Friday, August 14, 2015

Symposium on the Green Berets and the Montagnards

Via Carl


On Friday, August 14th, at 7 p.m. the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum will host a symposium in which Vietnam War veterans who served as Green Berets in the Army’s Special Forces unit will discuss how the United States came to rely on oppressed tribe people known as Montagnards to help fight the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong.

Both Green Beret and Montagnard veterans will be part of an extremely rare panel that delves into the relationship between the two groups and discuss specific war stories where the ingenious people showed extreme loyalty, bravery and courage while fighting alongside American troops.

35 comments:

  1. Jerry "Mad Dog" Shriver worked with the Montagnards and entrusted them with
    his life. Good people. Mad Dog must have been captured as his gun was thought
    to be found.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'd go with killed.

      Re-re-post of Mad Dog Shriver with new info from his SOG pilot
      http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2012/01/re-re-post-of-mad-dog-shriver-with-new.html

      Delete
  2. Thanks. Such a shame. Copied this off one site: Radio Hanoi had first broadcast that they had him and then a while later broadcast that he was dead. Most of the NCO’s at the table were reluctant to believe that he was dead, they figured he would come walking out of the boonies someday, just like he always had, but his family had just allowed his status to be changed from MIA to KIA.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Strange, Mad Dog Shriver gave his dog, Klaus, away prior to his last mission. How
    could he have known? It was said that for four hours after his alleged death, he was
    talking on the radio. One person who wrote a review on Amazon stated his father
    was in Vietnam and never spoke of the war until 2008 and the first name which came
    out of his mouth was Mad Dog Shriver. Inside spies killed Mad Dog and many
    other American's that fateful day.
    Both his parents are now dead and does not seem to have any siblings.
    I wonder why his parents were never interviewed for background info on a legend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Inside spies killed Mad Dog and many other American's that fateful day.

      Thanks and why do you say that?

      "No one else could engage the machinegun that trapped Shriver's men -- it was up to Mad Dog. Skittish Yards looked to Shriver and his half-grin restored a sense of confidence. Then they were on their feet, charging -- Shriver was his old self, running to the sound of guns, a True Believer Yard on either side, all of them dashing through the flying bullets, into the treeline, into the very guts of Mad Dog's great nemesis, COSVN. And Mad Dog Shriver was never seen again."

      Delete
  4. It s that ambush-like reception despite a B-52 strike that opens the disturbing possibility of treachery and, it turns out, it was more than a mere possibility. One year after the COSVN raid, the NSA twice intercepted enemy messages warning of imminent SOG operations which could only have come from a mole or moles in SOG headquarters. It would only be long after the war that it became clear Hanoi s Trinh Sat had penetrated SOG, inserting at least one high ranking South Vietnamese officer in SOG whose treachery killed untold Americans, including, most likely, the COSVN raiders.
    http://biography-ebooks.com/_/_/545205/mad-dog-the-legend-and-truth-of-jerry-shriver
    I wonder what was being said by Mad Dog on the radio after his death or capture.
    No one has ever said so I guess it is 'classified.'
    One article stated the attack by the VC was an ambush and the enemy was very prepared. They walked right into a trap.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you and I hadn't read this particular one, I believe.

      http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2015/08/mad-dog-legend-and-truth-of-jerry.html

      Delete
  5. http://scopesys.com/cgi-bin/bio2.cgi?bio=S139
    Go down to "Missing SF" to #4 Jerry Shriver
    Mad Dog remained on the radio for four hrs. after.......whatever happened.
    Really strange to me and kind of bugs me..a lot.
    Maybe he was wounded and captured, since no body was found and forced to talk
    on the radio...for 4 hours.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://scopesys.com/cgi-bin/bio2.cgi?bio=S139

      Thanks. Seems to me if they had killed or captured him, they would have broadcasted it far and wide since Mad Dog was #1 on their hit list. Strange. Anyone know how we could request the info on the 4 hours? Can't find much on the Internet which brings up another, strange. I left in April '75. but went back there in '92 - '95 plus 1999 and 2005. I'm trying to go back this year and wonder if there is anyone I could contact there and/or is there anyone here that could give me leads? 99.9% it would be a waste of my time, but I'm willing to try.

      Delete
  6. Bo Gritz would know. I emailed him a few yrs. ago regarding another topic but he
    never replied back. I don't even know if his email was functional.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks and you could try this: http://www.spike-team.com/contact/ The only person I could think of who I have corresponded with was Hackworth, but of course he is no longer with us. Too bad.

      Delete
  7. Thanks. I will give it a try. A lot of Bo's info is not updated like when I tried to call
    in on his radio show. This avenue was closed also.
    Anyway:
    After the exploitation platoon was decimated, other Special Forces personnel assigned to Command and Control North were listening to a North Vietnamese propaganda broadcast made by "Hanoi Hanna" when they heard her boast that "Mad Dog Shriver had been captured" by NVA forces. A second broadcast aired by Hanoi Hanna some time after the first stated that "they had Shriver's ears," which was a euphemism for Jerry Shriver being dead and the NVA having his body. The first broadcast was later substantiated by a US military intelligence report declassified in 1993 that acknowledged "Vietnamese voices were later heard (which) stated that one American was in the process of being captured."
    Could they have been lying? Sure, that is what they did. But I guess it was
    confirmed but not who NVA captured.
    http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/s139.htm

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey , there is something wrong with the link. I tried it on Waterfox and Goggle Chrome.

      ===

      but not who NVA captured.

      Thanks and I refuse to believe this as they would have showed a body if they had him, their ultimate prize.

      Delete
  8. http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/s139.html
    Sorry, the ' l ' did not make the transfer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, but it still doesn't work for me! :)


      This webpage is not available

      ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED

      Delete
  9. I just copied and pasted the above link and it worked fine for me. Strange
    Try this facebook page which has the same link to connect. This worked
    fine for me too. I tried to copy and paste the article, divided, to comments
    but was too many characters.
    https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=209355525767338&id=110329019057333

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing worked with these links on Waterfox or Google Chrome. I tried IE and after a longer than normal time, it showed up. Very, very strange and thank you.

      Delete
  10. Your welcome. As you say strange. I used regular Google.
    Remember the description in one of the articles where a SF
    soldier painted his hat black. Too funny. They were a funky bunch.
    And Mad Dog's head bandanna looked like it came from a first aid kit
    to be used as a arm sling. Definitely antisocial and Rebels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. looked like it came from a first aid kit to be used as a arm sling.

      :) Reminded me of the following for some reason.

      Fix Bayonets!"
      "And they began to yell and scream and curse like mad men. Rebel Yells, blood curdling Rebel Yells. Just like the men who followed Stonewall Jackson and Jeb Stuart. Here in the godforsaken jungles of Vietnam one hundred years later another crazy-like-a-fox Virginian was ordering men to fix bayonets and charge."
      http://www.namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=3003highlight=vietnam+rebel+yell

      Delete
  11. Thank you. Some things are just innate.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mad Dog Shriver and the four Montagnards must have been alive when captured
    as the NVA left the one dead Montagnard behind. This article does not state it,
    but the NVA were seen picking up a gun similar to the one Mad Dog used.
    Sure would like to know what was being transmitted over the radio by Mad Dog
    for four hours. He had to have been captured and forced to talk on the radio by
    the NVA. It all depends on what was being transmitted.
    If you find out anything, can you pls post on your site.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Certainly, but it must have been hushed up for some reason, since there isn't even one word on what he supposedly said.

      Delete
  13. Never mind some of the above. It seems Mad Dog Shriver went towards the treeline
    with one Montagnard who was found dead. After Mad Dog was shot and disappeared
    from the treeline, he continued radio contact with Capt. Caghill for four hours and
    then radio transmission was stopped. So he was alive until the NVA found him. I guess sometime around this time, Mad Dog's
    weapon taken by enemy. Also, reported Mad Dog was decapitated. The following
    is not the article I just read but interesting just the same:
    "Mad Dog" Shriver
    (Betrayed by Walker Spy Ring)

    He ventured his life
    More than one hundred times
    On those danger missions,
    Surviving by his wits.

    Searching out the enemy,
    Always killing and disrupting.
    They soon gave him a name,
    And began to seek his end.

    "Mad Dog" Shriver they feared,
    Though he showed not his fear.
    He killed so many of the enemy,
    They began to talk his legend.

    Until one day he went out,
    Never to return again:
    Caught in a bloody ambush,
    Some say he was betrayed.

    His friends went out searching,
    Looking for his body.
    All the others they found,
    But the "Mad Dog" was gone.

    Many say he still fights on.
    They hear the rattle of guns.
    They hear the blast of grenades.
    They hear his scream of death.

    FAC Forward Air Control Aircraft of the Viet Nam War, all flown by the bravest of the brave

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mad Dog Shriver went towards the treeline with one Montagnard who was found dead.

      Above states there were two: "a True Believer Yard on either side"

      ===============

      the article I just read

      Please give us the link.

      ============

      I still think they would have broadcast a picture far and wide if they had him their ultimate prize.

      Delete
  14. One Montagnard or a team of Montagnards, depends on what article one reads.
    Just blows me away. I've read one Montagnard, a team of Montagnards and I've
    read five Montagnards. I don't know how this can be so inconsistent. Some more
    info on the legend which is entertaining to say the least. You've probably already
    read something like this before as I have seen your name in a couple of spots:
    While on stand-down after coming off a long recon mission into Cambodia, Shriver was wandering around in Saigon and wound up in the off-limits area after curfew. MPs spotted him and hauled him in, all the while Shriver offered no resistence and barely said a word. Once the MPs discovered he was a Special Forces NCO, they asked him for his weapon, to which Mad Dog willingly surendered his .38 revolver. Upon arrival to the station, the gangly SF NCO was booked and placed into a holding cell, again, barely speaking a word, if any. The next morning, a SOG officer from CCS arrived to sign for Shriver. Then, the officer turned to the MPs and asked for Shrivers personal affects. The desk clerk handed him a manila envelope. After a speedy inspection, the major asked again, where the rest of Shriver's things were. The MPs didn't quite understand until Shriver lifted his shirt. Sitting snugly in the waistband of his trousers were two Colt .45s, four M26 frag grenades, a Gerber fighting knife and a gnarly pair of brass knuckles. Shriver nodded to the MPs and strolled out of the station with the SOG officer like it was nothing.
    Supposedly, the NVA decapitated Mad Dog so they would not have to worry about
    him being a problem for them. Sounds sort of like voodoo. Superstitious.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh yea, forgot about the link. Had to go back and dig it up:

    http://170th.org/FOB2/Shriver-Jerry-M.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. I wonder why Jerry Mad Dog Shriver never received a MOH. He was certainly
    accomplished enough or was it that he could not report his mission locations.
    It is said Maddog was fluent in both Vietnamese and Russian. He would dress up as a Russian officer and boldly walk into a NVA encampment and begin scolding and berating the NVA soldiers. During the ensuing confusion, Maddog would note their numbers and defenses and readiness, then he got the hell out of there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder why Jerry Mad Dog Shriver never received a MOH.

      Good question even though he did receive two Silver Stars. You can be awarded the MOH for a group of actions as did Drew Dix.

      My Friend, NAGO And Drew Dix, CMOH Winner
      http://www.namsouth.com/viewtopic.php?t=26&highlight=nago

      Delete
  17. Thanks much.
    "Communists told Bao's sister that if he and his men turned themselves in, then they would grant them amnesty. Unfortunately, he believed them, and when he came to Chau Doc to surrender, they immediately took him to the marketplace and promptly executed him".
    Like the Confederate soldiers after the War of Northern Aggression, they turned
    themselves in with promises of not being harmed and they were executed.
    More communists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. More communists.

      Yes. Here is a link with more pictures and just noticed that the Pinterest ones aren't showing, but if you click on it, you'll see a page with the pictures and others.

      http://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/search?q=Bao

      Delete