Dale Dye

Dale Dye
Born	Dale Adam Dye (1944-10-08) October 8, 1944 Cape Girardeau, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Marine, actor, radio host
Years active	1964–84
Spouse(s)	GySgt Chavez (?-1979) (divorced) Kathryn Clayton (1983-?) (divorced) 2 children Julia Dye (2006-present)
Children	Adrienne Dye Christopher Dye
Military career
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1964–84
Rank	Captain
Unit	1st Battalion 5th Marines
Battles/wars	Vietnam War, Beirut
Awards	Bronze Star Purple Heart Medal (3) Combat Action Ribbon

Dale Adam Dye (born October 8, 1944) is an American author, actor, presenter, businessman, and retired United States Marine Corps captain who served in combat during the Vietnam War. Dye was a Marine Corps Limited Duty Officer (LDO), he was also a mustang, i.e., someone who began as an enlisted service member and earned their commission after enlistment.

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."

Writing career

Dye has written a number of novels, including Run Between The Raindrops (1985, also published as Citadel) and Conduct Unbecoming (1992.) In addition he wrote the novelisation of the film Platoon.

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 advisor. 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. Dye played himself in Entourage, teaching Vince to scuba dive in preparation for his role in Aquaman. He appeared in the 2011 Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne.

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 featured in two tracks on Hoobastank's CD Every Man for Himself. He 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. He was the technical adviser for the 1994 Oliver Stone movie Natural Born Killers.

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 currently plays Col. Porter in the TNT science fiction series Falling Skies.

Dye, along with wife Julia 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 Osama bin Laden's compound.

Military decorations and awards

Dye's military awards include:

•   Bronze Star w/ Combat "V" (Vietnam 1968)
•   Purple Heart Medal w/ two 5/16 inch stars
•   Meritorious Service Medal (Okinawa)
•   Joint Service Commendation Medal
•   Navy Commendation Medal w/ gold 5/16 inch star and Combat "V" (Vietnam and Beirut)
•   Air Force Commendation Medal
•   Navy Achievement Medal w/ Combat "V"
•   Combat Action Ribbon w/ gold 5/16 inch star (Vietnam and Beirut)
•   Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation w/ three bronze service stars
•   Navy Unit Commendation w/ bronze service star
•   Meritorious Unit Commendation w/ bronze service star
•   Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal w/ three bronze service stars
•   Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal
•   National Defense Service Medal
•   Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
•   Vietnam Service Medal w/ bronze service star
•   Humanitarian Service Medal
•   Sea Service Ribbon w/ three service stars
•   Overseas Service Ribbon
•   RVN Staff Service Medal – 1st Class
•   RVN Gallantry Cross Unit Citation w/ Palm and gold frame
•   RVN Civil Action Unit Citation w/ gold frame
•   RVN Vietnam Campaign Medal with 1960- device
• Legionnaire, Order of Saint Maurice (Ancient and Honorable Order of Infantrymen)

Filmography

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
• Dale Dye leadership