David Haskell Hackworth

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David Haskell Hackworth (1995)

David Haskell Hackworth (born November 11, 1930 in Venice ( California ), † May 4, 2005 in Tijuana , Mexico ) was an American military expert and the most decorated infantryman in the United States Army in the 20th century with 78 combat troops .

At the age of five he lost both parents and was placed in a home. He later lived with his grandmother, who told him a lot about fighting ancestors. When he was ten, he became the mascot of a barracks in Santa Monica . There he cleaned shoes and a little uniform was made for him.

In 1944 he applied to the merchant navy with forged papers showing an earlier date of birth. In Trieste he was already wearing a uniform as a soldier. In 1950 he signed up for the Korean War to experience "sex and adventure", as he later reported. There he served as the youngest captain in the US Army and is said to have proven himself as a hero in battle.

After the war he found no other employment suitable for him, so he became a professional soldier. He was stationed in the USA and Germany in the following years. In the 101st Airborne Division he commanded a battalion and became the youngest colonel in the US Army. He founded the Tiger Force , a long-distance scouting train . He started reading the writings of Mao Zedong and Che Guevara . Together with SLA Marshall , he wrote The Vietnam Primer: Lessons learned in 1967 . A critique of US army tactics and command practices in the small combat unit digested from historical research of main fighting operations from May 1966 to February 1967 about fighting with the Viet Cong .

Back in the United States, he took a critical stance on the warfare in Vietnam and accused careerists, corruption and war crimes. On television in 1971 he prophesied the defeat and fall of Saigon . After that he had to leave the army. In response, he returned all orders and medals of honor, left the United States and settled on the Australian coast.

He previously received dozens of medals and orders. Including twice the Distinguished Service Cross , 10 times the Silver Star , four times the Legion of Merit , once the Distinguished Flying Cross , eight times the Purple Heart and 34 times the Air Medal .

He became the owner of the restaurant " Scaramouche " in Australia , bought real estate and successfully raised ducks. He was also involved in the anti-nuclear movement. He then returned to the United States and earned a reputation as a military expert for newspapers and television companies.

In a 1996 article for Newsweek, he questioned the eligibility of two medals on the buckle of Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda , Chief of Naval Operations . Boorda was awarded the Navy Commendation Medal and Navy Achievement Medal with a V for valor (bravery). Boorda committed after the publication suicide .

He visited the theaters of war in the Persian Gulf and the Balkans and founded the association "Soldiers for the Truth". Shortly before he died of bladder cancer, he revealed that Donald Rumsfeld had letters of condolence signed with a signature machine for relatives of fallen US soldiers . His body was interred in Arlington National Cemetery (Section 34, Grave 417A).

In Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now , Hackworth is the model for the character Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore , played by Robert Duvall .

Works

In addition to co-authoring The Vietnam Primer , he wrote two other books with SLA Marshall. He wrote two more books with two other co-authors. In 1999 he published the novel The price of honor: a novel . In Germany this novel was published in 2001 as Der Preis der Ehre .

  • with SLA Marshall: The Vietnam Primer: Lessons learned. A critique of US army tactics and command practices in the small combat unit digested from historical research of main fighting operations from May 1966 to February 1967 . Lancer Militaria, Sims (Ark.) 1967.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernd Greiner : War without fronts. The USA in Vietnam. Hamburger Edition, revised new edition, Hamburg 2009, p. 124, ISBN 978-3-936096-80-4 .
  2. ↑ Beneath The Waves Newsweek, May 26, 1996, accessed May 7, 2017
  3. ↑ http://www.military.com/Opinions/0,,Hackworth_112304,00.html
  4. ↑ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10918090
  5. ↑ Bernd Greiner: War without fronts. The USA in Vietnam. Hamburg 2009, p. 124, footnote 12.
personal data
SURNAME Hackworth, David Haskell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American war hero and military expert
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Venice , California
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 2005
Place of death Tijuana , Mexico