Dale Dye

Dale Adam Dye (born October 8, 1944) is an American actor, presenter, businessman, and retired U.S. Marine captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War.

Early life and Marine service

Dye was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, the son of Della Grace (née Koehler) and Dale Adam Dye.^[1]

Fellow Marine correspondent Gustav Hasford dubbed him "Daddy D.A" (as he was among the oldest of the correspondents) and included him as a character in his first semi-autobiographical Vietnam novel, The Short-Timers, and more extensively in his second, The Phantom Blooper. The movie based on Hasford's first novel, Full Metal Jacket, included the "Daddy D.A" character (played by Keith Hodiak), though neither the character nor Dye's name is explicitly mentioned in the dialogue.

In his book Dispatches, journalist Michael Herr provides a vivid picture of Dye during the chaos of the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Huế:

"And there was a Marine correspondent, Sergeant Dale Dye, who sat with a tall yellow flower sticking out of his helmet cover, a really outstanding target. He was rolling his eyes around and saying, 'Oh yes, oh yes, Charlie's got his shit together here, this will be bad,' and smiling happily. It was the same smile I saw a week later when a sniper's bullet tore up a wall two inches above his head, odd cause for amusement in anyone but a grunt."

Founding Warriors, Inc. and other work

After his retirement in 1984 from the United States Marines, Dye founded Warriors, Inc., a California company that specializes in training actors for realistic military portrayals, for movies of the war genre. In the 1986 movie Platoon, he played Captain Harris and served as military technical adviser. He also wrote the novelization based on Oliver Stone's screenplay.

Dye has also appeared in some of the films of which his company has served. He played a role in the movie Casualties of War and also played Colonel Robert F. Sink in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, on which his company also worked, and is now beginning a directing career. He appeared in Outbreak portraying Lieutenant Colonel Briggs, a US Army officer. He plays Theodore Roosevelt's superior officer, Colonel Leonard Wood, in the TNT miniseries Rough Riders. He has a small role in Saving Private Ryan as an aide to General George Catlett Marshall as well as a role playing the Admiral's aide, Captain Garza, in Under Siege and Under Siege 2. He has another small role in Spy Game as Commander Wiley during the rescue sequence, in Mission Impossible as Frank Barnes of CIA, in JFK as General Y, and in Starship Troopers as a high-ranking officer in the aftermath of the Brain Bug capture.

Additionally, Dye used to host a Sunday evening radio show on KFI AM 640, Los Angeles. He occasionally does fill-in. Dye has also been involved in the Medal of Honor series of video games as a consultant. He was a character in Medal of Honor: European Assault as well as Medal of Honor: Rising Sun and was featured in two tracks on Hoobastank's CD Every Man for Himself. He has also hosted The History Channel's documentary series The Conquerors. He consulted for Lucas Art 2008 scheduled Fracture video game as well as appearing in a cameo role as Col. Robert Sink (Commander of the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment) in a video game Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway.

Dye has also worked on the HBO companion piece to Band of Brothers, the ten-part mini-series The Pacific, which was shot in Australia.

Dye was also the technical adviser for the 1994 Oliver Stone movie Natural Born Killers.

Dye has played himself in "Entourage" teaching Vince to scuba dive in preparation for his role in "Aquaman".

Dye currently plays Col. Porter in the TNT science fiction series Falling Skies. He appeared in the 2011 Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne.

Dale, along with wife Julia Dye and comic book artist Gerry Kissell created one of 2011's critically acclaimed and best selling graphic novels, "Code Word: Geronimo", for publisher IDW Publishing, that tells the story of the Navy Seal raid on OBL's compound.

Military awards

Dye's military decorations include:

•   Bronze Star with 'V' for Valor (Vietnam 1968)
•   Purple Heart (3)
•   Meritorious Service Medal (Okinawa)
•   Joint Service Commendation Medal
•   Navy Commendation Medal (2) with combat 'V' (Vietnam and Beirut)
•   Air Force Commendation Medal
•   Navy Achievement Medal with Combat 'V' Device
•   Combat Action Ribbon (2) (Vietnam and Beirut)
•   Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation (4)
•   Navy Unit Commendation (2)
•   Meritorious Unit Commendation (2)
•   Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal (4)
•   Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal
•   National Defense Service Medal
•   Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
•   Vietnam Service Medal (8)
•   Humanitarian Service Medal
•   Sea Service Ribbon (4)
•   Overseas Service Ribbon
•   RVN Staff Service Medal - 1st Class
•   RVN Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm
•   RVN Civil Action Unit Citation
•   RVN Vietnam Campaign Medal
• Legionnaire, Order of Saint Maurice (Ancient and Honorable Order of Infantrymen)

Filmography

See also

References

Further reading

• Herr, Michael (1977). "Chapter 2: Hell Sucks". Dispatches. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 70–85. 

External links

• Warriors Inc, Dale Dye's company
• Dale Dye at the Internet Movie Database
• Stumped? Magazine's article on Dale Dye
• Dale Dye's page at KFI AM 640
• Dale Dye leadership