Today's United States Marines have many idols. Unsurprisingly, these are often other Marines, Marines who served in wars past but distinguished themselves and exemplified what it means to call oneself a United States Marine. Few of these idols loom as large as Gunnery Sgt. John Basilone.
Basilone was born to an Italian family in Upstate New York and raised in New Jersey. He was working as a golf caddy when he decided to join the Army in 1934. It was, of course, years before the United States entered World War II. He spent three years in the Philippines, a place he would come to love.
Basilone loved Manila so much, in fact, that after he left the Army and became a truck driver, he decided he would re-enlist to get back to Manila as fast as possible. Thinking the Marine Corps would get him there faster, he joined the Marines instead of the Army in 1940. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay instead.
After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Marines went to war in the Pacific. By 1942, Basilone was sent to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands with the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, and 1st Marine Division. John Basilone was about to make history while stacking many Japanese bodies.
The Marines on Guadalcanal found intense resistance from the Japanese defending the island. The 1/7th Marines were being hammered all along their defensive perimeter. Three thousand enemy soldiers from the Japanese Sendai Division came at the Marines with everything they could.
Then-Sgt. Basilone was in charge of two machine gun sections defending the perimeter. The enemy began blasting away at his sections using mortars and machine guns of their own until only Basilone and two of his Marines were left standing. To make matters worse, his guns had been cut off from the main American force by the Japanese assault. Things were beginning to look bleak.
With ammunition critically low, Basilone fought his way through the enemy-occupied territory to bring his machine gunners the supplies and ammunition they needed. He even brought a heavy gun of his own to bring to bear against the onslaught. As they continued to fight on for two days, Basilone repaired another gun under heavy fire and was able to use that weapon as well.
When ammunition began to run out, Basilone fought on with his sidearm and a machete. The Marines were not only able to hold the defensive line until relief arrived, they virtually annihilated the entire enemy unit. For his actions on Guadalcanal, which helped keep the critical Henderson Field in American hands, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
But Basilone wasn't done. After a tour raising money for war bonds back in the United States, Basilone reenlisted in the United States Marine Corps and asked to be returned to combat duty. He arrived back in the Pacific Theater, newly married and attached to 1st Battalion, 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division.
Basilone made it back to the front lines in time to join the Marines in the invasion of Iwo Jima, some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire war in any theater. Once more, Basilone was leading machine gun teams. But upon landing, the entire unit was pinned down by enemy machine gunners coming from blockhouses.
In a daring act of bravado under heavy fire, Basilone separated from his unit, headed toward the enemy blockhouses, and made his way on top of them. From his position atop the defenses, he used grenades and explosives to destroy the fortifications and their garrison inside, freeing his troops to advance.
The Marines then advanced toward an enemy airfield when they encountered an American tank trapped in a minefield. Under heavy Japanese small arms, mortar, and artillery fire, Basilone helped guide the tank out of the minefield and to safety. Sadly, he was killed in the effort.
Without John Basilone's bravery, his Marines might never have advanced off the beach. For his actions under fire, he was awarded the Navy Cross, the Marines' second-highest award. He is the only enlisted Marine to have received both the Medal of Honor and Navy Cross during World War II, so it's little wonder why his memory is revered by Marines to this day.
The U.S. Navy has had its wins and losses since its birthday on Oct. 13, 1775. Its victories are too numerous to count. While its losses are few and far between, two devastating losses stand out among all the others.
Its most memorable significant loss is, of course, a day that continues to live in infamy. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor devastated the Navy's Pacific Fleet but did not cripple it. The Navy's first-ever significant is on par with Pearl Harbor but is often forgotten: The ill-fated Penobscot Expedition.
In 1779, the Revolutionary War was in full swing. An American victory over British forces at Saratoga in 1777 brought recognition of the 13 American colonies from European powers like France and Spain. France allied itself with the new country, and the British Empire was forced to alter its strategy for dealing with the rebels.
A British force under Gen. Francis McLean captured a large portion of Maine, then part of the Massachusetts colony, and renamed it New Ireland. To reclaim the lost territory, Massachusetts assembled the largest naval expedition of the war.
A total force of 44 ships, including 19 warships and 25 support vessels, left Boston on July 19, 1779, bound for Castine, Maine, between the mouths of the Penobscot and Bagaduce Rivers. It was the same village at which the British landed to capture the area one month prior.
The flotilla was to land a force of 1,000 militiamen and colonial marines, along with a 100-strong artillery force under the command of Lt. Col. Paul Revere. Their first objective was to capture Fort George, a waypoint between the Royal Navy's station at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Though outnumbered by more than three-to-one, the bay at Castine was easily defensible, one of the primary reasons it was chosen by the British as the site of their stronghold between Canada and the rebellious American colonies.
Some 2,000 sailors and their colonial land forces under Brig. Gen. Solomon Lovell arrived near the Penobscot River bay on July 25, 1779. The Royal Navy engaged the warships almost immediately, exchanging fire for more than four hours. As the warships fought, the Americans attempted to land their ground troops but were pushed back by heavy resistance.
The next day, colonial marines captured the British guns on nearby Nautilus Island. The force of militiamen were landed at the mouth of the Bagaduce but were turned back. Another force of 750 men landed and began to build the siege works. Two days later, the colonials landed another force, this time marines mixed with militia, to capture the fort.
American forces captured the heights around the fort, but at a cost. More than a quarter of the landing party were killed or wounded, and the Continental Navy frigate Warren was heavily damaged supporting the landing. As the ground troops assaulted the British forces, they lacked the one thing they needed to win: naval support.
Commodore Dudley Saltonstall was in command of the American ships. After the casualties he took during the initial landings, he was hesitant to engage the British warships in the bay. Despite outnumbering the British ships, he kept out of range of the British guns, which gave the British naval superiority in the bay as the Americans mounted their attack on the fort.
Pinned down by heavy British fire, the Americans were pinned down. They managed to take a battery of guns adjacent to the fort under cover of darkness, but when dawn broke the next day, Fort George began to pound the captured position.
The delays in taking the fort, combined with the reticence of the American flotilla, allowed the British time to send for reinforcements. A force of ten British warships was dispatched from New York on August 3rd. It arrived as Saltonstall finally began a naval attack on Fort George. The reinforcements forced the American ship upriver, pursued the whole way by the British.
By August 16th, most of the ships were scuttled or burned near Bangor, their crews forced to make their way home to Boston overland. The siege was broken, and the British continued their control over the northern areas of Massachusetts. British losses numbered 85 killed, wounded, or captured, while the colonial task force listed 474 killed, wounded, or captured.
Commodore Saltonstall's reluctance to engage the British fleet in the early days of the assault was blamed for the failure. Saltonstall was tried and sentenced to dismissal from the service. Fort George and the whole idea of New Ireland was abandoned in the terms of the 1783 Treaty of Paris that granted the colonies their independence.
It might come as a surprise to many, but the United States did not offer its troops medals or ribbons as uniform decorations until the Medal of Honor was introduced by President Lincoln during the Civil War. It was only offered to enlisted troops in July 1862, but by December, it was made available to officers who displayed exceptional gallantry.
Until that point in U.S. military history, military medals were more of a European tradition. Medals and ribbons were seen as a custom practiced by the armies of foreign monarchies. The United States, with its democratic government and egalitarian principles, frowned on such ties to Europe's royal heritage, from which the Americans fought hard to separate themselves.
During the Mexican-American War, a 'certificate of merit' would be issued to soldiers who distinguished themselves in action, but no uniform item existed to identify them. It was simply a certificate. It was discontinued after that war ended in 1848.
Despite a lack of military decorations for the 86 years between the Declaration of Independence and the introduction of the Medal of Honor, three people were awarded medals. The only person who could have introduced an American medal over any objections was the Commander-In-Chief himself: George Washington.
On August 7, 1782, Gen. George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, a simple heart made of purple cloth. He awarded it to three men: Sgt. Elijah Churchill, Sgt. William Brown and Sgt. Daniel Bissel Jr. Washington intended the badge to be a recognition of 'any singularly meritorious action.' Only those three soldiers ever received it, and everyone forgot it ever existed.
By 1932, the United States military had a number of decorations available for troops who fought in combat. The United States had entered World War I less than two decades prior, after all. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who was the Army's Chief of Staff at the time, called for a revival of awards.
MacArthur wanted to not only recognize soldiers who performed meritorious acts, just as Washington's original badge had been. He also wanted to recognize the bicentennial of George, the first president's birthday. The medal he proposed featured purple cloth with a heart-shaped medal and Washington's profile on a purple background.
The Purple Heart was born. But the Department of the Army required that meritorious acts for which the medal would be awarded had to include a wound inflicted by the enemy. Ever since, the Purple Heart has been an award for such acts. When the Legion of Merit was established during World War II, the Purple Heart became an award solely for wounds in combat.
U.S. troops who had been awarded the Meritorious Service Citation Certificate, Army Wound Ribbon, or were authorized to wear wound chevrons were awarded the Purple Heart retroactive to the U.S. entry into World War I. MacArthur himself was the first person to be awarded the medal.
Steeped in secrecy and shaped by global Cold War tensions, the Vietnam War was, by all standards of measure, the most clandestine military campaign in US history. After World War II, democratic and communist nations were spoiling for a fight, testing one another, and positioning themselves to gain geographic and political advantage. However, with an indecisive outcome in Korea and escalating international anxiety, further activities became highly secretive on both sides, including CIA involvement in Vietnam beginning in 1953. Leading to covert 1961 combat operations in North Vietnam code-named Operation 34A, these highly classified and largely unsuccessful attacks reflected other events of that time, e.g., the Bay of Pigs (April 1961) and the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962). These CIA missions, comprised of air and naval infiltration, led to significant loss of life. To increase the chances of success, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam- Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was created, and Operation 34A was transferred in July of 1964. Tasked initially with covert missions against Northern Vietnam, MACV-SOG entered the world of shadow warriors and covert operations, much of which remains classified to this time.
Established on January 24, 1964, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly classified, multi-service special operations unit conducting covert and unconventional warfare, both before and during the Vietnam War. Created by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, MACV-SOG conducted strategic reconnaissance missions in South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, taking enemy prisoners, rescuing downed pilots and prisoners of war throughout Southeast Asia, and conducting clandestine agent team activities and psychological operations. It eventually consisted primarily of personnel from the United States Army Special Forces, the United States Navy SEALs, the United States Air Force (USAF), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and elements of the United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance units- every one a volunteer. The force was above top secret - operatives were sworn to secrecy for over twenty years, which sadly meant that families of MACV-SOG members were not informed if their loved ones were killed in action. To prevent detection, SOG personnel carried no identification, uniforms were sterilized of all insignia, serial numbers were removed from their weapons, or captured enemy ordinance was used. Additionally, to best preserve the US assertion that no troops were operating outside South Vietnam, SOG reported directly to MACV, devoid of the military chain of command.
Integral to accepting responsibility for Operation 34A in July 1964, MACV-SOG had an immediate and decisive impact on the war, leading to rapid escalation. Throughout 1963 the South Vietnamese regime of Ngo Dinh Diem was losing the war. Concerns intensified further when Diem was overthrown and killed in a CIA-sponsored coup in November, along with the assassination of President Kennedy. With MACV-SOG in place, on the night of July 30 and 31, 1964, four SOG PTF boats shelled islands off the coast of North Vietnam, the first time SOG employed seaborne shelling. At the same time, a SOG Agent Team was inserted into North Vietnam but was detected by the 
Viet Cong. The very next afternoon, the destroyer USS Maddox began a coastal intelligence-gathering mission in the Gulf of Tonkin, prompting three Viet Cong torpedo boats to attack the Maddox on August 2nd, though the destroyer was undamaged. On the night of August 3rd and 4th, three SOG vessels again shelled targets on the mainland of North Vietnam. Joined by the destroyer USS Turner Joy on August 4th, the Maddox reported to Washington that both ships were under attack by unknown vessels, assumed to be North Vietnamese. In response, President Johnson launched Operation Pierce Arrow, an aerial attack against North Vietnamese targets. Moreover, and of historical importance, Congress authorized the Southeast Asia Resolution giving President Johnson power to do whatever was necessary to support the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty- without a declaration of war. Unknown to Congress, however, was that SOG operations were conducted in the same area as the Maddox, and there was only a single Viet Cong attack on US vessels.
Central to accelerating US involvement throughout Southeast Asia, SOG participated in the most significant campaigns of the Vietnam War, including Operation Steel Tiger, Operation Tiger Hound, the Tet Offensive, Operation Commando Hunt, and the Cambodian Campaign Operation Lam Son 719, and the Easter Offensive. Officially SOG was authorized for a wartime high of 394 US personnel, but to accomplish their missions, support was necessary from a number of Army, Air Force, Marine, and South Vietnamese units that totaled 10,210 military and civilian personnel working for MACV-SOG, including seven CIA operatives. To manage the growing complexities, SOG developed Operational Groups (Maritime, Airborne, Psychological, and Air) commanded from headquarters in Saigon, increasing in size and scope throughout the war.
Perhaps the least known aspect of SOG's original missions consisted of psychological operations conducted against North Vietnam and comprised of radio broadcasts (e.g., "Voice of the SSPL"), leaflet drops, and gift kits containing pre-tuned radios which could only receive broadcasts from the unit's transmitters. SOG also broadcast "Radio Red Flag,” programming purportedly directed by a group of dissident communist military officers. Both stations condemned the PRC, the South and North Vietnamese regimes, and the US in favor of traditional Vietnamese values. Straight news, without propaganda embellishment, was broadcast from South Vietnam via the Voice of Freedom, another SOG creation.
By September 1965, the Pentagon authorized MACV-SOG to begin cross-border operations in Laos along South Vietnam's western border, though not officially acknowledged until 1971. MACV wanted boots on the ground since 1964 to observe the enemy logistical system operating on and around the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Earlier strategic bombing efforts in April (Operation Steel Tiger), through the 7th Air Force, were wholly unsuccessful. Equally, all-Vietnamese reconnaissance efforts (Operation Leaping Lena) proved disastrous. US troops were necessary, and SOG launched Laotian operations beginning in October 1965. In what became a longstanding practice, SOG conducted prisoner snatch missions behind enemy lines along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. No matter the primary mission, capturing enemy soldiers remained the team's secondary objective to gather valuable intelligence relating to troop movements, size, and base locations. However, teams also received rewards, including free R&R trips to Taiwan or Thailand, a $100 bonus for each US team member, a Seiko watch, and cash to each indigenous member. SOG most often operated using teams comprised of two-to-three Americans and six-to-nine indigenous personnel (Vietnamese, Montagnards, Cambodians, or ethnic Chinese). When launching a cross-border recon operation, SOG teams would enter a pre-mission “quarantine,” much like modern-day Army Special Forces operational detachments do before deploying. During this quarantine period, they would eat the same food as the North Vietnamese, so they- and their human waste- would smell like the enemy while in the jungle.
During 1966 it became obvious the North Vietnamese were using Cambodia, a supposedly neutral country, as part of their logistical system. However, the extent of operations was unknown. In April 1967, MACV-SOG was ordered to commence Operation Daniel Boone, a cross-border reconnaissance effort into Cambodia, though, like Laos, not acknowledged until 1970. But unlike Laos, SOG and the 5th Special Forces Group were initially constrained in their efforts. Reconnaissance teams had to cross the border on foot, had no tactical air support or Forward Air Controllers, and relied almost solely on stealth. Though SOG's Air Operations Group had been augmented in September 1966, alongside support by the 15th Air Commando Squadron and the 20th Special Operations Squadron, air support was not authorized in Cambodia until much later, and then in the form of dedicated Huey gunships and transport.
Early on, SOG involvement was growing and becoming more diverse. In September 1966, the Joint Personnel Recovery Center (JPRC) was established by MACV and immediately assigned to SOG. The JPRC was to compile information on POWs, MIA, and escapees, planning missions to free and recover US and allied personnel. Additionally, SOG was responsible to conduct post search and rescue (SAR) operations when all other efforts had failed. SOG carried on this mission until the unit was disbanded in 1972, at which time responsibility to repatriate some 2,500 missing military and civilian personnel passed to a successor organization, the Joint Casualty Resolution Center (JCRC). Operationally, by 1967 MACV-SOG had also assumed the role of supporting construction for the Muscle Shoals electronic barrier system, including reconnaissance and placement of electronic sensors both in the western Demilitarized Zone and southeastern Laos.
Success in the war through 1967 continues to be controversial, but there is no denying that 1968 was pivotal, signaling a downturn for US forces despite escalating troop commitments. For SOG specifically, the Tet Offensive, the largest Communist assault to that time, inflicted severe losses and caused a collapse of northern operations. Reportedly, the communists offered a medal for any NVA soldier that killed a SOG member. For most of the year, MACV-SOG centered around in-country missions supporting field forces. However, on the morning of October 5th, all that would change with a reconnaissance mission by Recon Team Alabama that proved legendary. The insertion of Alabama's nine-man team started smoothly enough, but almost immediately, an NVA flag was spotted, signaling regimental strength in the area. Rather than abort, the team continued on, but only to realize the mission had been compromised, and they were walking into an ambush. In the ensuing melee, growing numbers of NVA were killed as Team Alabama was encircled, and the enemy dead were stacked up to create a perimeter wall. Over the next several hours, Phantom jets dropped napalm on advancing enemy troops while helicopter gunships resupplied the soldiers of Team Alabama and provided supporting fire. Under the leadership of Specialist Fourth Class Lynne M. Black Jr. and Cowboy, a South Vietnamese Team Leader, extraction was ultimately achieved. Only after the engagement was it determined that an NVA division numbering 10,000 had been committed to the action, with ninety percent killed or wounded.
Meanwhile, peace negotiations were stalled, and the US was anxious to reopen discussions with Hanoi. Though North Vietnam was looking for the US to cease its air campaign (Operation Rolling Thunder), President Johnson instead enacted a cessation of all US operations north of the 20th parallel, both overt and covert. This order effectively ended MACV-SOG's agent team, propaganda, and 
aerial operations. In reality, intelligence returns from the northern agent teams had been disappointing, and more than three-quarters of the agents inserted, some 456 South Vietnamese, had been captured. Years after the war ended, it was discovered there was a mole at the SOG headquarters in Saigon, passing information on team missions and locations to the enemy.
Consequently, by 1970 SOG found their time on the ground both shortened and more dangerous, evidenced by more and more teams being eradicated. In fact, MACV-SOG had a casualty rate exceeding 100%, one of the highest of any US force. This translates to every single SOG officer being wounded at least once and over half of the force killed in action.
The US military and MACV-SOG kept tight security over the unit's existence until the early 1980s. The unit was downsized and renamed Strategic Technical Directorate Assistance Team 158 on May 1, 1972, to support the transfer of its work to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam under the Vietnamization program. In recognition of their contributions, bravery, and devotion to duty, MACV-SOG was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation (April 2001), thirteen Congressional Medals of Honor, twenty-two Distinguished Service Crosses, and a host of others. Service with SOG meant a life filled with peril and the likelihood of dying in anonymity. But, for this elite, all-volunteer force, it also came with the reassurance of working alongside the best and confidence borne from an unbreakable bond of loyalty and trust.
Some say the decades between 1930 and 1970 were the golden age of aviation. For many pilots, this was certainly the case. Aviation technology took a great leap forward during and after World War II. Pilots began testing the limits of their craft, from altitude to the sound barrier. Most importantly, the years saw the creation of the U.S. Air Force as an independent military branch.
Starting from a must-win air war like World War II, pilots like Col. Richard Ernest Evans could really make a name for themselves and thrive in the skies. Growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, Evans was practically born to serve. He started his service life with the Eagle Scouts and became a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot in the Mediterranean theater of World War II.
He continued his service after the war as Deputy Director of Operations for the USAF Strategic Air Command. During the Cold War, he was promoted to colonel and was the commander of the B-58 test squadron. He then went to work for North American Aircraft Company, continuing his aviation career.
While deployed to the Mediterranean, he flew 54 combat missions over North Africa, Italy, and Germany. Most of these were flown in the "Theresa Leta," his B-17E Flying Fortress. One of the most notable missions in Col. Evans' war record came between June 13 and August 5, 1943. During this time period, he was Gen. (later Field Marshal) Bernard Montgomery's pilot, ferrying the famed British commander between his staff and his Army in the field.
After serving in Europe and North Africa, Col. Evans was transferred back to the mainland United States, where he learned to fly a new plane, the B-29 Superfortress. Evans was sent to the Pacific Theater in March 1945, where he flew one bombing mission over Japan before the Japanese surrendered later that year.
The rest of his time in the Air Force was spent first in the reserves before being activated again for the Korean War. After that, he became a test pilot, flying the B-47, B-52, and B-58 - the first strategic American bomber capable of flying at Mach 2.
Col. Evans' time in the Army and later Air Force was truly a golden age for pilots in general, as well as a golden age for himself. Before he died in 2006, he wrote 21 chapters of the book that would become "Richard Eager: A Pilot's Story from Tennessee Eagle Scouts to General Montgomery's 'Flying Fortress'" at the behest of his son and daughter.
The book is filled with interesting and funny stories from his youth, training, missions over Axis targets, and of course, his time with "Monty." Although he was unable to find a publisher for his book before he died, his daughter, Barbara Kinnear, promised she would publish it after his death.
Unfortunately, a 2008 wildfire destroyed Evans' home and his original manuscript. Kinnear meticulously recreated the stories using well-researched material, finally restoring her father's cherished memories.
"My father was a wonderful storyteller. He wrote with humor and humility and with an understanding of the value of history. His stories will remind others of the importance of family, long-honored values, and facing one's fears," Kinnear told the UT Daily Beacon in 2022.
Just in time to celebrate the 75th birthday of the United States Air Force, Richard Eager: A Pilot's Story from Tennessee Eagle Scouts to General Montgomery's 'Flying Fortress is available in hardcover, paperback, and digital formats, wherever books are sold, including Amazon and Walmart.
Basilone was born to an Italian family in Upstate New York and raised in New Jersey. He was working as a golf caddy when he decided to join the Army in 1934. It was, of course, years before the United States entered World War II. He spent three years in the Philippines, a place he would come to love. 
With ammunition critically low, Basilone fought his way through the enemy-occupied territory to bring his machine gunners the supplies and ammunition they needed. He even brought a heavy gun of his own to bring to bear against the onslaught. As they continued to fight on for two days, Basilone repaired another gun under heavy fire and was able to use that weapon as well. 
Basilone made it back to the front lines in time to join the Marines in the invasion of Iwo Jima, some of the bloodiest fighting of the entire war in any theater. Once more, Basilone was leading machine gun teams. But upon landing, the entire unit was pinned down by enemy machine gunners coming from blockhouses. 
Its most memorable significant loss is, of course, a day that continues to live in infamy. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor devastated the Navy's Pacific Fleet but did not cripple it. The Navy's first-ever significant is on par with Pearl Harbor but is often forgotten: The ill-fated Penobscot Expedition. 
Though outnumbered by more than three-to-one, the bay at Castine was easily defensible, one of the primary reasons it was chosen by the British as the site of their stronghold between Canada and the rebellious American colonies. 
Commodore Dudley Saltonstall was in command of the American ships. After the casualties he took during the initial landings, he was hesitant to engage the British warships in the bay. Despite outnumbering the British ships, he kept out of range of the British guns, which gave the British naval superiority in the bay as the Americans mounted their attack on the fort. 
Until that point in U.S. military history, military medals were more of a European tradition. Medals and ribbons were seen as a custom practiced by the armies of foreign monarchies. The United States, with its democratic government and egalitarian principles, frowned on such ties to Europe's royal heritage, from which the Americans fought hard to separate themselves. 
On August 7, 1782, Gen. George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, a simple heart made of purple cloth. He awarded it to three men: Sgt. Elijah Churchill, Sgt. William Brown and Sgt. Daniel Bissel Jr. Washington intended the badge to be a recognition of 'any singularly meritorious action.' Only those three soldiers ever received it, and everyone forgot it ever existed.
Established on January 24, 1964, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was a highly classified, multi-service special operations unit conducting covert and unconventional warfare, both before and during the Vietnam War. Created by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, MACV-SOG conducted strategic reconnaissance missions in South Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, taking enemy prisoners, rescuing downed pilots and prisoners of war throughout Southeast Asia, and conducting clandestine agent team activities and psychological operations. It eventually consisted primarily of personnel from the United States Army Special Forces, the United States Navy SEALs, the United States Air Force (USAF), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and elements of the United States Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance units- every one a volunteer. The force was above top secret - operatives were sworn to secrecy for over twenty years, which sadly meant that families of MACV-SOG members were not informed if their loved ones were killed in action. To prevent detection, SOG personnel carried no identification, uniforms were sterilized of all insignia, serial numbers were removed from their weapons, or captured enemy ordinance was used. Additionally, to best preserve the US assertion that no troops were operating outside South Vietnam, SOG reported directly to MACV, devoid of the military chain of command.
Viet Cong. The very next afternoon, the destroyer USS Maddox began a coastal intelligence-gathering mission in the Gulf of Tonkin, prompting three Viet Cong torpedo boats to attack the Maddox on August 2nd, though the destroyer was undamaged. On the night of August 3rd and 4th, three SOG vessels again shelled targets on the mainland of North Vietnam. Joined by the destroyer USS Turner Joy on August 4th, the Maddox reported to Washington that both ships were under attack by unknown vessels, assumed to be North Vietnamese. In response, President Johnson launched Operation Pierce Arrow, an aerial attack against North Vietnamese targets. Moreover, and of historical importance, Congress authorized the Southeast Asia Resolution giving President Johnson power to do whatever was necessary to support the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty- without a declaration of war. Unknown to Congress, however, was that SOG operations were conducted in the same area as the Maddox, and there was only a single Viet Cong attack on US vessels.
Perhaps the least known aspect of SOG's original missions consisted of psychological operations conducted against North Vietnam and comprised of radio broadcasts (e.g., "Voice of the SSPL"), leaflet drops, and gift kits containing pre-tuned radios which could only receive broadcasts from the unit's transmitters. SOG also broadcast "Radio Red Flag,” programming purportedly directed by a group of dissident communist military officers. Both stations condemned the PRC, the South and North Vietnamese regimes, and the US in favor of traditional Vietnamese values. Straight news, without propaganda embellishment, was broadcast from South Vietnam via the Voice of Freedom, another SOG creation.
During 1966 it became obvious the North Vietnamese were using Cambodia, a supposedly neutral country, as part of their logistical system. However, the extent of operations was unknown. In April 1967, MACV-SOG was ordered to commence Operation Daniel Boone, a cross-border reconnaissance effort into Cambodia, though, like Laos, not acknowledged until 1970. But unlike Laos, SOG and the 5th Special Forces Group were initially constrained in their efforts. Reconnaissance teams had to cross the border on foot, had no tactical air support or Forward Air Controllers, and relied almost solely on stealth. Though SOG's Air Operations Group had been augmented in September 1966, alongside support by the 15th Air Commando Squadron and the 20th Special Operations Squadron, air support was not authorized in Cambodia until much later, and then in the form of dedicated Huey gunships and transport.
Success in the war through 1967 continues to be controversial, but there is no denying that 1968 was pivotal, signaling a downturn for US forces despite escalating troop commitments. For SOG specifically, the Tet Offensive, the largest Communist assault to that time, inflicted severe losses and caused a collapse of northern operations. Reportedly, the communists offered a medal for any NVA soldier that killed a SOG member. For most of the year, MACV-SOG centered around in-country missions supporting field forces. However, on the morning of October 5th, all that would change with a reconnaissance mission by Recon Team Alabama that proved legendary. The insertion of Alabama's nine-man team started smoothly enough, but almost immediately, an NVA flag was spotted, signaling regimental strength in the area. Rather than abort, the team continued on, but only to realize the mission had been compromised, and they were walking into an ambush. In the ensuing melee, growing numbers of NVA were killed as Team Alabama was encircled, and the enemy dead were stacked up to create a perimeter wall. Over the next several hours, Phantom jets dropped napalm on advancing enemy troops while helicopter gunships resupplied the soldiers of Team Alabama and provided supporting fire. Under the leadership of Specialist Fourth Class Lynne M. Black Jr. and Cowboy, a South Vietnamese Team Leader, extraction was ultimately achieved. Only after the engagement was it determined that an NVA division numbering 10,000 had been committed to the action, with ninety percent killed or wounded. 
aerial operations. In reality, intelligence returns from the northern agent teams had been disappointing, and more than three-quarters of the agents inserted, some 456 South Vietnamese, had been captured. Years after the war ended, it was discovered there was a mole at the SOG headquarters in Saigon, passing information on team missions and locations to the enemy.
The rest of his time in the Air Force was spent first in the reserves before being activated again for the Korean War. After that, he became a test pilot, flying the B-47, B-52, and B-58 - the first strategic American bomber capable of flying at Mach 2.