America's elite Tiger Force 'slaughtered civilians in Vietnam'

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 10/21/03 | Oliver Poole

[Pokey78]

An elite American military unit killed and mutilated hundreds of unarmed civilians, tortured prisoners and severed ears and scalps for souvenirs during the Vietnam war, according to a newspaper investigation.

The unit, Tiger Force, was sent on a six-month spying operation in areas controlled by the North Vietnamese. Members of the unit have revealed details of a rampage that began in May 1967 in which they dropped grenades into bunkers where villagers, including women and children, were hiding.

Details of the unit's activities surfaced after an eight-month investigation by an American newspaper, The Blade, in Toledo, Ohio, that interviewed all but two of the unit's surviving members as well as Vietnamese witnesses. It also reviewed thousands of recently declassified documents.

If accounts of the atrocities are accurate, it would be one of the worst documented cases of war crimes committed by American soldiers.

One member of the unit, William Doyle, a former sergeant, said he had killed so many civilians that he had lost count. "We didn't expect to live. Nobody out there with any brains expected to live," he said.

"The way to live is to kill because you don't have to worry about anybody who's dead."

The newspaper found that the army had investigated Tiger Force for four and a half years and identified 18 soldiers who committed war crimes. The investigation's findings were sent to the defence secretary in 1975 and reports on its progress were passed on to the White House but no charges were filed.

The soldiers who were under suspicion of committing war crimes were instead allowed to resign, it is alleged.

The official inquiry found 27 soldiers in the 45-man paratrooper unit who said the severing of ears from dead Vietnamese was routine. "There was a period when just about everyone had a necklace of ears," said Larry Cottingham, the platoon medic.

The allegations include an incident in which the unit's field commander, Lt James Hawkins, shot dead an elderly carpenter who was pleading for his life.

Two soldiers who tried to stop the attacks were warned by their superiors to stay quiet and were then transferred to another unit.

Vietnamese who witnessed the attacks told The Blade that they had dug dozens of mass graves.

The atrocities were carried out the year before the infamous My Lai massacre in which an army unit killed around 500 civilians.

The Pentagon said yesterday it had no plans to re-open the investigation into the allegations.

[sistergoldenhair]

As yet again.
Why now ping.

[chesty_puller]

A report from 'The Blade'? Wow, great source!

[joesnuffy]

this screed already posted

[GOP_1900AD]

If true, then maybe more of this, right into the streets of Hanoi, would have been a good thing. And I'd say, keep right on going, fighting dirty, right into Laos and Cambodia, and up into the PRC. There is only one thing that the anti Western, Communist and more recently, Islamist rabble understand. The law of the jungle. Fight nasty and fight well....

[OldFriend]

Tailwind revisited......

[Congressman Billybob]

I heard this story on National People's Radio while driving back from D.C. Is the Toledo Blade a homosexual newspaper, as the word "Blade" indicates in other newspaper names elsewhere? Was the one soldier who allowed his name to be used about witnessing an atrocity but NOT participating in it, also a member of the "fraternity"? And is that why NPR featured this story?

Maybe the same sexual bias applies to the English newspaper that picked up the story? Whenever a story that is decades old gets picked up and repackaged, I always look for a reason why that is dehors the story itself.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column, "Three People who Have it Coming," discussion thread. IF YOU WANT A FREEPER IN CONGRESS, CLICK HERE.

[clintonh8r]

I smell Tailwind.....

[Norse]

belmont, you're right. fight nasty, fight well, fight only when you have to. that's my motto. on the streets, i will only fight if attacked, but the perp better understand that i'm going to go for the knees, gouge eyes, grab balls, anything it takes. forget that code of honor bullcrap. fighting is about survival.

[DustyMoment]

Gee, let's get into some other ancient history, why don't we?

How about an investigfation by The Blade into atrocities committed by the British against the Irish in Northern Ireland? Think the Telegraph will crow about it?

[thinktwice]

The Viet Cong hid in underground tunnels, and they died there.

A smoke grenade in one opening with a lawn blower blast blown in behind it to blow the smoke in -- to see where it came out -- to locate all the ways in and out -- and then Claymore mines used to seal off the entrances.

War is hell, folks.

[facedown]

As yet again. Why now ping.

Wesley Clark.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

35 years ago, LBJ was in the White House, I was a high school senior and very few of us wanted to join the guys from the class of 64, 65 and 66 in Viet Nam.
We didn't know that JFK had ordered the murder of the president of South Viet Nam or understand the war was being micromanaged by someone from Ford Motor Company, playing by "the rules."
Guys who returned simply said they ditched the rule book shortly after they arrived in country. Can't blame them.

What's the point of a story about our military's excesses without setting the scene and providing ballance ? Were there no Viet Cong or North Viet atrocities ?

[wimpycat]

Actually, the Telegraph is the most conservative/balanced mainstream newspaper in the UK, if that tells you anything. If this was in the Guardian, it wouldn't have even included the phrase, "If accounts of the atrocities are accurate..."

[madison10]

I had the same response--Why now?

Made the mistake of buying a Blade today. (misread the headline-thought it was commending soldiers) Pity I don't have birds or dead fish.

[madison10]

The Blade is a Liberal rag. Blade goes with Toledo, as in Spain.

[RLK]

I never heard of the tiger force. I did now a lunatic who was a machine gunner in Nam. He was given a sector of his own and everybody stayed away from him. He had a little barbed wire at the edge of his firing field. After firefights he would cut the ears off the Viet Cong and stick them on his barbed wire. He believed the Viet Cong believed they could not go into the aftelife without complete bodies. The Viet Cong kept sending their best after him. He kept posting their ears on his barbed wire. He said he had 355 ears on one sector before he was moved to a new position.

[GOP_1900AD]

We almost won. But, due to all of the undermining operations of the KGB, who had infiltrated the Civil Rights movements, radicalized elements and fomented riots in '67 and '68, followed by the steady increase in student riots right into the 1970s, Nixon took the politically "pragmatic" approach and stopped it cold in its tracks. What would Reagan have done? It's too bad he did not start in politics earlier, allowing him to be a contender for president in '68.

[Burkeman1]

Atrocities occur on both sides in every war. When the NVA and VC stormed into Hue city during the Tet offensive they executed up to 5000 civilians and routinely executed South Viet Namese civilians. I have a tough time believing that "hundreds" were killed by this unit and this is the first we are hearing about it. I also thought the body count at My Lai was lower than 500 but after doing a google search and looking at a couple of sites- it does look like 500 is the consesus number.

In every war this country has fought atrocities have been committed. It is the nature of the beast. Similiar reports have surfaced in the last few years regarding the Korean war (I had a History teacher in High school who told how his unit had to fire into crowds of refugees on roads because Northern units were firing from within them). Even in WWII rumors persist of German POWS being executed en mass in numbers that equal or surpass the "Malamedy" massacre- especially in the closing weeks of the war.

I doubt very much such a similiar thing could happen in Iraq or Afghanistan today to any similiar degree. Today's Army is all volunteer with a professional officer corp unlike the draftee army of past conflicts in this century. Of course individuals may committ crimes but that is to be expected.

Off track- but I recently read a book about the Russian experience in Chechnya since the early 90's. Talk about one scary army. They couldn't fight against the guerillas worth a hoot- but boy- could they kill civilians. The Russian Army has reportedly improved in recent years- but in the 90's it was just a bunch of murdering thugs and scared young barely trained conscripts sent to their deaths by incompetent and corrupt officers.

[glorgau]

Good trooper.

[LenS]

They couldn't fight against the guerillas worth a hoot- but boy- could they kill civilians.

That seems to happen often. Troops who kill civilians (usually unarmed or lightly armed) seem to be, at best, ineffective fighters against other organized fighters -- be they guerillas or regular soldiers. The Bosnian Serbs did well against civilians but later crumbled in the face of a organized Croatian Army offensive. The troops at My Lai came from the Americal Division, a unit with many problems, especially when compared with other US divisions, Army and Marine. Saddam's forces were another example -- most of the resistance came from outside Fedaykin, not from an Iraqi Army used to terrorizing it's own civilians.

Whether it's the bad morale/discipline of the soldiers leading to massacres or participation in massacres undermining the fighting effectiveness of the soldiers (or perhaps both), I don't know.

Though, an exception to the above might be made for some fanatics such as the SS or Communist elite formations. Strict discipline combined with a complete demonization of the enemy as "subhumans" or "capitalist lackeys" probably explains those exceptions.

[Natural Law]

This is absolute BS!

[Burkeman1]

The actions of the Wermacht in Russia varied widely from one division to the next. Manstein seems to have made sure that the Hitler Order about Jews and Commissars was personally not enforced. Von Paulus of the Sixth which perished at Stalingrad seems to have been neutral and let his division commanders make the call. The last holdouts at Stalingrad even afer Paulus had surrended was a commander who hated Hitler.

In the Red Army- it seemed the "frontvicki" or front line fighters behaved better in Germany and Eastern Europe occupation than did the rear units and tank units which were responsible for the wave of murder, rapes, and looting in the final months of the war and months after.

[Lockbar]

"The official inquiry found 27 soldiers in the 45-man paratrooper unit who said the severing of ears from dead Vietnamese was routine. "There was a period when just about everyone had a necklace of ears," said Larry Cottingham, the platoon medic."


As a veteran, I have no problem saying that since the enemy was already dead, they no longer needed their ears, did they?

[waterstraat]

We almost won. But, due to all of the undermining operations of the KGB, who had infiltrated the Civil Rights movements, radicalized elements and fomented riots in '67 and '68, followed by the steady increase in student riots right into the 1970s, Nixon took the politically "pragmatic" approach and stopped it cold in its tracks. What would Reagan have done? It's too bad he did not start in politics earlier, allowing him to be a contender for president in '68.

We didnt "almost win". There never was a time when we had a chance to win, read or listen to the white house tapes, Johnson and MacNamarra and everybody else never ever once saw a chance to win, had no plans to win, and never saw any progress. Vietnam matched us on every escalation, actually more than matched us, as proved by how it ended.

As far as Reagan, Reagan would not have gotten us into a war in vietnam, and if the war was on while he took office, he would have gotten us out fast. I dont see where Reagan would have seen any vital american interest in Vietnam.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The book, "Bright Shining Lie," tells the story best.

[waterstraat]

There were several good books that told exactly what happened in Vietnam, including Deriliction of Duty, and Lyndon Johnsons War, but nothing is better than the white house tapes themselves. The white house tapes are not somebodys opinion, and are not conjecture, they are the acutual words of Johnson, and all the advisors in the white house and all the leading senators and generals.

When Johnson says that """"vietnam is a little pissant country that is not worth one american boys life"", and when he says "we cant win it" , as early as August of 1965(in a telephone call to Senator Russell), then you know the peace demonstrators/protestors were exactly right all along - even Johnson agreed with them in private.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I've always believed we were more successful in S. Korea because the S. Koreans didn't want to be dominated. I don't think that was the case (and there was another fight between the Buddhists and Catholics going on) in S. Viet Nam.

[waterstraat]

The vietnamese first and foremost, did not want any foreigners in their country, didnt matter if it was the chinese, japanese, french, or american - they fought them all.

[Tiger Force Veteran]

I created the Tiger Force web site, as a means to reunite Tiger Force veterans. The Blade article is the worst kind of left wing feces, meant only to stir up a Pulizer. The Blade has not done one thing to help the so-called victims.
While in VN, I was a medic with Tigers, in the A Shau Valley, and in and around Phu Loc. While we occupied the village of Phu Loc, I and the other team medic held daily "Med-cap" missions: We would set up in an abandoned building, and conduct a primitive clinic, seeing upwards of 100 villagers. We treated malnutrition, chronic illness, and acute illness. We treated sick babies, old ladies, and ancient papasans. While we were doing our thing, the Tigers who were guarding us, would teach the kids english, and play with them at the entrances to the building.
During my time with Tigers I saw nothing that could even remotely be construed as an atrocity. The dead enemy I saw all had weapons or explosives or whee carrying supplies.