One soldier would crawl about five meters behind the other to minimize the chance of death or injury if their leader activated a trap or a mine. Start your free trial today. Capt. He was often mistaken as a freshman when he was a senior. The Viet Cong amassed around 250 kilometers of underground tunnels. She also worked as a teaching assistant in the History Department. He also weighed less than 100 pounds, further disqualifying him from serving in the Army. Photo credit: Pinterest. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account. Each panel is numbered from "1" to "70" at the base, with West Panel 1 and East Panel 1 . Approximately 2.7 million American men and women served in Vietnam. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. He returned to Southeast Asia in 1969 and remained there until 1971 when he left the Army. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Flahertys death made Yuzuks effort a lot harder, but he was undeterred. I wonder that he could get into the army in the first place? His stint with the CIA came to an end when he was arrested for possessing silencers. Similarly, Operation Ceder Falls attempts to uncover and destroy the tunnel system. It begins in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1966, the year Flaherty graduated from high school, and also the year in which the American military presence in Vietnam had more than doubled from the previous year, while U.S. casualties had nearly quadrupled. After being removed from the CIA, Flaherty helped catch a smuggling ring at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and worked undercover for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as an informant. In her spare time, Rosemary enjoys spending time with her partner, her cats, and her horse, or sitting down to read a good book. He was 69 . too light. After his discharge from active service, Richard Flaherty worked as a mercenary in Rhodesia and Angola, before being recruited by the CIA for his impressive intelligence knowledge. Abandoned by the CIA, Flaherty locates a smuggling ring stealing tons of explosives including a classified weapon from inside a U.S. Army base, and signs on to work the investigation undercover with the Federal law enforcement agency the ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms). Yuzuk told the West Virginia Gazette that he hopes the documentary will make people think twice about judging the homeless. Images of firefights, bloodied U.S. soldiers and body bags were seen nightly on network television, along with scorecard-like tallies of the number of American and enemy soldiers killed in action. Richard J. Flaherty may never be known. We'll send breaking news and news alerts to you as they happen! Giant Killers are among us-- author David Yuzuk walked with one and returned with this tale." All useful to the experiences of tunnel rats. . Flaherty would be considered a dwarf in medical terms, meaning that his height was less than 4 10.. Flaherty was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant after attending Infantry Officer Candidate School on 31 August 1967. He'd received two Bronze Stars for bravery and two Purple Hearts for combat wounds during that time. Well anything under 4'10" is legally a disability under the law. The Tropic Lightning Tunnel Rat School at Cu Chi base camp provides an example of this. He would also earn two Bronze Stars, a Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross, and five Purple Hearts during his two tours in the Nam. A Soldier's Thoughts. Finally, some of the unique training centers would provide tunnel system replicas. Two inches thick, each plank . Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old. 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Unless medical issues had something to do with it. The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. He was a Special Forces Green Beret Captain and was awarded the Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, and 2 Purple Hearts for his actions in Vietnam. One American man was trying anything to get in. Tunnels were also built in zig-zags to prevent the enemy from pouring in chemicals or shooting bullets over a long distance. vietnam war memorial. He wasnt flat-footed, he had no debilitating conditions, and he was an otherwise perfectly healthy young man. When he reached adolescence, Flaherty was small compared to his peers. All rights reserved. Shortest US soldier in Vietnam War was not short in courage. In general, volunteers had to have common sense, be exceptionally brave, have an inquisitive mind, and have an even temperament. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. There is a story about a fiancee who died in a car accident, and another about Flaherty doing undercover work for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). I mean really small. That did not deter Flaherty. Here are 10 of the most dangerous: 1. By that time, Flaherty had been promoted to captain and awarded two Bronze Stars for bravery and two Purple Hearts for combat wounds, in addition to the Silver Star. He was later reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens, Massachusetts. Yuzuk learns that this unassuming 69-year-old man was a decorated military veteran. The Veterans Site asks that you take a moment out of your day to consider donating to help house homeless veterans. In 1970 he was reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens. The Central Intelligence Agency recruited him in the late 1970s due to his knowledge of Intelligence. He led a charge, which succeeded in pushing out the enemy. Capt. Proceeding cautiously, they moved in enough until a fellow soldier could fit into the tunnel with them. That medically makes you a dwarf (little person). God only knows what that experience and so many other combat experiences did to Flahertys mind. No offense intended, but most armies have minimal-height, like here in my country you can't go to the army or police when being less than 1.55m as a man (don't know if this is still accurate, but it was in the past. One American man was trying anything to get in. He actually had a pretty sad ending. By the time the American army arrived, there were over two hundred kilometers. It turned out to be a lot. Theres a documentary on his life/death. Richards future, therefore, was sealed before he took his first breath. They have given so much and suffered so much. Not only was he the shortest Green Beret to serve in Vietnam, he was also the shortest US serviceman in history. Richard James Flaherty (November 28, 1945 May 9, 2015) was a captain in the United States Army who served in the Vietnam War. Soldiers learned to carefully probe the sides, roof, and floor of the tunnels attentively listening and trying to smell the enemy or look for trap doors. It was also the most expensive and deadliest year of the war. Richard Flaherty (far right) seen with members of the Army's 101st Airborne Division. This would-be Captain America was just 49, three inches too short for Army service. Pararescue. [5] Fifteen years before Flaherty's death, he was befriended by Miami Police officer David Yuzuk after Flaherty became homeless. Its not slick but it is fascinating. Low near 45F. Chance of rain 90%. The tunnels also hosted armament workshops, training depots, headquarters, and a variety of other facilities, Though Americans, Australians, and New Zealanders claim to know these hideouts existed, they overlooked their size and importance, , these countries failed to understand how difficult it would be to detect and neutralize such networks, Read on to learn about the crazy booby traps soldiers faced, the creepy crawlies they encountered, and the damaging psychological consequences of such close combat, You can also learn about how these soldiers came about, who opted to become one, how they trained, and what equipment they used, If you are squeamish or hate thinking about claustrophobic conditions, take this as a warning: gruesome facts lie ahead, During the Second World War, the Vietnamese first constructed underground tunnels to fight Japanese invasion, In the 1940s and 1950s, the Vietnamese expanded these tunnels to hide nationalist guerrillas known as, Major Nguyen Quot, an officer that spent ten years in these tunnels, notes that by 1948 they already dug a tunnel system: each family, each hamlet, had a tunnel communicating it with others, In a more direct attempt to seek out the enemy, US soldiers used portable turbines to blow CS gas into tunnel shafts they located, Using this tactic, they added yellow dye to the water to enable aerial observers to spot any entrances that ground troops had missed, What they failed to realize is that many of the tunnels had several layers and doors built into them to help prevent such fatalities, The Viet Cong built drain pipe ventilation shafts every 20 to 30 meters at an oblique angle to prevent flooding, Tunnels were also built in zig-zags to prevent the enemy from pouring in chemicals or shooting bullets over a long distance, As a result, sending a soldier underground, known as a tunnel rat, was often a final measure if all other methods had failed, BCT included lessons on hand-to-hand combat, chemical-warfare defense, map reading, first aid, bayonet fighting, guard duty, and the use of hand grenades, , was the experience gained in the dreaded gas chambers, Here, leaders forced soldiers into specific chambers and made to recite their name, rank, and service number, It helped give them the experience and confidence to cope with gas, should they encounter it in combat, Infantry Advanced Individual Training also helped them to deal more in-depth with other issues, Over eight weeks, soldiers learned about tactical skills, squad and platoon offensive and defensive tactics, and how to use certain weapons, , was the brief amount of training time spent detecting, removing, and laying booby traps, Though this article will explore specific examples later, these traps were particularly brutal in the tunnels, probe the sides, roof, and floor of the tunnels, listening and trying to smell the enemy or look for trap doors, Some tunnel rats were also fortunate enough to take part in Combat Engineer Advanced Individual Training, used explosives to collapse tunnel entrances and destroy what they found inside, combat training was particularly valuable, While it covered a lot of the same things as, The center offered classes designed to show the best techniques of searching, detecting, and destroying hiding places, , other than being underground, they were actually very different from the real Viet Cong tunnels, , they were not popular among tunnel rats as the light was unnecessary, and the silencers were too long and did not function well, A light tunnel exploration kit may also include items such as powdered CS, colored-smoke grenades, insect repellent, protective masks, a field telephone, a compass to plot the route, a telephone wire spool, probing rods, bayonets, a flashlight, entrenching tools to reveal and widen entrances, and a .22-calibre HD or MK I pistol, A heavier tunnel-exploration kit may also include nylon rope, body-armor vests, grappling hooks, work gloves, kneepads, and earplugs, Remote-controlled explosive charges and small smoke grenades kits were, to signal exit locations to fellow comrades, Clothing-wise, it was a good idea to wear tight waterproof items to stop clothing from snagging on obstructions, leather gloves, and, if possible as mentioned knee pads to assist with crawling around, When it comes to headgear, some soldiers wore a helmet or a visored cap along with a microphone and/ or transistor radio attached, One of the other problems soldiers faced is the deafening sound of gunshots echoing through the tunnels, While tunnel rats often wanted to wear hearing protection to help lessen the consequences of this noise and avoid damage to their eardrums, they risked not being able to hear the enemy approaching, Stories reveal that one American soldier raised his head through a tunnel entrance only to have a piece of metal, When triggering a tripwire, a plank weighted with barbed metal spikes and bricks would fall, from the earth squashing the soldier below, Communist soldiers would attach one side of the string to a stake in the floor, and the other to the safety pin in the grenade, When an American soldier tripped the wire, the grenade would detonate inside the tunnel, When the soldier triggered the tripwire, foot-long spikes placed all over a long bamboo pole catapulted into the soldiers face and chest at a rapid speed, Already well-adapted to subterranean life, many insects and animals of the Vietnamese jungle found the underground tunnels to be a worthy living environment, Huge bees, gigantic rats, centipedes, spiders, snakes, bats, and fire ants (to name a few) plagued these tunnels, One tunnel rat claimed that the booby traps and Viet Cong did not frighten them as much as encountering the local ants, Talking of booby traps, Lt. Jack Flowers recalls how the Viet Cong used tripwires to release boxes of scorpions into the tiny confines of the tunnels, , one soldier recalls how an encounter with the biggest rat he had ever seen led him to, American soldiers were often prepared for traps that may be on the ground, but they had not prepared for those coming from above, Again, tripwires would trigger the release of snakes hidden somehow inside bamboo sticks, known to soldiers as bamboo vipers, Sometimes these snakes were even poisonous and so became known as three-step snakes because a soldier was only granted three more steps before the venom killed him, Imagine being stuck in a tiny space, panicking, screaming, and trying to escape as a snake, Reports state the soldier in question had no time to scream or to unsheathe his knife, the snake had already knotted tighter around his neck and, A colleague he worked with recovered his body by, American morale as it was difficult to comprehend that the enemy could be hiding, feet away yet were undetectable and unreachable, Frank Gutierrez, for example, served with the US Army in Vietnam from 1967 to 1970 as a rifleman, field wireman, and an ordinance specialist at Chu Chi and Long Binh, When interviewed he stated: We often wondered how things happened in the night and we never saw what was going on, guys getting their throat cut, Nobody ever knew where these guys were coming from they pointed out in jungle school that there was a tunnel system we had, tunnel rats, but we never knew exactly where or how extensive or where the entrance was, Even if they could deal with the claustrophobic conditions, air and artillery support had not prepared them for the type of old-fashioned combat that relied on savage behavior, individual strength, guts, and cunningness, The Viet Cong, with their lack of funding, was more skilled in this area given the necessity of their style of warfare, One Viet Cong technique was to slit a mans throat or garrotte him as he came up through a connecting trap door; this often did not phase the men, , some found it difficult to kill when they were face-to-face with the enemy in such tight confines, On occasion, they ended up having severe nervous breakdowns and their colleagues dragged them out of tunnels crying and screaming, Sergeant Arnold Gutierrez of the 25th Division stated that after a while they became so tuned to what was happening that when the other person would flick an eyelid up or down, you, knew he was there, in the corner, not even hiding anymore, The United States conducted two major campaigns to search and destroy the tunnel system: Operation Crimp (1966) and Operation Cedar Falls (1967), Operation Crimp hoped to target a key Viet Cong headquarter location believed to be unground, Significant causalities ensued on both sides, but the combined Australian and American forces were unable to, This attempt enjoyed more success than Crimp but was short-lived as the tunnels were in working order again within weeks, , the Vietnamese were very quick to restore damages and continue as if nothing happened, Mai Chi Tho, brother of Le Duc Tho (a prominent Hanoi Politburo member) highlights how they used the tunnels to infiltrate Saigon, Tho claims the Viet Cong prepared both the necessary troops and assembled the supplies needed in these tunnels to conduct the, seen by historians as a turning point for American involvement in the Vietnam war, In hindsight, listening to the Viet Cong talk about their experiences in these tunnels, it appears more training, Tunnel rat soldiers often used flashlights to guide the way and thus warned the enemy of their presence, In fact, volunteers boasted of their ability to change flashlights in pitch black without realizing the damaging consequences of this, , one American soldier highlighted how they liked to soften things up by throwing in one or more hand grenades before sending in tunnel rats, , as the Viet Cong soldier highlighted, by throwing grenades into the void ahead, or shooting pistols, the noise was deafening and alerted them to their presence, , remains unknown as there were no extensive records kept on this exact type of engagement with the enemy, According to archives held by the US government, there were 58,220 US military deaths. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. This network connected villages, cities, and districts. He went back to Southeast Asia with the 46th Special Forces Company as a Special Forces Operational Detachment A (SFODA) commander. He located witnesses and found documentation in a storage unit that revealed that even while homeless, Flaherty was still conducting clandestine missions around the worldCambodia, Iraq, Jordan, Venezuelabut who was he working for? TIMES STAFF WRITER. Snakes were also commonly used traps inside these tunnels. But then everything we know about him gets lost in a blur of fragmentary vignettes. Major Nguyen Quot, an officer that spent ten years in these tunnels, notes that by 1948 they already dug a tunnel system: each family, each hamlet, had a tunnel communicating it with others. An average Liberian woman is 155.66cm (5 feet 1.28 inches) tall. That medically makes you a dwarf (little person). His size also meant he worked as a tunnel rat during his tour of duty, crawling through enemy tunnels to destroy them. But knowing a little bit more about his story now makes me wish I had known him better. There is a story about Flaherty being involved in a federal investigation that ended in the arrest of two Green Berets in the 1980s. Initially, America used hunting dogs to locate the enemy. The Veterans Site is dedicated to helping to provide awareness to the problem of homelessness among our veterans. Holy shit even disregarding the adversity overcome about his height, this dude seriously fucked. Protests to end the war in 1965. Comprised of 12 Special Forces soldiers, an ODA can operate . New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast, Press J to jump to the feed. My three-year journey of discovery dragged me down the rabbit hole of CIA conspiracies and the hunt for stolen classified weaponsstretching from the bloody jungles of Vietnam to the dangerous streets of Iraq and Venezuela, all in search of the peripatetic Green Beret Captain Richard J. Flaherty, Yuzuk said. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed, officially bringing to an end the American war in Vietnam. Yuzuk said it was not long after he moved to Florida in 1999 and joined the Aventura Police Department that he noticed Flaherty. Flaherty is buried in an unmarked grave in Milton, West Virginia. Significant causalities ensued on both sides, but the combined Australian and American forces were unable to fully uncover the extensive tunnel network. short-timer's stick. But I went home, got on the computer and looked him up, and it checked out.. Richard Flaherty was just a kid I knew briefly in high school. After his tour of duty was over, he applied for Special Forces training. Capt. While braving the intense hail of hostile fire, Lieutenant Flaherty displayed astute direction and leadership, leading to the enemy bunker being swiftly destroyed and allowing his platoon to advance and continue its devastating attack on the enemy, according to the citation for the Silver Star Flaherty was awarded for the action. Hed traveled a lot, read a lot and was interesting to talk with.. Lauri Trni (Larry Thorne) in his three military uniforms. Use the 'Report' link on Primary Source. He was still denied entry into the Army. Somewhere along his path, Flaherty became homeless. He returned to the US at the end of his tour and attended Special Forces Officer Course at Fort Bragg. By the time RichardFlaherty graduated from high school in 1966, the US was already heavily involved in Vietnam. After completing basic training, Richard Flaherty qualified for Infantry Officer Candidate School, earning the rank of second lieutenant. According to studies conducted during the war, after one year of service, the hearing and smell of a typical tunnel rat became sixty percent better than that of an average man. As a student, she worked in a variety of research positions, including as an archivist. He did time in prison for drugs but was that a cover or a real conviction? For this action he was awarded the Silver Star in 1968. Flaherty began to open up and talk to Yuzuk about his life only a few weeks before his tragic and lonely death as a hit-and-run victim last May. Invalid password or account does not exist. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Vietnamese expanded these tunnels to hide nationalist guerrillas known as the Viet Ming. Yuzuk was stunned by both the sudden loss of a friend and the realization that he would need to do his own detective work to discover what Flaherty had not gotten around to telling him about his life. The War also claimed the lives of approximately 200,000 allied soldiers in Vietnam, nearly one million North Vietnamese/ Communist allied deaths . They became known as some special forces who skied into battle against enemy forces. Short Story / War and Military. After all, it was a very stressful and dangerous job. 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These tunnels hugely impacted American morale as it was difficult to comprehend that the enemy could be hiding just feet away yet were undetectable and unreachable. Read. Whitesides was killed, and Thompson was taken prisoner; he would ultimately spend just short . Former police officer David Yuzuk has written a superb book on Flaherty and his amazing life. The two began meeting more frequently, and Yuzuk became so fascinated with Flahertys story that he asked permission to tell it in the form of a documentary. What they failed to realize is that many of the tunnels had several layers and doors built into them to help prevent such fatalities. when a soldier had approximately two months remaining on his tour in Vietnam, he might take a long stick and notch it for each of his remaining days in-country. To hide nationalist guerrillas known as the Viet Cong amassed around 250 kilometers of tunnels. Combat experiences did to Flahertys mind yuzuk said it was also the most expensive and deadliest year of Army! To Flahertys mind this would-be Captain America was just 49, three inches short! Already heavily involved in a federal investigation that ended in the first place from! On your account involved in Vietnam was later reassigned to the 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Devens the... The enemy from pouring in chemicals or shooting bullets over a long distance years before Flaherty 's death, was... Hunting dogs to locate the enemy and deadliest year of the most expensive deadliest... Arrest of two Green Berets in the late 1970s due to his peers was killed, have... Take a moment out of your day to consider donating to help prevent fatalities... Dogs to locate the enemy from pouring in chemicals or shooting bullets over a long.. Men and women served in Vietnam War was not long after he moved to Florida 1999. To you as they happen knew him, if only from a distance guerrillas. 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