Word Celebrity Blog

Col. David H. Hackworth, 1930-2005

Legendary U.S. Army Guerrilla Fighter



David H. Hackworth was born on Armistice Day, now Veteran’s Day, in 1930. His parents both died before he was a year old and the Army ultimately stood in for the family he never had. His grandmother, who rescued him from an orphanage, raised him on tales of the American Revolution and the Old West and the ethos of the Great Depression.

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he got his first military training shining shoes at a base in Santa Monica, where the soldiers, adopting him as mascot, had a tailor cut him a pint-sized uniform. “At age 10 I knew my destiny,” he said. “Nothing would be better than to be a soldier.”

Hackorth's military career as a sailor, soldier and a military correspondent has spanned nearly a dozen wars and conflicts, from the end of World War II to the recent meltdown in the ex-Yugoslavia.

He sailed in the merchant marine at age 14 and the U.S. Army at 15. In almost 26 years in the Army he spent over seven years in combat theaters

He always credited his success in battle to the training he received from the tough school of non-coms who won World War II, hard-bitten, hard-drinking, hard-fighting sergeants who drilled into him the basics of an infantryman’s life: sweat in training cut down on blood shed in battle; there was nothing wrong with being out all night so long as you were present for roll call at 5 a.m., on your feet and in shape to run five miles before breakfast in combat boots.




















Having risen from private by way of a battlefield commission in Korea, where he became the Army’s youngest captain, to Vietnam, where he served as its youngest bird colonel, he never stood on rank.

In Korea, where he won his first Silver Star and Purple Heart before he was old enough to vote, he started his combat career in what he later called a “kill a commie for mommie” frame of mind. He was among the first volunteers for Korea and later for Vietnam, where he perfected his skill. “He understood the atmosphere of violence,” Ward Just observed. “That meant he knew how to keep his head, to think in danger’s midst. In battle the worst thing is paralysis. He mastered his own fear and learned how to kill. He led by example, and his men followed.”

Demobilized after the cease-fire in Korea, Hackworth became bored with civilian life after two years of college and reentered the Army in 1956 as a captain.


























In 1965, he deployed to Vietnam as a Major. He served as an operations officer and battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division. He quickly developed a reputation as an eccentric but effective soldier, becoming a public figure in several books authored by General S.L.A. "Slam" Marshall. Following a stateside tour at the Pentagon and promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, Hackworth co-wrote "The Vietnam Primer" with Marshall after returning to Vietnam in the winter of 1966-67 on an Army-sponsored tour with the famous historian and commentator. The book adopted some of the same tactics as Mao Zedong and Che Guevara and the Viet Cong in fighting guerrillas. Hackworth described the strategy as "out-G-ing the G." His personal and professional relationship with Marshall soured as Hackworth became suspicious of his methods and motivation.

However, both his assignment with "Slam" Marshall and his time on staff duty at the Pentagon soured Hackworth on the Vietnam War. One aspect of the latter required him to publicly defend the U.S. position on the war in a speaking tour. Even with his reservations concerning the conflict, he refused to resign, feeling it was his duty as a field grade officer to wage the campaign as best he could.


























Hackworth was assigned to a training battalion at Fort Lewis, Washington, and then returned to Vietnam to lead elements of the 9th Infantry Division, turning his theories about guerrilla warfare and how to counter it into practice with the 4/39 Infantry in the Mekong Delta, an under performing unit made up largely of conscripts which Hackworth transformed into the counter-insurgent "Hardcore" Battalion (Recondo) from January to late May 1969.

He is also known for his role in the creation and command of Tiger Force, a military unit formed during the Vietnam War to apply guerrilla warfare tactics to the fight against Vietnamese guerrillas.





















David Hackworth next served as a senior military adviser to the South Vietnamese. His view that the U.S. Army was not learning from its mistakes, and that South Vietnamese ARVN officers were essentially corrupt, created friction with Army leadership.

In early 1971, Lieutenant Colonel David Hackworth was promoted to the rank of colonel, and received orders to attend the Army War College. Hackworth received another opportunity to attend the war college as he had turned down a previous opportunity to go there. Colonel Hackworth was being groomed for bigger and better things, but he had no desire to become a General Officer and declined once again to go to the war college and would soon become totally fed up with the system, not to mention the war in Vietnam.


























David Hackworth was a man who could be mentioned in the same breath as Alvin York and Audie Murphy, except that Hackworth's battlefield exploits took place in dozens of battles in two wars. He was put in for the Medal of Honor three times. In seven years of combat in Korea and Vietnam, he won the Army's second highest honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, twice, along with 10 Silver Stars, eight Bronze Stars and eight Purple Hearts.

Hackworth was a warrior of the first order. When he spoke out on shoddy training and equipment in his weekly "Defending America" columns, he had credibility gained from successfully leading units into combat.


























He has won many national and international awards for his Newsweek reporting, including the George Washington Honor Medal for excellence in communications.

In 1971, as the Army's youngest colonel appeared in the field on ABC’s “Issue and Answers” to say Vietnam “is a bad war... it can’t be won. We need to get out.” In that interview, he also predicted that the North Vietnamese flag would fly over Saigon in four years -- a prediction that turned out to be right on target. It was a prediction that turned out to be far more accurate than anything the Joint Chiefs of Staff were telling President Nixon or that the President was telling the American people. He was the only senior officer to sound off about the insanity of the war. Understandably, Nixon and the Army weren't real happy with his shooting off his mouth.

























With almost five years in-country, Col. Hackworth was the only senior officer to sound off about the Vietnam War. He was nearly court-martialed for various infractions such as running a brothel for his troops in Vietnam, running gambling houses, and exploiting his position for personal profit by manipulating U.S. currency. At the same time, he was experiencing personal problems that resulted in divorce. He was allowed to retire, in order to avoid a court martial, at the rank of colonel, and in an effort to rebuild his life, Hackworth moved to Australia.

On leaving the Army, Col. Hackworth retired to a farm on the Australian Gold Coast near Brisbane. He became a business entrepreneur, making a small fortune in real estate, then expanding a highly popular restaurant called Scaramouche.

As a leading spokesman for Australia’s anti-nuclear movement he was presented the United Nations Medal for Peace.

As About Face was becoming a best seller, Hackworth returned to the U.S. in the mid-1980s and began working as a contributing editor on defense issues for Newsweek. He also made regular television appearances to discuss various military-related topics, and the shortcomings of the military. His commentary on the psychological effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, based on his own experiences in overcoming the disorder, resonated with disabled veterans.


























He married Eilhys England, his one great love, who became his business and writing partner. He became a powerful voice for military reform.

He was a regular guest on national radio and TV shows and a regular contributor to magazines including People, Parade, Men’s Journal, Self, Playboy, Maxim and Modern Maturity. His column, “Defending America,” has appeared weekly in newspapers across the country and on the website of Soldiers For The Truth, a rallying point for military reform. He and Ms. England have been the driving force behind the organization, which defends the interests of ordinary soldiers while upholding Hack’s conviction that “nuke-the-pukes” solutions no longer work in an age of terror that demands “a streamlined, hard-hitting force for the twenty-first century.”

King Features Syndicate distributed Hackworth's weekly column "Defending America." Many of his columns discussed the War on Terrorism and the Iraq War and were concerned with the policies of the American leadership in conducting the wars, as well as the conditions of the soldiers serving.

























In the mid-1990s, Hackworth investigated Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda, then Chief of Naval Operations. Hackworth, through his Newsweek articles, questioned Boorda's wearing of potentially unauthorized V ( for valor) devices on his Navy Achievement Medal and Navy Commendation Medal, generating much controversy. Boorda committed suicide before he could be interviewed by Hackworth. Hackworth appeared on countless televisions and radio talk shows and formed his own website, Soldiers for the Truth, continuing to be the self-proclaimed voice of the "grunts" until his death.


























From 1990 to 1996, as Newsweek magazine’s Contributing editor for defense, he covered the first Gulf War as well as peacekeeping battles in Somalia, the Balkans, Korea and Haiti. He captured this experience in Hazardous Duty, a volume of war dispatches. Among his many awards as a journalist was the George Washington Honor Medal for excellence in communications. He also wrote a novel, Price of Honor, about the snares of Vietnam, Somalia and the Military-Industrial Complex. His last book, Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts, was a tribute to the men of the Hardcore Battalion.

In the 1990s Hackworth joined in the battle over Gulf War Syndrome. For the first four years after the Gulf War, the military would not even recognize the existence of this disease. The total number of people to suffer from Gulf War Syndrome has been estimated at 40,000 to over 100,000. Some soldiers contracted the disease from contaminated equipment without even going to the Persian Gulf. Thousands have died. President Bush (Senior) was eager to sweep these soldiers under the rug after they won the Gulf War for him.



















During Desert Storm which Hackworth covered for Newsweek, he was the only correspondent to accurately predict the outcome of the Gulf War. When he questioned the strategy of the Bush administration's operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the criticism was coming from a man who literally wrote the books ("The Vietnam Primer" and "Steel My Soldiers Hearts") on guerrilla warfare. In a time when billions of dollars are being shoveled into buying weapons that are unneeded and unworkable on a battlefield, Hackworth knew - again, from years in combat experience - that every battle from Lexington and Concord to the Sunni Triangle is won or lost by the man with the rifle - the infantryman.

Colonel Hackworth has written extensively on the latest Gulf War. His last article was a letter to a Marine general dated May 2nd, 2005 arguing that reservist soldiers in the Marines were having their promotions blocked unfairly. An archive of his articles cover topics ranging from thin-skinned Humvees to the problems caused by inept civilians rushing into an ill-advised war.

Perhaps the best tribute to Colonel Hackworth would be to quote him on the current quagmire: “most combat vets pick their fights carefully. They look at their scars, remember the madness and are always mindful of the fallout. That’s not the case in Washington, where the White House and the Pentagon are run by civilians who have never sweated it out on a battlefield. Never before in our country’s history has an administration charged with defending our nation been so lacking in hands-on combat experience and therefore so ignorant about the art and science of war. Now the increasingly flummoxed Bush team is stealing the page on Vietnamization from Nixon’s Exit Primer, coupled with the same deceitful tactics he used to get us out of the almost decade-long Vietnam quagmire: telling lies… The hard truth is that it takes a good 10 years to build an army from the ground up… Bush needs to set up a truth squad directly outside his Oval Office door quicksmart. Then, whenever the Pentagon plays fast and loose with the truth, the liars can be immediately rounded up and punished.” Assuming of course that Bush isn’t part of the deception campaign.













That was why, of all the awards bestowed upon Hackworth, he was proudest of his Combat Infantryman Badge. There's only one way to get one: serve in a front-line infantry unit for 90 days under fire and survive.

Hackworth knew the key to surviving in combat was good training. He learned the trade from the World War II sergeants who fought across Europe and stayed in the Army after the war was won. These were the toughest of the tough and they passed on what they had learned to the next generation of soldiers.

Their credo was simple - the harder you trained for combat, the less likely you were to die when the bullets were real. Good, hard training, combined with total discipline and accountability, produced skilled, fearless soldiers.Good training is the foundation of good leadership. The rest can be found in the principles of another man who deeply influenced Hackworth, Col. Glover Johns.


























Hackworth loved to quote Col. Johns' basic philosophy of soldiering:

    - Strive to do small things well.

    - Be a doer and a self-starter - aggressiveness and initiative are two most admired qualities in a leader - but
you must also put your feet up and think.

    - Strive through self-improvement through constant self-evaluation.

    - Never be satisfied. Ask of any project, "How can it be done better?"

    - Don't overinspect and oversupervise. Allow your leaders to make mistakes in training, so they can profit from the errors and not make them in combat.

    - Keep the troops informed; telling them "what, how, and why" builds their confidence.

    - The harder the training, the more troops will brag.

    - Enthusiasm, fairness, and moral and physical courage - four of the most important aspects of leadership.

    - Showmanship - a vital technique of leadership.

    - The ability to speak and write well - two essential tools of leadership.

    - There is a salient difference between profanity and obscenity; while a leader employs profanity (tempered with discretion), he never uses obscenities.

    - Have consideration for others.

    - Yelling detracts from your dignity; take men aside to counsel them.

    - Understand and use judgment; know when to stop fighting for something you believe is right. Discuss and argue your point of view until a decision is made, and then support the decision wholeheartedly.

    - Stay ahead of your boss.

These are the traits of good leaders in any field. Sadly, the people who live up to them are few and far between. But when you find a person who has these qualities, you will follow them gladly and with pride.

In a letter to a friend, Davis Hackworth wrote: "Give Senator Grassley my best. Have run out of conventional options re: my cancer. Got until March to find a solution. Off to Mexico to see if we can’t out Gee this monster. I am not sweating my final orders from Headquarters. It has been a fun ride. Plan on being planted in Arlington."


‘Out-geeing the G’’

Out-Geeing the G’’ was one of Colonel Hackworth’s favorite expressions.  He invented the term while leading troops in combat during the Vietnam War. He told his troops that they could beat the Viet Cong by using the guerrillas’ own mobile, hit-and-run tactics. ‘We are going to do what they do but just do it better,’’ he said. ‘‘We out-gee the G.’’

‘Out-geeing the G’’ was the heart and soul of Colonel Hackworth’s brand of soldiering.


Poor Military Leadership

David Hackworth conducted his own investigation involving Air Force General Joseph Ashy in 1994–95. He gathered the facts and the documents. In turn, Colonel Hackworth’s allegationswere referred  to the inspector general, (IG), for review.

























This is what Colonel Hackworth reported in the press: General Ashy flew himself, his aide and family cat from Italy to Colorado aboard a 200-seat Air Force plane; he flew his wife round-trip on an Air Force VIP aircraft from Colorado to Washington; and he made palatial renovations at his headquarters.

The IG concluded that General Ashy’s ‘‘wasteful escapades’’ cost the taxpayers $424,602.00.

Hackworth found out about General Ashy’s ‘‘escapades’’ from one of his beloved soldiers who was denied a seat — and free ride home — on Ashy’s airplane.

Davis Hackworth’s comments were as follows: The taxpayers got ripped-off for almost a half a million bucks by a member of our military elite and virtually nothing is being done about it...The Air Force spinmeisters lied through their teeth about what General Ashy did...Besides being a blatant waste of money, this incident is about deception and the art of diffusing responsibility... Ashy was fined a mere $5,020.00 and continues to have four stars and his finger on the nuclear button.

General Ashy wrote out a check for the fine and sent it to Air Force Head-quarters on June 26, 1995. However, instead of depositing his check at the bank, the check was stashed in a safe in Air Force Secretary Sheila Widnall’s office — for what I suspect was permanent safekeeping. At my request, the IG began making new inquiries and the check finally went to the bank on September 5, 1995.

Col. Hackworth spent more than half a century on the country's hottest battlefields, first as a soldier, then as a writer, war correspondent and sharp-eyed critic of the Military-Industrial Complex and ticket-punching generals he dismissed as "Perfumed Princes."

This great American soldier told us — in ‘‘plain old English’’ — what he expected from the top brass at the Pentagon. He expected them to lead by example. If they failed his leadership and integrity test at headquarters, he believed they would fail on the battle-field.


Some Controversy

In response to Hackworth's investigation of Admiral Boorda, CNN and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather questioned the accuracy of Hackworth's own military decorations.[ In particular, the reports accused Hackworth of claiming a Ranger Tab to which he was not entitled and an extra Distinguished Flying Cross on his website. Hackworth threatened to sue CBS and requested a formal audit of his military records. In response to the military audit, the Executive

Producer of CBS News sent a letter to Hackworth that stated: "The Army's audit of its records has determined that the Army made an administrative error back in 1988, when it reissued your medals and awards. Along with numerous other decorations, the Army mistakenly issued you a Ranger Tab and two Oak Leaf Clusters for your Distinguished Flying Cross. The Army has thus verified what we reported as your explanation of the matter."

"As far as we are concerned, the Army audit makes clear that you did not at any time wear or claim any military honor not actually issued by the U.S. Army, based on its official records, including the service record you signed and dated. At the same time, CBS continues to believe that our reports did not state or imply that you knowingly wore or claimed decorations not issued by the U.S. Army and that any such inference drawn from the reports would be mistaken."

"Similarly, we do not believe our reports in any way equated your conduct with that of the late Admiral Boorda's. Indeed, as we believe we made clear in our reports, by all accounts you are a man who has shown extraordinary heroism in your service to our country, and has deservedly been awarded many of the nation's most coveted awards for valor."

In 2002, Hackworth was asked about the controversy in an interview with Proceedings. In the interview he stated: "I had served in the 8th Ranger Company; later I served in the 27th Raiders of the 25th Infantry Division. On the Raiders' tenth mission, the regimental commander awarded every trooper the Ranger Tab. When all this fell out after the Boorda story, I immediately had my records audited. And they reflected that I was awarded the Ranger Tab. It was on my official records; it's not something I claimed falsely."

"Let me tell you how the regulation reads now. To rate a Ranger Tab, you had to have been awarded the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) while a member of the 8th Ranger Company. But I got my CIB with Company G, 27th Infantry Regiment. Thus, the 1951 award of the tab did not meet the 1980s criteria. I take all the blame."

"All the guys in the 27th Raiders got the Ranger Tab, but they were not Rangers. When the Boorda story exploded, people were looking for chinks in my armor. So I'm a defrocked Ranger. As it turned out, though, in the Army's vetting of my record, they found I had ten Silver Stars, not nine."


























Hackworth's harsh treatment of S.L.A. Marshall in About Face was criticized by Marshall's grandson, John Douglas Marshall, in his memoir Reconciliation Road: A Family Odyssey. Noting Hackworth's "savaging" of his former mentor, the younger Marshall sought him out for an interview and was impressed by Hackworth's "limited intellect" and his tendency to "present his impressions as fact." The book notes several errors in Hackworth's accounts of events.



Final Farewell













On May 4, 2005, Col. David H. Hackworth, died while seeking medical treatment in Tijuana Mexico. Over the final years of Col. Hackworth’s life, his wife Eilhys fought beside him during his gallant battle against bladder cancer, which is appearing with increasing frequency among Vietnam veterans exposed to the defoliants called Agents Orange and Blue. Her hero was 74 years old. 

Col. David Hackworth is survived by Ms. Eilhys England, one step-daughter and two step-grandchildren, and four children and four grandchildren from two earlier marriages.

























Col. Hackworth was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on May 31  after a Memorial Service at nearby Fort Myer in the morning. More than 600 former comrades, fellow soldiers and friends gathered in the Fort Myer Memorial Chapel to shed tears of sorrow over his passing, to hear some of his favorite songs and psalms, and to laugh and  listen in awed silence as fellow veterans and journalism colleagues recounted his bravery, his audacity, and his integrity.

A comrade, a U.S. Army major and helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, recalls when Hackworth requested to be dropped virtually on top of enemy bunkers in the Mekong River delta on March 25, 1969, to save two men who had been wounded. Miraculously, the man known as "Hack" rescued the two men and safely delivered them to Falcon's helicopter. "He stands out in my mind as a truly outstanding leader," Falcon, of Corpus Christi, Texas, said in a two-hour event memorializing David Hackworth.




 AWARDS & DECORATIONS

COLONEL DAVID H. HACKWORTH
(U.S. ARMY, RETIRED)


























Individual Decorations & Service Medals:

    * Distinguished Service Cross (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
    * Silver Star (with nine Oak Leaf Clusters)
    * Legion of Merit (with three Oak Leaf Clusters)
    * Distinguished Flying Cross
    * Bronze Star Medal (with "V" Device & seven Oak Leaf Clusters)(Seven of the awards for heroism)
    * Purple Heart (with seven Oak Leaf Clusters)
    * Air Medal (with "V" Device & Numeral 34)(One for heroism and 33 for aerial achievement)
    * Army Commendation Medal (w/ "V" Device & 3 Oak Leaf Clusters)
    * Good Conduct Medal
    * World War II Victory Medal
    * Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany and Japan Clasps)
    * National Defense Service Medal (with one Bronze Service Star)
    * Korean Service Medal (with Service Stars for eight campaigns)
    * Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
    * Vietnam Service Medal (2 Silver Service Stars = 10 campaigns)
    * Armed Forces Reserve Medal

Unit Awards:

    * Presidential Unit Citation
    * Valorous Unit Award (with one Oak Leaf Cluster)
    * Meritorious Unit Commendation

Badges & Tabs:

    * Combat Infantryman Badge (w/ one Star; representing 2 awards)
    * Master Parachutist Badge
    * Army General Staff Identification Badge

Foreign Awards:

    * United Nations Service Medal (Korea)
    * Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal with Device (1960)
    * Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Gold Stars)
    * Vietnam Cross of Gallantry (with two Silver Stars)
    * Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal (1st Class)
    * Vietnam Staff Service Medal (1st Class)
    * Vietnam Army Distinguished Service Order, 2d Class
    * Vietnam Parachutist Badge (Master Level)
    * Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation
    * Republic of Vietnam Presidential Unit Citation
    * Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (with three Palm oak leaf clusters)
    * Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Honor Medal, First Class Unit Citation (with one Palm oak leaf cluster)

World War II Merchant Marine Awards:

    * Pacific War Zone Bar
    * Victory Medal

Note: As per a Department of the Army audit conducted by COL Pam Mitchell, Chief Personnel Service Support Division on May 6 1999.

Hackworth earned over ninety decorations, including numerous individual citations for valor as well as unit citations earned by units he served in or commanded. He was proudest of his Combat Infantryman Badge, which he frequently wore on the lapel of his civilian sportsjackets in retirement.

David Hackworth's example of speaking out in favor of common sense when it comes to defending the nation will be remembered by all who know the difference between saying you support the troops and actually doing so.



























Fade Away Old Soldier
(except by Greg Ebben, Hardball Associate Producer)

Every now and then when someone of some type of prominence dies, I like waiting to see how his or her passing is treated in the news. Well, it's been fourteen days since one old soldier passed away south of the border, and though his obituary did appear in many newspapers, his life's accomplishments may need one more mention before his burial later this month in Virginia.

He was born to wear the uniform, he entered this world, fittingly, on November 11 (Veteran's Day).

Throughout his entire life as a soldier and then as a retired colonel, David Hackworth possessed courage under fire from both bullets and words. He took the heat from the Viet Cong as well as the higher-ups at the Pentagon.  He came through all of it trying to better the system. He even survived a kind of self-imposed personal exile after speaking out against the Vietnam War in 1971 on a TV news program. He gave the Army back his medals and headed to Australia for almost two decades.  He had enough.  As he mentioned in his book, “About Face,” he just wanted to get to “the farthest place I could find from the United States and still speak English.”  In 1989, this native son would though come home again.  How could this war hero really stay away forever from the homeland he loved and fought to protect?

For the last 16 years of his life, he resided back here in the good ol' USA and that bitter bite of public criticism for those in charge of our military was still alive and well whenever he felt our troops were getting the short shrift.  There weren't many like him, and I don't know if there are any still left.  His candor was rare and his passion was fierce.  He never backed down.  He fought for what he thought was right all the way to the end.

In 1951, General Douglas MacArthur, gave his farewell address to a joint session of Congress.  He concluded his speech with the words from an old ballad —  “old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” 

In 2005, Colonel David H. Hackworth, one of our most decorated, faded away in Tijuana, Mexico. He is buried at  alongside some of those he fought with in Italy, Korea, and Vietnam and those he fought for since he left his boots on the battlefield. 

May the Colonel rest in peace.


Sources -

* Newsweek
* Associated Pess
* Department of the Army
* Gregg Ebben - Hardball