Topic: Ballad of the Green Berets

[dhall57]

Ran across this on YouTube. Always liked this. Besides me who is old enough to have  seen Barry Sadler on the Ed Sullivan Show singing this. 51 years ago, hard to believe. I remember my parents having the 45 of this. My dad was in the military and have always had the greatest respect for these men and women also.

[WhyNot2]

Dad served in WWII, me, Desert Shield/Desert Storm.

Remember this song performance vaguely.

We watched the Ed Sullivan show every Sunday. In 1966, I was 10.

[MikeSimon]

Barry Sadler's song was a big hit, even in Europe where I lived at that time!

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

My dad was in a Marine helicopter squadron (Evil Eyes HMM-163) based at times in Phu Bai, Vietnam (adjacent to the formal imperial city of Hue).  He talked about it maybe once. 

I found out later that his squadron was in the thick of the DMZ and supported both Marines and Green Beret teams.  Little did I know he had received numerous air medals and commendations (he didn't want to glorify war).

His squadron helped rescue the 5th Special Forces Group from enemy capture in the Battle of A Shua Valley in March 1966 when their camp was being overrun (10 Green Berets and approx. 400 ARVN versus 2,000 NVA).  The squadron flew over 2,000 flight hours in ten days during the battle in which 190 survivors  were rescued in the face of heavy enemy anti-aircraft fire. During the battle, 21 of the 24 aircraft assigned to the squadron suffered "major damage" including the two that were shot down.

I JUST returned from a trip to Vietnam over the past 2 weeks.  I visited the former bases where my father was stationed (Phu Bai and Da Nang) as well as other cities.  I kept wondering what it must have been like for all those young men.  The Vietnamese people were extremely friendly and gracious and thankful to be living in peacetime.

[Johnie]

My father was in the Army in WWII and his brother too. My dad was on a base in Iceland to keep the airbase open for the US Air Force and not let it be overtaken by the enemy. My dads brother was a tank driver for General Patton in Europe.

[Stev-o]

My father was in the Army in WWII...

My father was too - but in the Italian Army!   He was captured in Africa and brought to the U.S and held in a camp til the end of the war.  Was not treated badly, the U.S. officers liked the Italian's cooking skills [no joke]

[Terry in Australia]

I remember that song too, it was (I think) the only "Pro" war song in the Vietnam war era. Barry was obviously a war dog, he died in 1989 from wounds he received in a gun battle when training Nicaraguan rebels in Guatemala.

Over my 40 years in the military I've met a few guys like Barry, they're a special breed and will always live on in my memory, long after they've gone. Cheers, Terry.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/06/obituaries/barry-sadler-49-balladeer-dies.html

[dhall57]

 I had several uncles that were in WWII. One was on the USS Helena during the attack at Pearl Harbor. The ship was badly damaged but was repaired and put back in service. But was sunk in 1943 by Japanese torpedo's. My uncle survived the war and died in 1988. Another uncle who I never knew wasn't as lucky. He was marine and died at only 22 on some God forsaken island in the Pacific at the hands of a Jap sniper.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

He was marine and died at only 22 on some God forsaken island in the Pacific at the hands of a Jap sniper.

Please evolve. I appreciate both of your uncles' sacrifices to this great country.  I will not ask your ethnicity to disparage it.  My mother is Japanese and my family has proudly served the United States for generations.

See Forum Rules 4 and 5.  http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php/topic,55941.0.html

[Terry in Australia]

I don't think Dwight meant any offense mate, to a lot of us older guys "Jap" is just short for "Japanese". Cheers, Terry.

[MoMo]

Definitely remember the song as it being one of the few non-antiwar songs of the era...Larry

[Terry in Australia]

Definitely remember the song as it being one of the few non-antiwar songs of the era...Larry

I remember my dad taking us all to the local drive-in theatre to see John Wayne winning the Vietnam war all on his own in the movie "The Green Berets" in 1968 or 69, and I think the song was in it too?