC rolled over an anti tank mine.
The explosion rocked the heavy vehicle and wounded all the
Marines on board and a fire broke out. Hathcock jumped
(15:00):
off and ran to the rear and pulled seven marines
from the vehicle, which was an incinerator. Hathcock then collapsed,
suffering first, second and third degree burns to his face, arms,
and legs, and his uniform was aflame. Another marine grabbed
him and pulled him away and placed him in the
water alongside the road in a rice paddy, and he
was still smoking while recovering. Hathcock received the Purple Heart.
(15:22):
Nearly thirty years later, he received the Silver Star for
this action saving those Marines. Although Hathcock had ninety three
confirmed kills which had to be confirmed about the spotter
and a third party who had to be an officer,
he estimated that he had killed between three hundred and
four hundred enemy personnel during the Vietnam War. However, not
(15:43):
to be sidelined, Hathcock returned to active duty and along
with now Major ed Land, established the Marine Corps Sniper
School at Marine Corps based Quantico, Virginia. The results of
his efforts saw the establishments of Scout sniper schools at
Stones Bay, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Camp Pendleton, California, and
Marine Corps based County Yoe Bay in Hawaii. Despite returning
(16:06):
to active duty, Hathcock was in daily constant pain, but
he continued teaching snipers. Hathcock's health began to deteriorate, and
in nineteen seventy five he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis,
and he was medically retired with full benefits and one
hundred percent of his pay, just fifty five days short
of the full twenty year retirement requirement. Hathcock was honored
(16:28):
by having a rifle named after him, derived from the
older semi automatic in fourteen and named the Springfield Armory
M twenty five White Feather due to his nickname. I
met Carlos Hathcock twice. Having been a sniper myself, I
was well versed in his exploits. Carlos summed up his philosophy.
Speaker 4 (16:46):
Second live fact was great. It's very very great, and
very harmful. The bad guys very harmful. One shot, one
shot upon a whole company, now a whole company, Denis movement.
It denis, some movement restricts their movement, and that's which
(17:08):
is good for Lanian, very good for Lanian.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
I did not like to kill him. I really didn't
like to killing.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
But to pit myself against another living, breathing human being.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
Who could kill me just as squeak as I could
m that was a challenge of it. That was a challenge.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
See only when you're needed, Only when you're needed, or
you the good guy, only when you're needed, seems like
because that's training in the powers that are they look
down on snipers and everybody else looks down on snippers because.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
We have a job.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
People down below do not understand that job, do not
understand what can be done for bys Night.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Carlos Hathcock, the legendary White Feather, died on February twenty
secondineteen ninety nine in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is buried
at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens in Norfolk, Virginia, and his legend
still stands.
Speaker 1 (18:10):
And a terrific job on the editing storytelling in production
by our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to
Colin D. Heaton and Mike Droberg. Two military veterans and
the founders of the YouTube channel Forgotten History and terrific
partners of this show.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Visit their YouTube channel. Visit it often.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
And a special thanks posthumously to the legend to the
great Carlos Hathcock, this sniper par excellence who in the
end started marine sniper training it had not existed before.
And my own mother's brother, well, he did something called
(18:49):
paratrooping which had not existed before in World War Two,
and so many of those innovators and those dreamers paid
the price of being the first. Imagine being a sniper
without training, because it is one of the deadliest jobs
there is in the military, because the other guy sniper
(19:09):
is looking for yours and yours theirs.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
It is a very special and very singular type of talent.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
And my goodness, that secret assignment that he described to
kill a Vietnamese general, and how many lives it could
save crawling those fifteen hundred yards, as he said, squirming,
not just crawling like a snake, and then I dumped
the bad guy with his Winchester Bolt action rifle.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
The hard part, of course, to get away.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
And what a thing so many of our soldiers do
for us, doing things like this, crawling in a swamp,
and of course the record is surreal, ninety three confirmed
kills and estimated three hundred or more by his account,
and then establishing the Marine Corps Sniper School, and ultimately
(20:03):
his final statement, I did not like the killing.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It was his job.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
The story of Carlos Hathcock, the legendary White Feather, an
American sniper.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Here on our American stories
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