Tiger Force

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This article concerns a U.S. reconnaissance unit during the Vietnam War. For information about the World War II British Commonwealth air force, see Tiger Force (air).
Tiger Force

Tiger Force in Dak Tan Kan Valley, June 1966
Active November, 1965 - 1970
Country USA
Branch United States Army
Type Special operations forces
Role close target reconnaissance, counterrevolutionary warfare, direct action operations, raids
Size 45
Part of U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps
Garrison/HQ Fort Campbell (1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade)
Engagements Vietnam War
Decorations Presidential Unit Citation
Commanders
Notable
commanders		 Gerald Morse

Tiger Force was a task force of the United States Army, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade (Separate), 101st Airborne Division, which fought in the Vietnam War.[1]

The platoon-sized unit, approximately 45 paratroopers was founded by Colonel David Hackworth in November 1965 to "outguerrilla the guerrillas."[2] Tiger Force was a highly decorated unit, and paid for its reputation with heavy casualties.[3] 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 Dak To in June 1966.[4] In October 2003, the Toledo Blade reported that members of the Tiger Force unit had committed numerous war crimes.[5]

Contents

[edit] Investigations of war crimes

In December 2002, Michael Sallah, a reporter at the Toledo Blade newspaper, obtained unreleased 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 One file in these records referred to a previously unpublished war crimes investigation known as the Coy Allegation.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 and fellow Toledo Blade reporter Mitch Weiss obtained access to a large collection of documents produced by the investigation held at the National Archives in College Park, MD.[6]

The reporters 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 of 1967.[7] 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[8]
  • the routine practice of intentionally killing unarmed Vietnamese villagers including men, women, children, and elderly people[9]
  • the routine practice of cutting off and collecting the ears of victims[10]
  • the practice of wearing necklaces composed of human ears[11]
  • the practice of cutting off and collecting the scalps of victims[12]
  • an incident where a young mother was drugged, raped, and then executed[13]
  • an incident where a soldier killed a baby and cut off his or her head after the baby's mother was killed[14]

The investigators concluded that many of the war crimes indeed took place.[15] Despite this, the Army decided not to pursue any prosecutions.[16]

Tiger Force in the Dak Tan Kan Valley
Tiger Force in the Dak Tan Kan Valley

After studying the documents, the reporters located and interviewed many veterans who served in Tiger Force during the period in question. The reporters also interviewed residents of Song Ve Valley who identified themselves as witnesses. Sallah and Weiss reported that the war crimes were corroborated by both veterans[17] and Song Ve Valley residents[18].

In October 2003, the reporters published their findings in a series of articles in the Toledo Blade. Subsequently, the New York Times performed their own investigation, contacting a few Tiger Force veterans and corroborating the Toledo Blade's findings.[19]

Since the Toledo Blade 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 Toledo 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.[20] The Toledo Blade has not reported on any more recent updates from the U.S. Army.

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

  • In 2003, the reporters won the IRE Medal for medium newspapers.
  • In 2003, the reporters won the Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative reporting, for publications with a circulation of 100,000 or greater.
  • In 2004, the reporters won the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers.
  • In 2004, the reporters won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

In 2006, Sallah and Weiss co-authored a book chronicling their findings: Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War (Little, Brown and Company).

[edit] Partial list of Members 1965-1969

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 22-23.
  2. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 13-14, 23, 224.
  3. ^ Mahr, "Unit's founder."
  4. ^ U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division.
  5. ^ Sallah and Weiss, "DAY 1."
  6. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 309-311.
  7. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 264-306.
  8. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 337, 344-345, 349, 353, 370-372.
  9. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 335, 339-346, 350-352, 354-355, 359, 361-362, 367-369, 374-375, 376.
  10. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 335-336, 371.
  11. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 371.
  12. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 346, 374.
  13. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 361-362, 377-378.
  14. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 360, 363-364, 372-373.
  15. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 383.
  16. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 306.
  17. ^ Sallah and Weiss, "DAY 1."
  18. ^ Sallah and Weiss, "DAY 3."
  19. ^ Kifner, "Report."
  20. ^ Mahr, "Tiger Force answers."
  21. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 13.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, vii-xi.
  23. ^ Sallah and Weiss, "DAY 1."
  24. ^ Sallah and Weiss, Tiger Force, 330, 331, 333.

[edit] References

[edit] External links