N.Y. Times publishes unusual list of Vietnam War friendly-fire incidents
[Note: In a Sunday Times 'Week in Review' article by C.J. Chivers about a recent friendly-fire incident in Iraq in which an American pilot accidentally killed a British soldier (see link below), reference was made to a once-secret Vietnam War report by an Army captain"that provided a glimpse at [the] grim, ineludible facts [of friendly fire]. Replying to a request from another headquarters, he compiled a list of the small-arms mishaps in which American soldiers were killed or injured in the first six months of 1967.
["The record he sent back to the United States, of 353 incidents in 172 days that killed or injured 398 soldiers, is a catalog of fratricidal and self-inflicted bloodshed caused by mistakes, negligence, exhaustion, panic, horseplay, dim lighting, dense vegetation, inattentiveness, faulty equipment, poor training, foolishness, ill fortune or some combination of the above."
[The record is now at the National Archives center in College Park, Md. The sidebar has selected examples:]
1 KIA, 3 WIA, HG. Pin pulled out by heavy vegetation.
1 WIA, M16. Trigger caught on bushes.
2 WIA, M79. Unit on search and destroy mission fired from boat at movement on shore.
1 WIA, M16. Hit by ricochet while in friendly fire fight.
2 KIA, 2 WIA, M60. Men were guarding tank — took friendly troops under fire.
1 KIA, M60. Enlisted man was unable to swim and during a river crossing operation a friendly helicopter mistook the unit for an enemy force and fired upon them. Man panicked, submerged — body has not been found.
1 KIA, WU. One ambush patrol ambushed by another.
1 WIA, WU. Patrol leader failed to notify perimeter guards that individual was returning from patrol.
1 WIA, M16. Platoon leader was shot while checking ambush positions. Didn’t answer challenge.
1 KIA, M16. Mistaken for hostile infiltrator.
1 WIA, M16. Self-inflicted loading.
2 WIA, .45. Man tried to unload weapon injuring 2 men.
1 KIA, M14. Weapon accidentally discharged when man fell asleep riding in rear of 2 ½ ton truck fatally wounding driver...
Read entire article at New York Times
["The record he sent back to the United States, of 353 incidents in 172 days that killed or injured 398 soldiers, is a catalog of fratricidal and self-inflicted bloodshed caused by mistakes, negligence, exhaustion, panic, horseplay, dim lighting, dense vegetation, inattentiveness, faulty equipment, poor training, foolishness, ill fortune or some combination of the above."
[The record is now at the National Archives center in College Park, Md. The sidebar has selected examples:]
1 KIA, 3 WIA, HG. Pin pulled out by heavy vegetation.
1 WIA, M16. Trigger caught on bushes.
2 WIA, M79. Unit on search and destroy mission fired from boat at movement on shore.
1 WIA, M16. Hit by ricochet while in friendly fire fight.
2 KIA, 2 WIA, M60. Men were guarding tank — took friendly troops under fire.
1 KIA, M60. Enlisted man was unable to swim and during a river crossing operation a friendly helicopter mistook the unit for an enemy force and fired upon them. Man panicked, submerged — body has not been found.
1 KIA, WU. One ambush patrol ambushed by another.
1 WIA, WU. Patrol leader failed to notify perimeter guards that individual was returning from patrol.
1 WIA, M16. Platoon leader was shot while checking ambush positions. Didn’t answer challenge.
1 KIA, M16. Mistaken for hostile infiltrator.
1 WIA, M16. Self-inflicted loading.
2 WIA, .45. Man tried to unload weapon injuring 2 men.
1 KIA, M14. Weapon accidentally discharged when man fell asleep riding in rear of 2 ½ ton truck fatally wounding driver...
Related Links
Killed in Action, but Not by the Enemy