Tiger Force

{{Other uses}} {{Infobox military unit | unit_name = Tiger Force | image = US 101st Airborne Division Tiger Force patch.svg | image_size = | caption = The patch of Tiger Force | country = United States | branch = United States Army | type = Special operations forces | role = | size = 45 | command_structure = XVIII Airborne Corps | current_commander = | dates = November 1965 – November 1969 (Vietnam) | garrison = Fort Campbell (1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade) | ceremonial_chief = | colonel_of_the_regiment = | nickname = | patron = | motto = | colors = | identification_symbol = | march = | mascot = | battles = Vietnam War | notable_commanders = David Hackworth | anniversaries = | decorations = 250px {{center|United States Presidential Unit Citation}} | battle_honours = }} {{Campaignbox Vietnam War massacres}} '''Tiger Force''' was a long-range reconnaissance patrol unit of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division which served in the Vietnam War. Organizationally part of the 327th Infantry Regiment's 1st Battalion (Airborne) in the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade (Separate), the unit was founded by Major David Hackworth and primarily active from November 1965 to November 1967.<ref name=Tiger>{{cite book|last1=Sallah|first1=Michael|last2=Weiss|first2=Mitch|title=Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War|publisher=Little, Brown and Company|year=2006|isbn=0316159972}}</ref>{{rp|22–3}} It gained notoriety after investigations during the course of the war and decades afterwards revealed the unit had committed extensive war crimes against hundreds of Vietnamese civilians.<ref name=Ward>{{Cite book|title=The Vietnam War: An Intimate History|last1=Ward|first1=Geoffrey C.|last2=Burns|first2=Ken|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|year=2017|isbn=9781524733100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4KyDQAAQBAJ|pages=235–8}}</ref> Hackworth, who left Vietnam before the unit began committing war crimes, claimed he was unaware of Tiger Force's atrocities and refused to speculate on why they occurred.<ref name="toledoblade.com">{{Cite web|first=Joe|last=Mahr|title=Unit's founder says he didn't know of atrocities|url=https://www.toledoblade.com/special-tiger-force/2004/03/28/Unit-s-founder-says-he-didn-t-know-of-atrocities.html|publisher=Toledo Blade|date=March 28, 2004|access-date=January 6, 2023}}</ref>

==Composition== thumb|right|Members of Tiger Force move along an infiltration trail, 1968 The platoon-sized unit, approximately 45 paratroopers, was organized by Major David Hackworth in November 1965 to "outguerrilla the guerrillas".<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|13–14, 23, 224}} Tiger Force (Recon) 1-327th was a highly decorated small unit in Vietnam, and paid for its reputation with heavy casualties.<ref>{{cite news|author=Joe Mahr|title=Unit's founder says he didn't know of atrocities|newspaper=Toledo Blade|url=http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F99999999%2FSRTIGERFORCE%2F40328015|date=28 March 2004|access-date=4 December 2008|archive-date=7 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107233127/http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F99999999%2FSRTIGERFORCE%2F40328015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In October 1968, Tiger Force's parent battalion was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation by President Lyndon B. Johnson, which included a mention of Tiger Force's service at Đắk Tô in June 1966.<ref>U.S. Army, {{cite web|url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/matrix/101abd/101abd-dec.html|title=101st Airborne Division, Unit Decorations War Department General Orders 59, 21 October 1968|publisher=U.S. Army}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

==Investigations of war crimes== thumb|right|Recon. Platoon leader, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry, uses an AN/PRC-25 radio to check with his command helicopter for new directions, 1969 On October 19, 2003, Michael D. Sallah, a reporter for The Toledo Blade newspaper, obtained unreleased, confidential records of U.S. Army commander Henry Tufts. One file in these records referred to a previously unpublished war crimes investigation known as the Coy Allegation. To investigate this further, Sallah gained access to a large collection of documents produced by the investigation held at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|309–11}}<ref name="Oliver">{{cite book | last = Oliver | first = Kendrick | title = The My Lai Massacre in American History and Memory | publisher = Manchester University Press | year = 2007 | pages = 328 | isbn = 978-0-7190-6891-1}}</ref>

Sallah found that between 1971 and 1975, the Army's Criminal Investigation Command had investigated the Tiger Force unit for alleged war crimes committed between May and November 1967.<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|264–306}} The documents included sworn statements from many Tiger Force veterans, which detailed war crimes allegedly committed by Tiger Force members during the Song Ve Valley and Operation Wheeler military campaigns. The statements, from both individuals who allegedly participated in the war crimes and those that did not, described war crimes such as the following:

* the routine torture and execution of prisoners<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|337, 344–5, 349, 353, 370–2}} * the routine practice of intentionally killing unarmed Vietnamese villagers including men, women, children, and elderly people<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|335, 339–346, 350–2, 354–5, 359, 361–2, 367–9, 374–5, 376}} * the routine practice of cutting off and collecting the ears of victims<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|335–6, 371}} * the practice of wearing necklaces composed of human ears<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|371}} * the practice of cutting off and collecting the scalps of victims<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|346, 374}} * incidents where soldiers planted weapons on murdered Vietnamese villagers<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hnn.us/articles/1802.html|title=The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of|website=hnn.us|accessdate=4 October 2017}}</ref> * an incident where a young mother was drugged, raped, and then executed<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|361–2, 377–8}} * an incident where a soldier killed a baby and cut off the baby's head after the baby's mother was killed<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|360, 363–4, 372–3}}

The investigators concluded that many of the war crimes took place.<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|383}} This included the murder of former ARVN personnel, the murder of two blind brothers, and the routine murder of women, children, and disabled or elderly civilians.<ref name=Ward/> Despite these conclusions, the Army decided not to pursue any prosecutions.<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|306}}

High bodycounts were recognized and encouraged by military officials. Colonel Gerald Morse ordered troops of the 327th Infantry Regiment, of which Tiger Force was part of, to rack up a body count of 327 during Operation Wheeler in order to match the battalion's infantry designation, 327th. Those killed were all listed as enemy combatants.<ref name=Ward/> Tiger Force's Sam Ybarra was congratulated in the ''Stars and Stripes'' military newspaper for the 1,000th kill of Operation Wheeler.<ref name="socialistworker.org">{{cite web|url=http://socialistworker.org/2003-2/476/476_05_WarCrimes.shtml|title=Vietnam war crimes|website=socialistworker.org|accessdate=4 October 2017}}</ref>

After studying the documents, Sallah and fellow reporter, Mitch Weiss, located and interviewed dozens of veterans who served in Tiger Force during the period in question as well as the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID) investigators who later carried out the Army's inquiry. The reporters also traveled to Vietnam and tracked down numerous residents of Song Ve Valley who identified themselves as witnesses. Sallah and Weiss reported that the war crimes were corroborated by both veterans<ref>{{cite news|author1=Michael Sallah|author2=Mitch Weiss|title=Rogue GIs unleashed wave of terror in Central Highlands|newspaper=Toledo Blade|date=22 October 2003|url= http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6817}}</ref> and Song Ve Valley residents.<ref>{{cite news|author1=Michael Sallah|author2=Mitch Weiss|title=Pain lingers 36 years after deadly rampage|publisher=Toledo Blade|date=22 October 2003|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6822}}</ref> The reporters also managed to track down dozens of additional investigative records not included in the National Archives.

The reporters published their findings in a series of articles in ''The Toledo Blade''<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2004-Investigative-Reporting|journal=Toledo Blade |author=Sallah, Michael D.|author2=Weiss, Mitch |author3=Mahr, Joe|title=''Tiger Force'' columns in order of appearance in the original entry|date=2003|accessdate=30 September 2017}}</ref> in October 2003. ''The New York Times'' subsequently performed their own investigation, contacting a few Tiger Force veterans and corroborating ''The Toledo Blade''{{'}}s findings.<ref>{{cite news|author=John Kifner|journal=The New York Times|date=December 28, 2003|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/national/28TIGE.html?pagewanted=all|title=Report on Brutal Vietnam Campaign Stirs Memories}}</ref>

Since ''The Blade''{{-'}}s story, the United States Army has opened a review of the former Tiger Force investigation, but has not yet provided much additional information. On May 11, 2004, Lt. Col. Pamela Hart informed ''The Blade'' reporters that she had been too busy responding to prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers in Iraq to check on the status of the Tiger Force case.<ref>{{cite news|author=Joe Mahr|newspaper=Toledo Blade|url=http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F99999999%2FSRTIGERFORCE%2F405120331|title=Tiger Force answers still elusive|date=12 May 2004|access-date=4 December 2008|archive-date=30 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330180944/http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F99999999%2FSRTIGERFORCE%2F405120331|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''The Blade'' has not reported on any more recent updates from the U.S. Army.

Reporters Michael D. Sallah, Mitch Weiss, and Joe Mahr received a number of awards for their series:

* In 2003, the reporters won the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Medal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ire.org/contest/past/03winners.html|title=IRE Contest | the IRE Awards |accessdate=2006-12-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212104644/http://www.ire.org/contest/past/03winners.html |archivedate=2006-12-12 }}</ref> * In 2003, the reporters won the Sigma Delta Chi Award for investigative reporting, for publications with a circulation of 100,000 or greater.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spj.org/news.asp?ref=364|title=SPJ Announces Recipients of 2003 Sigma Delta Chi Awards - Society of Professional Journalists|website=www.spj.org|accessdate=4 October 2017}}</ref> * In 2004, the reporters won the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/pageone/taylor2004.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-12-10 |archive-date=2006-09-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060908031812/http://www.nieman.harvard.edu//pageone/taylor2004.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> * In 2004, the reporters won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2004,Investigative+Reporting| title = The Pulitzer Prizes}}</ref>

In 2006, Sallah, now an investigative reporter with ''The Washington Post'', and Weiss, an investigative reporter with the Associated Press, co-authored a book chronicling their findings: ''Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War'' (2006).<ref name=Tiger/>

==Notable former members, 1965–1969== *Col. David Hackworth,<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|13}} unit founder *Lt. Dennis Foley *Lt. James Hawkins (implicated in leading nearly all controversial events)<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} Hawkins was a battlefield-commissioned second lieutenant. Hawkins attributes the lack of charges to the timing of the investigation after My Lai and Bumgarner the potential for additional bad "publicity."<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|}}<ref name="Oliver"/> *Lt. James A. Gardner (awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously) killed in action, before any of the controversial events *Lt. William F. Kernan *Lt. Donald Wood<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} (whistleblower) *Lt. Skip Franks<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} (whistleblower) *Staff Sgt. Dennis Stout (whistleblower) *Ssg. John G. Gertsch (awarded the Medal of Honor, posthumously) killed in action *Sgt. Gerald Bruner<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} (whistleblower) *Spc. William Carpenter<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} (whistleblower) *Spc. Kenneth Leon Green, killed in action *Pvt. Rion Causey<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} (whistleblower) *Pvt. Kenneth Kerney<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}} (whistleblower) *Pvt. Sam Ybarra<ref name=Tiger/>{{rp|vii-xi}}

==In popular culture== *In the 2014 book ''Edge of Eternity'' by Ken Follett, character Jasper Murray is enlisted in the military and assigned to Tiger Force in Vietnam. He witnesses and is forced to participate in several war crimes, such as rape and murder of a Vietnamese family and using Vietnamese peasants as "mine dogs" to detect mines and traps laid by Viet Cong.

==See also== {{Portal|Vietnam|United States}} ;Vietnam War: *Phoenix Program *Operation Speedy Express *Former United States special operations units *Vietnam War Crimes Working Group Files

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * Sallah, Michael and Mitch Weiss. "[https://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/SRTIGERFORCE/102150175 Investigators will question ex-GIs about killing spree] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330180625/http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F99999999%2FSRTIGERFORCE%2F102150175 |date=2008-03-30 }}." ''Toledo Blade'', 15 February 2004. * Greiner, Bernd. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080518051548/http://www.his-online.de/cms.asp?IDN=232&H=%2758%27&T=0&Plugin=10&HE=10&HEP=978-3-936096-80-4 Krieg ohne Fronten: Die USA in Vietnam]''. Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 2007, {{ISBN|9783936096804}}. * {{Cite news|date=2004-09-05|title=Tiger Force leader could face charges|pages=17|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/66316220/tiger-force-leader-could-face-charges/|access-date=2020-12-29|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}}} * {{Cite web|title=Killer Instinct|url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/Investigation/story?id=131449&page=1|access-date=2020-12-29|website=ABC News|language=en}} * {{Cite web|last=Colarossi|first=Anthony|title=Area Veteran Accused of Atrocities During Vietnam|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2004-09-08-0409080148-story.html|access-date=2020-12-29|website=Orlando Sentinel|date=8 September 2004 |language=en-US}}

==External links== *[http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2004-Investigative-Reporting Report at pulitzer.org of award for ''Toledo Blade'' articles] *[http://www.tigerforcerecon.com Tiger Force veterans' website] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070302104600/http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6454255521146004823 Michael Sallah interviewed on ''Democracy Now!''] *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5405614 Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss interviewed on NPR's ''Talk of the Nation''] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20031210182329/http://www.wnyc.org/onthemedia/transcripts/transcripts_112103_vietnam.html Michael Sallah interviewed on NPR's ''On The Media''] *[http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events/2006-05-18-michaelSallahMitchWeiss.jsp Interview with Sallah and Weiss] at the Pritzker Military Library {{Authority control}} Category:Anti-communist terrorism Category:Child sexual abuse in wars Category:Military units and formations established in 1965 Category:Military units and formations of the United States Army in the Vietnam War Category:Sexual assault in the United States military Category:Sexual violence in the Vietnam War Category:United States war crimes in the Vietnam War