$ 1 . 5 0 e 3 2 1 P A G E S T O L E D O , O H I O , S U N D A Y , O C T O B E R 1 9 , 2 0 0 3 F I N A L Lunch effort A BLADE INVESTIGATION A four-day special report examines BURIED SECRETS one platoon’s atrocities in Vietnam works to end and how the U.S. military concealed BRUTAL TRUTHS them from the American public global hunger White H ous e s upp orts idea, but funding is in jeop ardy

By KAREN MacPHERSON year, an estimated 7.7 million BLADE WASHINGTON BUREAU children in 38 countr ies par tici- WA S H I N G T O N — D e c a d e s p a t e d i n t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l ago, two senators with strongly school-lunch program. The pro- opposing political views joined g r a m h e l p e d b o o s t s t u d e n t to help shape several landmark enrollment, par ticularly of girls, a n t i - h u n g e r e f f o r t s, i n c l u d i n g in schools in Pakistan, Lebanon, food stamps, a nutr itional plan Ba n g l a d e s h , a n d o t h e r c o u n - f o r p r e g n a n t w o m e n a n d tr ies, according to Depar tment i n f a n t s , a n d t h e n a t i o n a l school-lunch program. To d a y, D e m o c r a t G e o r g e No one has yet found McG over n and Republican Bob ‘ a better magnet for Dole are using their status as elder statesmen to promote a pulling kids into s chool n e w a n t i - h u n g e r i d e a — a n inter national school-lunch pro- than the promis e of a gram to feed hungr y children meal every day. around the world. Ca l l e d t h e “Mc G ove r n - D o l e Ex-Sen. George McGover’ n Inter national Food for Educa- tion and Child Nutr ition Initia- of Agr iculture officials. Tiger Force soldiers fan out while patrolling the Song Ve Valley in a 1967 photo taken by a former platoon member. tive,’’ the program uses school They estimate that about 120 The unit committed an untold number of atrocities in the valley as part of a seven-month campaign of terror. l u n c h e s t o p e r s u a d e l o w - million school-age children, a income parents in developing major ity of them girls, aren’t countr ies to send their children, enrolled in school, par tly be- especially daughters, to school. cause of hunger or malnutr i- T h e p r o g r a m a l s o f u n d s tion. nutr itional programs for preg- “No o n e h a s y e t f o u n d a nant and nursing mothers, sim- better magnet for pulling kids Elite unit savaged i l a r t o t h e f e d e r a l Wo m e n , into school than the promise of Infants and Children program. In 2001, the initiative’s first See LUNCH, Page 11

I N S I D E B U S H T R I P civilians in Vietnam © THE BLADE, 2003 Weather ■ Why is The Blade publish- — the longest-known war-crime The Tiger Force case is dif- t was an elite fighting unit in ing this story now? Behind investigation of the Vietnam ferent. The atrocities took place A mixture of clouds and sun- Asians Vietnam — small, mobile, conflict. over seven months, leaving an the News. Page B1. shine; high 59. Tonight will be Itrained to kill. The case reached the high- untold number dead — possibly mostly clear, with a low of 41. Known as Tiger Force, the est levels of the Pentagon and the several hundred civilians, former Weather, Page D12 urged platoon was created by a U.S. Women and children were Nixon White House. soldiers and villagers now say. Army engaged in a new kind of intentionally blown up in under- Investigators concluded that One medic said he counted war — one defined by ambush- ground bunkers. Elderly farmers 18 soldiers committed war crimes 120 unarmed villagers killed in Marvelous Marlins es, booby traps, and a nearly were shot as they toiled in the ranging from murder and assault one month. The Flor ida Marlins land the to fight invisible enemy. fields. Prisoners were tortured to dereliction of duty. But no For decades, the case has first win in the World Ser ies Promising victory to an anxious and executed — their ears and one was charged. remained buried in the archives against the New York Yankees. American public, military leaders scalps severed for souvenirs. Since the war ended, the of the government — not even Spor ts, Page C1 in 1967 sent a task force — includ- One soldier kicked out the teeth American public has been fed a known to America’s most rec- terror ing Tiger Force — to fight the of executed civilians for their dose of movies fictionalizing ognized historians of the war. Autumn images enemy in one of the most highly gold fillings. the excesses of U.S. units in Viet- Until now. contested areas of South Viet- Two soldiers tried to stop the nam, such as Apocalypse Now Starting today and continu- The vivid reds, oranges, and yel- Ignoring threat nam: the Central Highlands. killings, but their pleas were and Platoon. But in reality, most ing over the next three days, lows of fall foliage contrast with But the platoon’s mission did ignored by commanders. The war-crime cases focused on a sin- The Blade will tell the platoon’s fading greens and shades of called dangerous not go as planned, with some Army launched an investiga- gle event, like the My Lai mas- troubling story. blue water in photographs of 1 soldiers breaking the rules of war. tion in 1971 that lasted 4 ⁄2 years sacre. Day One: Pages 6-10 nature’s br illiant palette. WASHINGTON POST Toledo Magazine, Page B6 MANIL A — President Bush DAY ONE OF A FOUR-DAY SERIES toughened his appeal for help Handling plastic i n s e c u r i n g a n d re b u i l d i n g TODAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Credit-card charges easily can Iraq yesterday, telling Philip- The farmers of the Song Ve The cover-up began before Thirty-six years later, the Many former Tiger Force spiral out of control, par ticu- pine legislators that countr ies Valley thought they would the killing ended. And by the reminders of Tiger Force’s soldiers say they’re haunted larly dur ing a holiday season. reluctant to aid his war on be safe. They were too old time the Army finished its rampage through Quang by their memories of the Exper ts have some suggestions t e r r o r i s m a r e e n d a n g e r i n g to serve in the military and investigation — which was Ngai province are every- killings and mutilations of on how buyers can keep a better t h e i r n e i g h b o r s a n d not aligned with the North sent to the Pentagon and where, and the stories of prisoners and unarmed vil- handle on their use of plastic. hinder ing democracy. Vietnamese. But the farmers the White House — no one their atrocities are still told lagers in 1967. Ten have Business, Page D1 “Nations that tr y to ignore were wrong. Tiger Force sol- was ever charged. A justice by Vietnamese villagers. To been diagnosed with post- terror and hope it will only diers killed farmers, vil- system that promised to this day, the shooting deaths traumatic stress disorder. s t r i k e o t h e r s a r e d e l u d i n g lagers, and prisoners in the prosecute war criminals evoke anger in those who Some have turned to alcohol New roles BLACK themselves, under mining our valley and across the ended up protecting them. survived the attacks — with and drugs to ease their pain. In their new movies, Meg Ryan c o m m o n d e f e n s e , a n d Central Highlands in the some calling for the former and Val K ilmer are competing i n v i t i n g a f u t u r e o f c a t a - with their own reputations. So longest series of war crimes American soldiers to be strophic violence,” said Mr. of the Vietnam War. prosecuted. how do both of the actors Bush, the first U.S. President handle typecasting? to address a

Ar ts, Page F1 YELLOW t Bush team j o i n t s e s s i o n STORIES BY MICHAEL D. SALLAH, MITCH WEISS, AND JOE MAHR ■ BLADE STAFF WRITERS hopes slide of the Philip- Affordable rent in polls is p i n e l e g i s l a - Median-pr iced apar tments may t u r e s i n c e reversing. D w i g h t D . be unaffordable to a third of Page 3. metro Toledo’s low-income resi- E i s e n h o w e r . “Nations that dents. But rent rates are more Zachar y,

c h o o s e t o fi g h t t e r r o r a re MAGENTA favorable in this area than in Jackie, and many other par ts of the countr y. d e f e n d i n g t h e i r ow n s a f e t y and the safety of free people Mackenzie Power scooters Real Estate, Page H1 ever ywhere.” Guenin, “ We will not be intimidated from left , are Recommendation by the terror ists,” Mr. Bush enthusiastic CYAN The Blade’s recommendation on said before traveling to Thai- about the ride a f ine line the Toledo Public Schools levy. land for an economic summit bat- Pages of Opinion, Page B4 w h e r e h e w i l l e n c o u r a g e ter y-powered Pacific Rim leaders to be gen- scooter their dad bought a with area police NEWS ...... A BUSINESS ...... D erous toward Iraq’s postwar Lottery ...... 3 Markets ...... 4, 5 reconstr uction. week ago to Second News .. 13 Classifieds ...... 8 In Bangkok he greeted U.S. help them Today’s log ...... 14 LIVING ...... E E m b a s s y o f f i c i a l s b e f o r e get around Us e on walks, streets is restri cted Obituaries .. 14-17 ARTS ...... F meeting with Thai officials in their South BEHIND NEWS ..B Crossword ...... 9 a d v a n c e o f a t t e n d i n g t h e Toledo By DAVID PATCH B o u l e v a rd h o m e t o f o o t b a l l Russ Lemmon .. 3 Travel ...... 12 annual Asia-Pacific Economic neighbor- BLADE STAFF WRITER practice a mile away on Sher- Opinion ...... 4 AUTOS ...... G Cooperation meeting. hood effi- They seem to be ever ywhere wood Avenue for the first time Toledo Magazine 6 REAL ESTATE ... H Shor tly before Mr. Bush’s ciently. But war m weather has been this We d n e s d a y, a n d h i s f r i e n d s SPORTS ...... C Horoscope ...... 9 arr ival in Bangkok late yester- police point year — youths r iding motor- were impressed. day, U.S. officials laid out a out that it’s ized scooters on streets or side- “I r ide it around as much as I proposed $5.4 million effor t illegal to r ide walks to visit fr iends, go to can, but I’ve got to let my to help fight terror ism in the the scooters p a r k s o r b a l l fi e l d s , o r r u n sisters use it too,” Zachar y said. r e g i o n . Tw o U . S . o f f i c i a l s on side- errands. T h e re’s j u s t o n e p r o b l e m . would work in Manila, Philip- walks. And their popular ity, espe- Nearly ever ywhere, motor ized pines, with the Asian Devel- cially as a possible Chr istmas scooters are illegal to operate Recycled Copyright © gift, appears to be as a br ight and 2003 o p m e n t B a n k o n f u n d i n g on sidewalks, area police offi- THE BLADE/ as their metallic colors. recyclable The Blade technical assistance for air- JETTA FRASER cials say, and they’re allowed por t and por t secur ity, U.S. Richard Guenin just bought on the street only if they’re Vision Open MRI chose quality, commitment, service, and a officials said on condition of a $200 Schwinn electr ic model r e g i s t e r e d , i n s u r e d , a n d lower price. Vision Open MRI chose Buckeye TeleSystem. for three of his four children to We go beyond a phone company. 419-724-9881. anonymity. e q u i p p e d w i t h a n a r r a y o f –Adv. use. Ten-year-old Zachar y rode See ASIA, Page 4 it from the family’s Har vard See SCOOTERS, Page 11 C M Y K BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS SECTION A, PAGE 10 THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003

IN THEIR WORDS In interviews with The Blade, former Tiger Force soldiers offered these observations about the atrocities: “The only thing I regret is that I didn’t kill more. If I had known that it was going to end as quick as it did, the way it did, I would have killed a lot more.” William Doyle

“You know, you give a bunch of 18-year-old kids a machine gun and send them off into the woods U.S. ARMY when it’s 115 degrees, tell Sgt.William Doyle, center, in soft-brimmed hat, received a medal at Phan Rang in November, 1967. He has admitted killing Vietnamese civilians. them to hump up the mountains and shoot anything that moves … Tigers: Soldiers were ‘shooting people left and right,’ one medic recalls it was easy for us to pull the trigger on them.” Continued from previous page The codes of warfare today bodies of women and children when the soldier wanted to test a Doug “Doc” Teeters new 38-caliber handgun on a live THE RULES OF WAR can be traced to the informal lining the roadway. In some cases, the Army target, Mr. Fischer said. rules of chivalry in medieval dropped leaflets into villages Soldiers achieved ● Numerous villagers shot by “We would go into times — such as not warning people to go to relocation Tiger Force members in a hamlet executing prisoners. These objective of 327 kills villages and just shoot centers. near Chu Lai, said former Pvt. If the people didn’t leave, “they codes evolved in the 19th Toward the end of Operation Douglas Teeters. The villagers everybody. We didn’t need would be killed,” Mr. Causey said. and 20th centuries into Wheeler, there was even greater were waving leaflets at the troops an excuse. If they were internationally recognized To cover up the shootings, pla- motivation for killing. asking to be relocated, but when there, they were dead. It toon leaders began counting dead rules of war. An order was given via radio enemy forces fired on the sol- civilians as enemy soldiers, five for- By the Vietnam War, the one day that would be remem- diers from another direction, the just made me sick. I was a mer soldiers told The Blade. United States, North bered by seven soldiers years later. troops opened fire on everyone in medic. I was there to help A review of Army logs sup- Vietnam, and South A voice came over the airwaves their sight, said the former medic. ports their accounts. Vietnam were operating with a goal for the battalion: We “We killed a bunch of them. I save lives. But we were For 10 days beginning Nov. 11, under the four Geneva want a body count of 327. The don’t remember how many,” he out of control.’’ entries show that platoon mem- Conventions of 1949, number was significant because said. “But I remember when it Harold Fischer bers were claiming to be killing Viet which remain in place it was the same as the battalion’s was over, we just said the dead today. Cong — a total of 49. But no infantry designation: the 327th. gooks were VC. But we knew they “The things you saw. The weapons were found in 46 deaths, Three former soldiers swore weren’t all VC.” records show. The conventions under oath the order came from And most soldiers just kept things you did. You think Mr. Causey recalls a report to require: a man who identified himself as quiet, even if they didn’t partici- back and say, ‘I can’t commanders. ■ Humane treatment “Ghost Rider” — the radio name pate. “We would call in on the radio of noncombatants. used by Colonel Morse. “Remember, out in the jun- believe I did that.’ At the — ‘seven VC running from hut. Whether they are Army radio logs show the goal gle, there were no police officers. time, it seemed right. But Shot and killed’ — Hell, they innocent civilians or was achieved: Tiger Force report- No judges. No law and order,” now, you know what you weren’t running. We didn’t know enemy prisoners, non- ed the 327th kill on Nov. 19. Mr. Kerney said in a recent inter- if they were VC.” combatants cannot be In a recent interview, Colonel view. “Whenever somebody felt like did was wrong. The Sgt. James Barnett told inves- executed, murdered, Morse, who retired in 1979, denied doing something, they did it. killing gets to you. tigators he once raised concerns mutilated, treated giving such an order, saying it There was no one to stop them. The nightmares get to to Lieutenant Hawkins that Tiger cruelly, or tortured. was “ridiculous ... I would never “So we watched and didn’t say Force soldiers were killing people ■ Evacuation of have done anything like that.” anything. We turned the other you. You just can’t escape who weren’t carrying weapons. prisoners. Prisoners — During questioning by Army way. Looking back, it’s terrible. it. You can’t escape “Hawkins told me not to worry even injured ones — investigators, former Pvt. John We should have said something. about it,” he said. “We can always cannot be killed. All Colligan said the order indeed But at the time, everybody’s mind- the past.” get the weapons later.” prisoners must be safely was given. set was, ‘It’s OK.’ But it wasn’t OK. Ernest Moreland During the rampage, the sol- and quickly taken out of In fact, he said the soldier who It’s very sad.’’ diers committed some of their combat zones. reached that goal “was to receive “We were killing a lot of most brutal atrocities, Army ■ Respect for the dead. some type of reward.” Changing war put people who didn’t have records show. Dead enemy bodies Sergeant Barnett told investi- troops on defensive A 13-year-old girl’s throat was cannot be mutilated. gators he heard the same order weapons. If someone slashed after she was sexually over the airwaves by someone By the end of November, the asked us what kind of assaulted, and a young mother The U.S. military took who identified himself as Ghost long campaign was over. was shot to death after soldiers several steps to educate Rider. In a story in the Army news- weapon did he have, we torched her hut. troops, including: Three former soldiers said in paper Stars and Stripes, Tiger would say: ‘He had a get- An unarmed teenager was shot recent interviews the goal was August, 1965 — Began Force’s Sam Ybarra was praised in the back after a platoon sergeant achieved in part through the killing away stick.’ Let me issuing instruction cards to for the 1,000th kill of Operation ordered the youth to leave a village, of villagers. put it this way, it wasn’t U.S. troops in Vietnam on how Wheeler. and a baby was decapitated so At a ceremony at the Phan pretty.’’ that a soldier could remove a to properly handle prisoners Card given Number of killings Rang base on Nov. 27, 1967, medals necklace. of war and civilian detainees. Ken Kerney to U.S. soldiers in Vietnam December, 1965 — Required remains a mystery were pinned on the chests of Tiger During the Army’s investigation, Force soldiers, including Sergeant former Pvt. Joseph Evans — anoth- new soldiers to receive two No one knows how many hours of instruction on the Geneva Conventions in basic training, Doyle, who ordered the execu- “If you captured anybody, er Tiger Force soldier — refused to unarmed civilians were killed by tion of a farmer during the oper- be interrogated. But in a recent followed by a test. Tiger Force from May through what do you do? Let them March, 1966 — Issued directive for U.S. troops in Vietnam defining ation. interview, he said many people November, 1967. In the ensuing weeks, Tiger go? You have to waste who were running from soldiers 18 war crimes that mirrored the prohibitions of the Geneva conventions. Soldiers from the platoon killed All soldiers were required to immediately report war crimes to a Force would leave the Central them. If you ran, we killed during that period were not a 120 villagers in one month alone, Highlands. By early 1968, the war threat to troops. commander. former medic Rion Causey said in you.” September, 1967 — Issued to all U.S. troops "Nine Rules" on the was changing. “They were just running a recent interview. North Vietnam began its own Joseph Evans importance of treating civilians with respect. Former medic Harold Fischer because they were afraid. They campaign — the Tet Offensive — were in fear. We killed a lot of recalled that most of the platoon SOURCE: U.S. Army attacking 100 villages and cities in “I’m not going to say I people who shouldn’t have been BLADE GRAPHIC were “shooting people left and the south. killed.” right.” condemned what was Tiger Force was sent to defend Tiger Force soldiers told inves- For platoon member Charles “We would go into villages and going on … I’m not reli- Grenades targeted tigators they remembered see- Fulton, the night dragged on. just shoot everybody. We didn’t a base near Cambodia. civilians in bunkers ing women and children crawl “We kept hearing human need an excuse. If they were there, For medic Rion Causey, the gious. I don’t claim to have through the openings. sounds which came from the they were dead.” war was no longer about killing all the answers to life. I civilians but defending Ameri- For villagers, it was a routine: No one knows how many were direction of the bunkers,’’ he told While the Army substantiated was 19 years old, but I Run to the underground bunkers inside, but it didn’t matter. investigators. “They were the 20 war crimes against 18 Tiger can strongholds as the enemy for safety. When the soldiers reached the sounds of people that had been Force soldiers during their seven- moved toward Saigon. knew what they were doing In every hamlet, there were bunker entrances, they “knew hurt and trying to get someone’s month sweep across the Central As the base camp was over- was wrong. It was wrong.” shelters, supported by bamboo what to do,” Pvt. Ken Kerney told attention to get help. Although Highlands, former soldiers run and soldiers were dying, he and brick and covered by leaves investigators. faint, they were clear.” described 11 more in recent inter- came to a grim conclusion: “The Rion Causey and brush. Without trying to talk to the The bodies eventually were views with The Blade, including: only way out of Tiger Force was to To the civilians, it didn’t mat- people below, the soldiers pulled removed by villagers, former sol- ● Two elderly men killed dur- be injured or killed.” “I had to kill people, but I ter whether the soldiers were the clips on their grenades, and diers told investigators. No ing an unprovoked attack on a He was right. didn’t want to have a bad American or North Vietnamese. dropped the explosives through weapons were found in the hamlet near Tam Ky. One was On March 6, 1968, he was They went to the bunkers when the holes. bunkers, nor was there any evi- beheaded and the other, who was injured, and as he was lifted by the thing on my conscience, either approached. Setting up camp nearby, sol- dence the villagers were a threat wounded, was shot by medic helicopter, he recalled looking at as far as murder. There is When Tiger Force appeared diers heard human cries coming to U.S. forces, according to witness Barry Bowman in a “mercy killing,” the Tiger Force soldiers below. a difference between com- on a path leading to a village 20 from the underground shelters statements. he said. “I remember just kind of say- miles west of Tam Ky, the people throughout the night. The next day, soldiers ● An elderly man shot to death ing to myself: ‘God help you guys bat killing and murder and scurried for cover. But no one bothered to help. approaching the hamlet saw the by Private Colligan near Chu Lai for what you did. God help you.’” a lot of guys just didn’t – I don’t know what, they flipped out for a second or so or whatever, I don’t ABOUT THE SERIES THE BLADE’S TEAM know. I’m not going to The Blade’s investigation began after the news- Michael D. Sallah is The judge them. They’ve got to paper obtained 22 pages of classified Army Blade’s national affairs writer. records detailing atrocities by Tiger Force. Since joining the newspaper in live with it. It’s hard The records of the Army’s Criminal Investigation 1989, he has covered issues from enough.” Command were just the start. the Florida presidential election Dallas Rogers Reporters reviewed volumes of research on the recount of 2000 to the recent sex- Vietnam War, finding no mention of the Army’s ual-abuse scandal in the Roman investigation of the platoon’s atrocities. Catholic church. He has won state They inspected thousands of declassified and national awards and twice ON THE WEB records of the case from the National Archives in been named the Ohio Society of suburban Washington and obtained hundreds of Professional Journalists’ reporter Sallah Weiss Mahr Morrison The Blade’s investiga- additional classified documents of the case. They of the year. tion, Buried Secrets, also interviewed dozens of former Tiger Force sol- Mitch Weiss is The Blade’s Trade Center in 2001. Andy Morrison is a staff pho- Brutal Truths — along diers. state editor. He joined the news- Joe Mahr is a general assign- tographer for The Blade. A winner with recorded interviews The Blade sent reporters Michael D. Sallah and paper in 1998 after spending 12 ment/projects reporter with The of numerous state and regional with former Tiger Force Mitch Weiss, as well as photographer Andy years with The Associated Press, Blade. Since joining the newspa- awards, he joined the newspaper soldiers — can be found Morrison, to the Central Highlands of Vietnam, where he won state and national per in 2000, he has won statewide in 2000 and has photographed on the Internet at: where they found witnesses to the atrocities. awards. Since joining The Blade awards for coverage of Toledo’s events ranging from the torna- Reporter Joe Mahr joined the team as the he reported on the subway World 2001 mayoral race and northwest does that struck northwest Ohio www.toledoblade. newspaper pieced together a story the U.S. Army Series in New York in 2000 and Ohio’s decades-long economic last fall to the June race riots in com/tigerforce never wanted told. the terrorist attacks on the World slide. Benton Harbor, Mich. C M Y K

BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS SECTION A, PAGE 6 THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003

THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON Kieu Trac walks through a Song Ve Valley rice paddy in June, where his father, Kieu Cong, and other farmers were killed by Tiger Force soldiers 36 years ago. Rogue GIs unleashed wave of terror in Central Highlands Soldiers executed prisoners, then turned weapons on civilians © THE BLADE, 2003 tees who came from small towns such as By MICHAEL D. SALLAH Rayland, Ohio, Globe, Ariz., and Loretto, and MITCH WEISS Tenn. BLADE STAFF WRITERS By the time Tiger Force arrived in the UANG NGAI, Vietnam — For the 10 province on May 3, 1967, the unit already elderly farmers in the rice paddy, had fought in fierce battles farther south Qthere was nowhere to hide. in My Cahn and Dak To. The river stretched along one side, But this was a different place. mountains on the other. With deep ties to the land, the people Approaching quickly in between were of Quang Ngai province were fiercely the soldiers — an elite U.S. Army unit independent. known as Tiger Force. In this unfamiliar setting, things began Though the farmers were not carrying to go wrong. weapons, it didn’t matter: No one was safe No one knows what set off the events when the special force arrived on July 28, that led to the deaths of untold num- 1967. bers of civilians and prisoners. No one. But less than a week after setting up With bullets flying, the farmers — camp in the province, Tiger Force mem- slowed by the thick, green plants and bers began to break the rules of war. muck — dropped one by one to the It started with prisoners. ground. During a morning patrol on May 8, the Within minutes, it was over. Four were soldiers spotted two suspected Viet Cong dead, others wounded. Some survived by — the local militia opposed to U.S. inter- lying motionless in the mud. vention — along the Song Tra Cau River. Four soldiers later recalled the assault. One jumped into the water and escaped “We knew the farmers were not armed through an underwater tunnel, but the to begin with,” one said, “but we shot them other was captured. anyway.” Taller and more muscular than most The unprovoked attack was one of Vietnamese, the soldier was believed to many carried out by the decorated unit be Chinese. in the Vietnam War, an eight-month Over the next two days, he was repeat- investigation by The Blade shows. edly beaten and tortured. At one point, The platoon — a small, highly trained his captors debated whether to blow unit of 45 paratroopers created to spy on him up with explosives, according to enemy forces — violently lost control sworn witness statements. between May and November, 1967. “The commanders told me ,‘What goes on here, stays here.You never tell anyone about what goes on here. If we find One former soldier, Spec. William For seven months, Tiger Force sol- out you did, you won’t like it,’” recalls Ken Kerney, shown on patrol in the Central Highlands in 1967.The former Tiger Carpenter, told The Blade he tried to diers moved across the Central High- Force private witnessed but did not take part in the atrocities. keep the prisoner alive, “but I knew his lands, killing scores of unarmed civil- time was up.” ians — in some cases torturing and Many details of the period in question sent reports on the progress of the inves- you don’t have to worry about anybody After he was ordered to run — and told mutilating them — in a spate of violence are unknown: Records are missing from tigation. who’s dead.” he was free — he was shot by several never revealed to the American public. the National Archives, and several suspects To this day, the Army’s Criminal Inves- unidentified soldiers. They dropped grenades into under- and witnesses have died. tigation Command refuses to release Battle-tested platoon The platoon’s treatment of the detainee ground bunkers where women and chil- In many cases, the soldiers remember thousands of records that could explain drew special mission — his beating and execution — became dren were hiding — creating mass graves the atrocities and general locations, but what happened and why the case was the unit’s operating procedure in the — and shot unarmed civilians, in some not the precise dates. dropped. Army spokesman Joe Burlas The Quang Ngai province stretches ensuing months. cases as they begged for their lives. What’s clear is that nearly four decades said last week it may have been difficult eastward from the lush, green moun- Time and again, Tiger Force soldiers They frequently tortured and shot later, many Vietnamese villagers and to press charges, but he couldn’t explain tains to the sweeping white beaches of the talked about the executions of captured prisoners, severing ears and scalps for sou- former Tiger Force soldiers are deeply trou- flaws in the investigation. South China Sea. soldiers — so many, investigators were venirs. bled by the brutal killing of villagers. The Army interviewed 137 witnesses To the villagers, it was revered, ances- hard pressed to place a number on the toll. A review of thousands of classified “It was out of control,’’ said Rion and tracked down former Tiger Force tral land that had been farmed for gen- In June, Pvt. Sam Ybarra slit the throat Army documents, National Archives Causey, 55, a former platoon medic and members in more than 60 cities around erations. of a prisoner with a hunting knife before records, and radio logs reveals a fighting now a nuclear engineer. “I still wonder how the world. To the North Vietnamese, it was a scalping him — placing the scalp on the unit that carried out the longest series of some people can sleep 30 years later.’’ But for the past three decades, the major supply line to guerrillas fighting to end of a rifle, soldiers said in sworn state- atrocities in the Vietnam War — and Among the newspaper’s findings: case has not even been a footnote in the reunite the country. ments. Ybarra refused to talk to Army commanders who looked the other way. ● Commanders knew about the pla- annals of one of the nation’s most divisive To the U.S. military, it was an area of investigators about the case. 1 For 4 ⁄2 years, the Army investigated the toon’s atrocities in 1967, and in some wars. jungles and river valleys that had to be con- Another prisoner was ordered to dig platoon, finding numerous eyewitness- cases, encouraged the soldiers to continue Thirty years after U.S. combat units left trolled to stop the communist infiltration bunkers, then beaten with a shovel before es and substantiating war crimes. But the violence. Vietnam, the elderly farmers of the Song of South Vietnam. Gen. William West- he was shot to death, records state. in the end, no one was prosecuted, the ● Two soldiers who tried to stop the Ve Valley live with memories of the pla- moreland, commander of U.S. forces in The killing prompted a medic to talk case buried in the archives for three atrocities were warned by their com- toon that passed through their hamlets Vietnam, created a special task force in to a chaplain. “It upset me so much to decades. manders to remain quiet before trans- so long ago. 1967 to secure the province. watch him die,” Barry Bowman said in a No one knows how many unarmed ferring to other units. Nguyen Dam, now 66, recalls run- In a conflict marked by fierce guerrilla recent interview. men, women, and children were killed by ●The Army investigated 30 war-crime ning as the soldiers fired into the rice warfare, the task force needed a special One Tiger Force soldier, Sgt. Forrest platoon members 36 years ago. allegations against Tiger Force between paddy that summer day in 1967. “I am still unit to move quickly through the jungles, Miller, told investigators the killing of At least 81 were fatally shot or stabbed, February, 1971, and June, 1975, finding angry,” he said, waving his arms. “Our peo- find the enemy, and set up ambushes. That prisoners was “an unwritten law.” records show, but many others were a total of 18 soldiers committed crimes, ple didn’t deserve to die that way. We role fell to Tiger Force. But platoon members weren’t just killed in what were clear violations of including murder and assault. But no were farmers. We were not soldiers. We Considered an elite arm of the 101st executing prisoners: They began to tar- U.S. military law and the 1949 Geneva one was ever charged. didn’t hurt anyone.” Airborne Division, the platoon — formed get unarmed civilians. Conventions. ●Six platoon soldiers suspected of war But one former soldier offers no apolo- in 1965 — often broke into small teams In June, an elderly man in black robes Based on more than 100 interviews crimes — including an officer — were gies for the platoon’s actions. to scout the enemy, creeping into the and believed to be a Buddhist monk was with The Blade of former Tiger Force allowed to resign during the investigation, William Doyle, a former Tiger Force jungle in tiger-striped fatigues, soft- shot to death after he complained to soldiers and Vietnamese civilians, the escaping military prosecution. sergeant now living in Missouri, said he brimmed hats, with rations to last 30 soldiers about the treatment of villagers. platoon is estimated to have killed hun- ● The findings of the investigation killed so many civilians he lost count. days. A grenade was placed on his body to dreds of unarmed civilians in those seven were sent to the offices of the secretary “We were living day to day. We didn’t Not everyone could join the platoon: disguise him as an enemy soldier, platoon months. of the Army and the secretary of defense, expect to live. Nobody out there with Soldiers had to volunteer, needed com- members told investigators. “We weren’t keeping count,” said for- records show, but no action was taken. any brains expected to live,” he said in a bat experience, and were subjected to a That same month, Ybarra shot and mer Pvt. Ken Kerney, a California firefighter. ● Top White House officials, includ- recent interview. “So you did any goddamn battery of questions — some about their killed a 15-year-old boy near the village “I knew it was wrong, but it was an ing John Dean, former chief counsel to thing you felt like doing — especially to willingness to kill. acceptable practice.” President Richard Nixon, repeatedly were stay alive. The way to live is to kill because The majority of those men were enlis- See TIGERS, next page BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003 SECTION A, PAGE 7

GLOSSARY QUANG NAM Tiger Force base 101st Airborne — An Army from Aug. 10, 1967, division of paratroopers sent to Vietnam in 1965. Trail of atrocities to Nov. 25, 1967. Battalion — A military unit that, From May through November, 1967, Tiger Force swept across for Vietnam infantry soldiers, commonly had four line compa- the Central Highlands torching hamlets and rounding up villagers Tam Ky nies, a headquarters company, to send them to relocation camps. Those villagers who stayed An area of dense and a support company, total- behind became frequent targets, according to an eight-month jungles and ing about 900 men. The Tiger mountains where My Lai Force platoon was formed out Blade investigation. of the headquarters company of the unit’s final set of Chu Lai the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry. atrocities took place. Carbine-15 — A short-bar- reled, lightweight version of the M-16 rifle. Captain (Capt.) — A military Song Ve Valley Quang rank of an officer who usually Laos A valley anchored QUANGQUANG Ngai leads a company of soldiers. by seven small Central Highlands — An area villages where the NGAINGAI of river valleys, mountains, and jungles in Vietnam, much of it platoon’s atrocities bordering Laos. It is made up of r North intensified. e several provinces — including iv R Quang Nam and Quang Ngai — Vietnam e Duc where Tiger Force operated in Vietnam V 1967. g KON TUM n Hanoi o Pho S Company — A military unit that, for Vietnam infantry sol- Tiger Force base from May 3, diers, commonly had three pla- Dak To 1967, to Aug. 10, 1967, where toons and administrative staff the unit’s atrocities began. totaling 150 to 200 men. Tiger 0 25 Force was not attached to a company, instead answering miles directly to its battalion com- manders. Laos Court-martial — The military’s Gulf of Seven months of war crimes*: version of a criminal trial. Government records show that those in red were substantiated by Army Criminal Investigation Tonkin investigators. Command — An Army unit headquartered in Virginia that Vinh Those in blue were uncovered by The Blade through interviews with former Tiger investigates war crimes and Force soldiers and with villagers in Vietnam, or by reviewing Army investigative criminal activities involving records never revealed to the American public. Army personnel. It is also known by its former name, Demilitarized August/ near Chu Lai ¥ Unit members Criminal Investigation Division. MAY kill suspected Viet Cong fighter and then Zone Geneva Conventions — May 6/ Song Ve Valley ¥ George Hatten find the man's elderly father. Pvt. James Internationally recognized code Thailand mutilates dead Vietnamese. Cogan wounds the father before another of conduct during war. May 8/ near Duc Pho ¥ After capturing platoon member kills him. Lieutenant (Lt.) — A military and torturing a prisoner, soldiers order August/ near Chu Lai ¥ Sgt. William rank of an officer who usually him to run and fatally shoot him. Doyle shoots an unarmed teenager in leads a platoon. the back after ordering him to leave. JUNE Sergeant Doyle also shoots a North Lieutenant colonel (Lt. Col.) The mission: — A military rank of an officer Da Nang June/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Sgt. Terrance Vietnamese prisoner assigned to the unit who usually leads a battalion. Fearing the North Kerrigan executes a prisoner. as an interpreter. Vietnamese would take June/ near Duc Pho ¥ Spec. Kenneth August/ near Chu Lai ¥ Soldiers drop M-16 — The standard rifle for most U.S. troops in Vietnam. control of the Central Chu Lai Green tortures and kills a bound prisoner. grenades into three underground bunkers Major (Maj.) — An officer’s Highlands and cut South Quang June/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Soldiers kill an filled with Vietnamese men, women, and Quang elderly man and place a grenade on his children. rank directly above captain. Vietnam in two, Gen. Ngai William Westmoreland in Ngai body to disguise him as an enemy. August/ near Tam Ky ¥ Sgt. William National Archives — A U.S. February, 1967 created Duc Pho Doyle shoots a farmer in the forearm, government agency that’s the JUNE – JULY then orders troops to kill the man as he repository of government Task Force Oregon — Dak To records, including military doc- made up of numerous June-July/ near Duc Pho ¥ Pvt. Sam begs for his life. The man is executed. uments. Ybarra and Spec. Kenneth Green Aug. 21/ near Chu Lai ¥ Soldiers tie up Army units including Tiger NVA — The North Vietnamese Force — to clear out capture, kill, and scalp an enemy soldier. and torture a prisoner and tell him to run. June-July/ near Duc Pho ¥ Pvt. Sam He is fatally shot as he runs away. Army, which fought U.S. troops. enemy troops and relocate Qui Operation Wheeler — A 75- civilians. As part of the 1st Ybarra kills and cuts off the ears of an Late August-September/ between Tam Nhon unarmed 15-year-old boy. Ky and Chu Lai ¥ Pvt. Sam Ybarra and day operation from September Battalion, 327th Infantry, to November, 1967, near Chu Spec. Kenneth Green sexually assault a Lai in the Central Highlands in Tiger Force arrived in Duc JULY 13-year-old girl before killing her. Pho on May 3 to begin a which numerous Army units, Cambodia July/ near Duc Pho ¥ Losing a bet that including Tiger Force, carried series of search-and- he can knock out a prisoner with one NOVEMBER out search-and-destroy mis- destroy missions that punch, Sgt. Robin Varney and two others November/ near Chu Lai ¥ After sions to secure the region. would last until Aug. 10. kill the prisoner with a bayonet. searching a village for weapons and Platoon — A military unit con- The unit then moved to July/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Pvt. Sam Ybarra finding none, exiting soldiers come under sisting of about 36 to 45 sol- Chu Lai to continue its South and Spec. Kenneth Green kill a prisoner fire from a distant hillside. They return diers. Tiger Force was a pla- operations. instead of evacuating him. fire, and then turn their guns on the toon that operated in small July 18/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Sgt. William village, killing six civilians. teams. Vietnam Doyle admits to killing a wounded Viet Cong November/ location unknown ¥ Pvt. Private (Pvt.) — The lowest fighter after the prisoner asks for water. Sam Ybarra decapitates an infant in a rank of a soldier. July 23/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Sgt. Harold village hut. Radio logs — The reports by Trout clubs Dao Hue, an elderly, unarmed Nov. 11 - Nov. 21, Quang Nam province platoons of their movement and carpenter, with his rifle and Lt. James Tiger Force radio logs list 49 "Viet Cong" activities radioed to battalion Saigon Hawkins shoots Dao Hue in the face. killed, but in 46 deaths no weapons are headquarters. Five former Tiger July 24/ Song Ve Valley ¥ An unarmed seized. Former platoon members now Force soldiers now say the (now(now HoHo ChiChi unit’s logs were faked to cover Minh City) man is wounded while approaching the say that civilians were killed and radio Minh City) unit's night position. Sgt. Harold Trout log information was fabricated. up war crimes. 0 100 South fatally shoots the man. Sergeant (Sgt.) — The military miles July 27/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Soldiers execute UNKNOWN rank of a soldier who commonly China two prisoners on the order of an officer. Unknown date/ Chu Lai ¥ Sgt. James leads a squad or team. It is the July 28/ Song Ve Valley ¥ The platoon highest rank of an enlisted sol- Barnett executes a young mother on the dier. Sea opens fire on 10 elderly, unarmed farmers, order of Sgt. Harold Trout. killing four. Others are injured. September to November/ unknown Specialist (Spec.) — The mili- July 28/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Soldiers stop location ¥ Pvt. John Colligan shoots an tary rank above private denot- ing that a soldier has special- a 12-year-old boy, Vo Tai Can, leading unarmed, elderly Vietnamese man to test ized skill. During the Vietnam two unarmed, partially blind men. The a present he had recieved — a 38-caliber conflict, there were four cate- boy is evacuated, but the soldiers execute handgun. gories within the rank. The low- Total known dead from the men. September to November/ near Tam Ky est category was the equivalent Tiger Force atrocities: 81 ¥ A soldier beheads one elderly man and to a corporal, with higher-rank- AUGUST medic Barry Bowman fatally shoots a ing specialists converted to Soldiers do not know how many Early August/ Song Ve Valley ¥ Lt. wounded man in the same village. sergeants if given command China people died in the bunkers, and James Hawkins orders troops to fire on roles. Area of several said they kept no count of two unarmed, elderly women approaching Uniform Code of Military detail camp. One woman is injured. Justice — The military’s own what were widespread civilian law that applies to service deaths. Former medic Rion Causey *The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 prohibit the inhumane treatment of noncombatants members. said 120 were killed by his team — defined as civilians, prisoners, and enemy soldiers injured in battle. Noncombatants Viet Cong — Communist militia cannot be executed or treated cruelly. The wounded must be medically treated. Prisoners fighters based in South during just one month. must be evacuated from the war zone. And enemy corpses may not be mutilated. Vietnam, who fought along side the NVA. BLADE GRAPHIC Tigers: Some platoon members fashioned ghastly necklaces from ears they had severed

Continued from previous page Valley. In clearing the land, the soldiers began The Army’s plan was to force the vil- burning villages to force the people to of Duc Pho, reports state. He later told sol- lagers to move to refugee centers to keep leave. diers he shot the youth because he want- them from growing rice that could feed It didn’t always go as planned. ed the teenager’s tennis shoes. the enemy. But it wouldn’t be an easy At times, villagers would simply flee The shoes didn’t fit, but Ybarra ended assignment. to another hamlet. Other times, they up carrying out what became a ritual Many villagers refused to go to the would hide. among platoon members: He cut off the centers, which the U.S. State Depart- For the soldiers, the valley became a teenager’s ears and placed them in a ment criticized in 1967 for lacking food frustrating place. ration bag, Specialist Carpenter told and shelter. Surrounded by concrete During the day, they would round up investigators. walls and barbed wire, the camps resem- people to send to relocation camps. At During the Army’s investigation of bled prisons. night, platoon members huddled in Tiger Force, 27 soldiers said the severing Though the Army dropped leaflets camps on the valley floor, dodging of ears from dead Vietnamese became an from helicopters ordering the 5,000 grenades hurled from enemy soldiers accepted practice. One reason: to scare inhabitants to the centers, many ignored in the mountains. the Vietnamese. the orders. “They wanted to stay on their The lines between civilians refusing to Platoon members strung the ears on land. They took no side in the war,” Lu leave and the enemy became increasingly shoe laces to wear around their necks, Thuan, 67, a farmer, recently recalled. blurred. reports state. Unlike most of the province, the val- One night, the platoon ran into an Former platoon medic Larry Cot- ley — removed from the populated coast elderly carpenter who had just crossed the tingham told investigators: “There was a These Song Ve Valley civilians were taken to a relocation camp in 1967.Tiger by narrow dirt roads — was not a center shallow Song Ve River. Dao Hue, as he was period when just about everyone had a Force soldiers targeted many who refused to report to the camps. of rebellion, say villagers and histori- known, had lived in the valley his entire necklace of ears.” ans. “We just wanted to be left alone,” said life. Records show soldiers began anoth- In the first three weeks of May, platoon ley under intense fire. Mr. Lu. He was walking to his village along the er gruesome practice: Kicking out the soldiers were under frequent sniper fire By the time it ended, two Tiger Force banks of the river on a dirt trail he knew teeth of dead civilians for their gold fill- as they walked unfamiliar trails. soldiers were killed and 25 wounded. Lieutenant executed by heart. ings. Booby traps covered the rolling hills Over the next few weeks, the platoon unarmed, elderly man On this night, he wouldn’t make it and beaches. would change. home. Villagers resisted On May 15, the unit was ambushed by A new field commander, Lt. James But no one was left alone. His shooting death on July 23 as he relocation orders a North Vietnamese battalion in what Hawkins, joined the unit, along with two The Song Ve Valley — four miles wide pleaded for his life would be remem- became known as the Mother’s Day Mas- dozen replacements. by six miles long — became the center of bered by five soldiers during the Army’s For Tiger Force, the fighting was unpre- sacre. From 11 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., the out- The newcomers arrived as the pla- operations for Tiger Force over the next dictable in Quang Ngai. manned platoon became trapped in a val- toon was about to move into the Song Ve two months. See TIGERS, next page BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS SECTION A, PAGE 8 THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003

PRIMARY FIGURES Experts: Earlier Tiger Force probe Sgt. James Barnett — The Tennessee native told Army investigators that the unit could have averted My Lai carnage committed

widespread © THE BLADE, 2003 war crimes. By MICHAEL D. SALLAH He admitted and MITCH WEISS OTHER VIETNAM executing an BLADE STAFF WRITERS unarmed ATROCITIES MY LAI, Vietnam — Just before dawn, woman on the ritual begins. the orders of Navy SEALs People gather around stone statues, another Feb. 25, 1969 some whispering prayers, others crying. sergeant. He Before becoming a U.S. senator Every year, hundreds of Vietnamese resigned as from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey led a travel to the memorial that marks the day a lieutenant from the Army seven-member Navy SEAL team on a the soldiers swept into the tiny village during the investigation. He midnight raid of an isolated hamlet, before sunrise expecting to meet enemy sol- became a boiler operator Thang Phong, in an unsuccessful diers. search for a Viet Cong leader. before dying of cancer in Instead, the soldiers found a thriving Alabama in 2001 at 56. The team’s most senior member, hamlet. Gerhard Klann, said at least 13 ——— 1 In just 4 ⁄2 hours, the U.S. Army’s 11th Spec. Barry Bowman — A unarmed women and children were Brigade went on a rampage that shook rounded up and shot. Mr. Kerrey and platoon medic, he said he the American military to its core. became so upset after see- another SEAL said they fired into huts When it was over, about 500 people lay in self-defense, later finding dead ing a prisoner beaten and dead — unarmed men, women, and chil- killed that he spoke to a women and children inside. dren — some herded into a ditch and The incident was first chronicled in battalion chaplain about it. sprayed with bullets, their bloodied bod- But he admitted to killing a an April, 2001, article in The New York ies stacked on top of one another. Times. wounded prisoner himself, Much has been written about the slaugh- calling it a “mercy killing.” ter on March 16, 1968, that helped turn the He left the Army in 1969 and Army, 173rd Airborne Brigade American public against the war. The 1968/1969 rejoined from 1980 to 1986. assaults spawned books and magazine Now 59 and living in Rhode Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, an inspec- articles — with stark images of women tor general and battalion commander, Island, he said he struggles and babies in a mass grave. with memories of the war. gave interviews to national news Thirty-five years later, the My Lai mas- media, spoke to Playboy magazine, ——— sacre shares powerful parallels with the Spec. William Carpenter and wrote a book, Soldier, alleging Tiger Force war-crime case. the Army covered up war crimes by — The eastern Ohio native Both Army units patrolled the same various units in the brigade and joined Tiger province. Both set up their camps in the forced him out for trying to investi- Force in same military base. Both carried out the gate them. January, same missions: search and destroy — just Army criminal investigators probed 1967, at 18 10 miles apart. 21 allegations of misconduct and and served But there was a key difference. Tiger substantiated seven cases involving until Force arrived in the province six months December. before the 11th Brigade. the mistreatment of prisoners and He recount- Shortly after their arrival, the Tigers civilians. But some Army officials and ed war began mutilating bodies, killing civilians, the CBS show 60 Minutes questioned crimes dur- and executing prisoners, the soldiers later the colonel’s credibility. ing the Army told investigators. The retired colonel sued the show’s investigation. Now 55, he The atrocities, brought to the Army’s producer, resulting in a landmark U.S. lives near Rayland, Ohio. attention in 1967, now raise a critical ques- Supreme Court decision on plaintiffs’ ——— tion: If the Army had reacted to those rights in a libel lawsuit. But his case Pvt. Rion Causey — As a complaints, could safeguards have been in was later dismissed. 19-year-old unit medic he place to avert the rampage at My Lai? witnessed Military experts say the massacre was 1st Marine Division THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON the execu- merely the culmination of the Army’s fail- Feb. 19, 1970 tions of ure to take steps to stop the violence that A memorial in My Lai marks the 1968 massacre of civilians by American troops. A five-man team went on a search- unarmed had been growing against the people of and-destroy mission for Viet Cong in Vietnamese Quang Ngai province. not investigate in fear of what might be getting the South Vietnamese to cooperate,” a small village, Son Thang, ordering of all ages “There’s no doubt that My Lai could uncovered. said William Eckhardt, a law professor at 16 women and children from three and gen- have been prevented had the Army cracked Beyond the records, other signs exist- the University of Missouri at Kansas City. huts and executing them. Within a ders, count- down on atrocities,” said Michael Belk- ed that could have alerted the Army to Prosecutors wanted the information day, the Marines began investigating, ing 120 civil- nap, a law professor and Vietnam veteran Tiger Force’s practices. to help bolster their case that My Lai was resulting in convictions of Pvts. ians killed in who authored the 2003 book, The Viet- In 1966, journalist Ward Just wrote in the the consequence of an out-of-control Michael Schwarz and Samuel Green. just one nam War On Trial. book, To What End, that one Tiger Force sol- Army in the province, he said. Schwarz was sentenced to life impris- month of 1967. Now 55, he “Remember, they heard rumors. They dier was sending the ears of his dead ene- Experts say the Army could have react- onment and Green to five years. is a senior research scientist suspected some troops were out of control,” mies through the mail to his wife in the Unit- ed to complaints about Tiger Force by Both sentences later were reduced in Livermore, Calif. he said. ed States. alerting commanders — and investigating to one year. ——— Months before the arrival of Lt. William Jonathan Schell wrote articles for the New the accusations immediately. One Marine wasn’t tried and two Sgt. William Doyle — He Calley’s 11th Brigade unit in Quang Ngai Yorker magazine in 1967, saying that sol- “That would have sent a clear message were acquitted, including Pvt. Randall joined Tiger Force in June, province, Tiger Force already was estab- diers from the 101st Airborne admitted that this was not going to be tolerated,” said Herrod, who led the team. Private 1967, and admitted in a lishing itself there as a rogue unit. to war crimes in the province but refused Dr. Anderson, a Vietnam veteran. Herrod got help at trial from then-Lt. recent inter- A review of thousands of Army records, to provide details. The articles didn’t men- More intensive training on war crimes Oliver North, who credited the private view that he including affidavits, battle reports, and tion Tiger Force, which was part of the and treatment of civilians could have been with saving his life in Vietnam. killed logs, shows: 101st Airborne. implemented in Quang Ngai province. unarmed ●Two soldiers, Lt. Donald Wood and Sgt. Several military historians said they Dr. Anderson and others say the troops’ civilians, Gerald Bruner, told investigators in 1974 they had long suspected a dangerous pattern of exposure to international laws in 1967 reduced to 10 years. prisoners, complained to commanders in August, abuse against civilians in the province — was minimal: Soldiers were given a brief lec- After several appeals, he was paroled in 1 and inter- 1967, that Tiger Force platoon leaders were eventually culminating with the massacre ture and a pocket card with nine rules on 1975 after serving 3 ⁄2 years under house preters killing unarmed civilians. But the attacks at My Lai. the proper way to treat civilians. arrest. assigned to continued. But they said the alleged practices had Until the My Lai massacre, investigat- His assault more than three decades the unit. He ● Tiger Force Sgt. Leo Heaney and two always been vague and unsubstantiated until ing war crimes in Vietnam was not a priority ago is still considered one of the worst said he left other soldiers were ordered to sign affidavits now. among commanders, records show. U.S. war atrocities of the last century. the Army in in May, 1967, that they were not mutilat- “It’s something we knew was going on, In fact, the attack was covered up until Mr. Belknap, an Army lieutenant during 1971 to join the CIA’s Air ing bodies after a severed ear was discov- but no one ever came forward with the an outraged veteran, Ron Ridenhour, wrote the Vietnam War, said My Lai continues to America, which helped fight ered in an Army helicopter. But the platoon details,” said Dr. David Anderson, editor of letters to congressional and military offi- be studied by military historians, but per- communists in neighboring continued the practice of cutting off the ears the 1998 book, Facing My Lai. cials a year later. haps a greater understanding can be gained Laos. He said he was tipped of enemy soldiers and civilians. The lead Army prosecutor in the My After an Army probe, Calley and others by looking at the events that led to the off by an Army investigator ● One battalion officer, Dr. Bradford Lai case said he tried to get information eventually were charged with war crimes, massacre. to keep quiet about the war Mutchler, told investigators in 1975 that about prior war crimes in the province. including murder. Of those tried, only Cal- “What [the Army] never learned — until crimes. Now 70, he lives in commanders were aware of rumors of “We had long suspected that things were ley was convicted. He was sentenced to life it was too late — is that you can’t just kill Missouri. Tiger Force war crimes in 1967 but did getting out of hand there, but it was tough in prison, but his term eventually was unarmed civilians.”

Tigers: Troops targeted men, women, and children after the area was declared a free-fire zone Continued from previous page Immediately, Lieutenant valley. the soldiers began firing. Kieu Hawkins began shaking the old The area was declared a free- Trac, now 72, said he watched investigation. man and cursing at him, wit- TIGER FORCE fire zone — a special designation helplessly as his father fell in the It would also send a message nesses recalled. Without warn- U.S. Army that meant troops didn’t have to rice field with the others. to the people of the valley that ing, Sergeant Trout clubbed Mr. 101st Airborne Division seek approval from commanders He said he waited for hours no one was safe, leading hun- Dao with the barrel of his M-16 327th Infantry and South Vietnamese officials before crawling into the field in the dreds to flee. rifle. 1st Battalion before attacking enemy soldiers. darkness to look for his father’s The platoon had been He fell to the ground, covered Tiger Force: Reconnaissance platoon But Tiger Force soldiers took the body. He recalled turning over patrolling the valley and set up with blood. Average size: 45 men words — free-fire zone — literal- the corpses — one by one — until camp in an abandoned village, In a sworn statement to inves- ly. They began to fire on men, he found Kieu Cong, 60. where they began drinking beer tigators, Specialist Carpenter said ■ Formed in the fall of 1965, Tiger women, and children, former pla- The son and his wife, Mai Thi delivered by helicopter. By dusk, he told Lieutenant Hawkins the Force was once named in a presidential toon members said. Tai, carried his remains back to the several soldiers were drunk, reports man “was just a farmer, and was citation for bravery for its effort in a Two partially blind men found village for burial. state. unarmed.” 1966 battle. wandering in the valley were The bodies of three others, Le At nightfall, the platoon But as medic Barry Bowman ■ Wore tiger-stripe fatigues and soft- escorted to a bend in the Song Muc, Phung Giang, and an elder- received an unexpected order: tried to treat the villager’s head brimmed jungle hats. Ve River and shot to death, records ly female member of the Trang Move across the river, and set up wound, Lieutenant Hawkins lift- ■ Performed everything from stealth show. Two villagers, including a family, were later buried by rela- an ambush. What followed was a ed the man up from where he reconnaissance to search-and-destroy teenager, were executed because tives. shooting that would be ques- was kneeling and shot him in the missions. The volunteer unit often they were not in relocation camps. “The farmers didn’t do any- tioned by soldiers long after they face with a Carbine-15 rifle. spent weeks away from base camp, While approaching a rice paddy thing … we didn’t hurt the soldiers. left Vietnam. “The old man fell backwards on commonly working in small teams with on July 28, platoon members All they were doing was working When Mr. Dao crossed the the ground, and Hawkins shot less supervision than the battalion's opened fire on 10 elderly farmers. in the fields,” said Mr. Kieu, point- river, he ran into Sgt. Leo Heaney, him again,” Specialist Carpenter traditional three line companies. The image of the bodies scat- ing to the spot where his father and who grabbed the elderly Viet- said in a sworn statement. “I just ■ Current unit is guarding oil pipelines tered across the green expanse the others were killed. “They namese man with the gray beard. knew he was dead as half of his near Mosul in Iraq. has long been remembered by thought the soldiers would leave Immediately, the 68-year-old head was blown off.” Tiger Force soldiers and the peo- them alone.” carpenter dropped his shoulder Lieutenant Hawkins denied ple of Van Xuan village. Another villager, Lu Thuan, pole with baskets on each end the allegations in an interview SOURCE: U.S. Army BLADE GRAPHIC By all accounts, the farmers who watched the attack from a filled with geese. with Army investigators on March thought they were safe. nearby mountain, said he doesn’t “He was terrified and folded his 16, 1973. But in a recent inter- man had to be killed.” recalled. “It was very sad — sad for They were too old to serve in remember how many were hands and started what appeared view with The Blade, he admitted Nearly four decades later, the all of us.” the military and not openly aligned wounded. to me as praying for mercy in a killing the elderly man, claiming villagers who found Mr. Dao’s with either side in the conflict, “Some were injured,” said Mr. loud high-pitched tone,” Mr. his voice was loud enough to remains said they knew he was Soldiers intensified according to their relatives. Lu, now 67. “They couldn’t run Heaney told Army investigators. draw enemy attention. killed by U.S. soldiers. attacks in the valley In the end, four were killed fast enough. Others acted like He said he realized the man “I eliminated that right there.” His niece, Tam Hau, now 70, and others wounded in what sev- they died.” posed no threat. But four soldiers told investi- was one of the first to see her Four days after the shooting of eral soldiers told investigators Mr. Carpenter, one of the sol- Sergeant Heaney said he escort- gators there were other ways to uncle’s body by the river the next Dao Hue, four Tiger Force sol- was an unjustified attack. diers in the patrol, insists he did ed Mr. Dao to the platoon leaders, silence him. In fact, the shots ulti- day. diers were wounded in guerrilla The order to shoot came from not fire his weapon. “It was wrong,” Lieutenant Hawkins and Sgt. mately gave their position away, She and another relative, Bui grenade attacks. Lieutenant Hawkins, the officer he said in a recent interview. Harold Trout. Trembling, the man which led to a firefight. Quang Truong, dragged their The platoon struck back. leading the patrol, records state. “There was no way I was going to continued to babble loudly, wit- Said Mr. Bowman: “There was uncle’s remains to their village. Over the next 10 days, the sol- One villager recently recalled nesses said. no justifiable reason that the old “He was shot all over his body,” she diers led a rampage through the the farmers were surprised when See TIGERS, next page BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2003 SECTION A, PAGE 9 PRIMARY 7 allegations FIGURES Spec. Kenneth “Boots” Green — Pvt. Sam Ybarra’s focused on GI best friend in high school, he joined the Army with Private Ybarra and was accused from Arizona of helping his friend com- mit several war crimes. ‘He had no mercy for anyone,’ He was called ‘Boots’ a fellow soldier remembers because he never removed his boots when he was in © THE BLADE, 2003 was under way in 1971, he was dis- the field. A North By MICHAEL D. SALLAH charged and living on the San Vietnamese sniper killed and MITCH WEISS Carlos Apache Reservation in Ari- Specialist Green on Sept. BLADE STAFF WRITERS zona where he was raised. After 29, 1967. Sam Ybarra sat in the dark- years of alcohol and drugs, he ——— ness of his mother’s Arizona home, died of pneumonia at 36. Lt. James Hawkins — sobbing. Through dozens of military While commanding the pla- Once a feared member of Tiger records and interviews, a trou- toon from July 2 to Nov. 1, Force who boasted of shooting bling snapshot of the veteran the Kentucky native shot an civilians, he was now a broken emerges. unarmed, figure — haunted by images of Born in a working-class fam- elderly man the war. ily, he was the son of an Apache and ordered “I would ask him: ‘What’s mother and Mexican father. When the shooting wrong? Why are you crying?’” he was 5, his father was killed in of civilians recalled Therlene Ramos. “He a barroom brawl. and prison- would say: ‘It’s my life. What I As he grew older, Sam Ybarra ers, former did. What I did. I killed people, was described by relatives and soldiers told mama. I killed regular people. I friends as awkward and quiet — Army investi- shouldn’t have. My God, what did a chubby teenager with a short Pvt. Sam Ybarra was often seen wearing a necklace of human ears and was known for scalping gators in I do?’” temper, especially when drink- dead prisoners and civilians. He also removed the gold fillings from mouths of dead Vietnamese. sworn statements. He told His hands shaking, he would ing. The Blade the killings were curl up on her couch, repeating the He dropped out of Army’s investigation of Tiger Force. returned to Arizona, where he question: ‘“Why?” she said. Globe High School his Two soldiers said he decapi- moved to the reservation. justified. He was not But in the end, only he could junior year, and at one tated an infant to remove a neck- When investigators last tried charged by the Army and answer. point, ran away from lace known as a “Buddha Band” to interview him in 1975, he was was promoted to major The once stocky paratrooper home, saying he wanted from the baby’s neck. living in a trailer and suffering before retiring in 1978. He was a notorious suspect in the to be alone, relatives said. Several soldiers said Ybarra from diabetes and cirrhosis of worked as a civilian Army longest war-crime investigation of By the time he was later bragged about killing the the liver. employee before retiring the Vietnam War. 18, he was arrested four baby. Intoxicated, he refused to meet again in 2001. Now 62, he Three times, investigators tried times for underage drink- One Tiger Force sergeant told with investigators at the reserva- lives in Florida. to question him about the accu- ing and disturbing the investigators most of the soldiers tion police station, reports state. ——— sations against him; three times peace, records show. feared Ybarra. “He had no mercy For years, he had been spend- Pvt. Ken Kerney — The he refused. Since he was no longer When he wasn’t get- for anyone,” James Barnett said in ing his days drinking alcohol and Illinois native joined the pla- in the military, he was not legal- ting into trouble, he was 1973. “This includes Vietnamese smoking marijuana, said Joyce toon in May, 1967, as a rifle- ly required to comply. hunting and fishing on civilians, women, and children.” Little, his former wife. man. He said But before he died in 1982, he Lake Roosevelt, or cruis- Medic Harold Fischer said in a “He didn’t work,” she said. in a recent broke down to those closest to ing the dusty roads near recent interview soldiers had to His mother offered a simple interview he him, say friends and relatives. Globe, Ariz., with his high restrain Ybarra from attacking explanation: He was deeply dis- witnessed, His mother, now 78, recalls school friend, Kenneth civilians. “He would kill unarmed but didn’t After the death of Kenneth ‘Boots’ Green, turbed by the years he spent in consoling him. “Boots” Green. villagers when the opportunity Vietnam. take part in, “He would be sitting and cry- In 1966, the two Sam Ybarra was never the same.Ybar- presented itself, which some- the wide- ra vowed to avenge his friend’s death,rel- Army records show Ybarra ing. Sitting and crying. He said joined the Army on a times was on a daily basis.” weighed 185 pounds when he spread to me, ‘I really feel bad. I asked God dare, according to fam- atives and former soldiers said. By 1968, Ybarra was no longer served in Vietnam. When he died, killing of to forgive me for what I did for ily members. in the unit. he was 95 pounds, said family civilians. killing all those people, all those After arriving in Vietnam, Ybar- killing a teenage girl after a search- After several confrontations members. When he returned home civilians, all those children. They ra became a Tiger Force soldier and and-destroy mission near Tam with superiors, he was sent to an His sister, Judith Ybarra, said her from Vietnam, he burned his never meant to do me any wrong.’” eventually talked his best friend Ky in August. artillery company. By 1969, he uniform. But he later joined Of the 30 war-crime allega- into joining. Though the platoon often oper- was court-martialed three times brother was a “sweet boy,” but when he returned from the war, the Army National Guard tions against Tiger Force investi- They would both gain repu- ated in small teams, the two friends for insubordination and mari- and served in the 1991 Gulf gated by the Army, Ybarra is named tations as soldiers who could be always seemed to be together, juana possession, records show. “he was changed.” She and other relatives said War. Now 56, he is a fire- in seven, including the rape and trusted in battle and cruel to vil- said witnesses. He was once disciplined for fighter in California. fatal stabbing of a 13-year-old lagers. During a military operation refusing to go into a bunker dur- they did not know the details of his ——— girl and the brutal killing of a 15- Green was accused by a fel- on Sept. 29, 1967, the platoon ing a rocket attack. Sgt. Buford atrocities. They, along with friends Lt. Col. Gerald Morse — year-old boy. low platoon member of tortur- was ambushed, and Green was McClure wrote in a report on and others on the reservation, At age 38 the Korean War Over and over, he was seen ing a gagged prisoner near Duc shot in the leg. As he was dragged March 13, 1969, that Ybarra stood remember him as a brave soldier. veteran took over the 1st cutting off the ears of dead enemy Pho in May, 1967, by repeatedly away by a medic, he was shot in defiantly in the barracks. On past Memorial Days, his soldiers and villagers, at times, jabbing a knife into his neck before the head and died as his friend “He just laughed, and said, name has been invoked at memo- Battalion/327th Infantry. He scalping them with a hunting killing him by slashing his throat, watched. ‘Everyone is getting shook up like rial services, and local newspapers immediately instituted a knife, soldiers told investigators. Army records show. Ybarra would never be the a scared rabbit. I told you I want- have written about his battle more aggressive style for Thirteen former platoon mem- Ybarra was accused by anoth- same, say soldiers and relatives, ed to go back to the Airborne so exploits. Tiger Force and the three bers said they were struck by the er soldier near the same village of promising to avenge Green’s death. I can kill me some of those gooks But in the end, he “drank to for- companies same image: Ybarra wearing neck- shooting an unarmed 15-year- For the next two months, he and somebody else.’” get about what he did in Viet- he oversaw. laces of human ears. old boy and then severing his became one of the platoon’s most An Army psychologist nam,” said his former wife. Many atroci- Before he left Vietnam, he ears to string onto a necklace. prolific killers, according to sworn described him as “limited, inflex- “Maybe he was afraid of the ties occurred would be court-martialed and Five former Tiger Force sol- statements of other soldiers. ible, lacking in tact and with a demons, the ghosts of the people while he was disciplined three times — removed diers, including two sergeants, During a sweep of a village low frustration tolerance.’’ he killed, the things he did. He commander. from special forces. told investigators that Ybarra and near Chu Lai, he carried out a Dishonorably discharged from probably died haunted by those Several sol- By the time the investigation Green bragged about raping and gruesome atrocity that led to the the Army in April, 1969, he ghosts.” diers told investigators he pushed the unit to kill as many people as pos- sible to pad “body count” Tigers: Villagers say they dug mass graves after the soldiers moved through statistics, which he has denied. He retired in 1979 as Continued from previous page It was not only home to the a colonel. Now 74 and a Viet Cong, but a far more trained champion racquetball player, shoot. Those people weren’t both- and disciplined adversary: the he lives in Arizona. ering anybody.” 2nd Division of the North Viet- ——— He told Army investigators he namese Army. Sgt. Harold Trout — At 30, was afraid to express his opin- Though these enemy forces the sergeant was second-in- ion. A culture had developed in the previously hid in the nearby command of Tiger Force and unit that promoted the shooting Annamese Mountains, they were considered a of civilians — with team leaders now moving toward Chu Lai, the combat vet- enforcing a code of silence. sprawling U.S. air base that was eran. Former Four former soldiers told inves- home to Tiger Force and other soldiers say tigators they didn’t report atroc- units. ities because they were warned to By early September, the enemy he ordered keep quiet by team leaders. soldiers were setting ambushes for the execu- Ken Kerney, the former pri- troops, including Tiger Force. tion of a vate, recalled in a recent inter- “We soon found ourselves face young moth- view the briefing he received to face with the enemy,” recalled er, ordered before joining Tiger Force. William Carpenter, the former the execu- “The commanders told me platoon specialist who now lives tion of a pris- that ‘What goes on here, stays in eastern Ohio. “It seemed like oner, and himself executed a here. You never tell anyone about every day we were getting hit.” wounded detainee. He what goes on here. If we find out Within 18 days of arriving in the retired from the military in you did, you won’t like it.’ They did- new operations area, five Tiger 1985. Now 66, he lives in n’t tell me what they would do, but Force soldiers died and 12 were Tennessee. I knew. So you’re afraid to say wounded in fighting that left the ——— anything.’’ remaining platoon members bit- Pvt. Sam Ybarra — By age Villagers recently interviewed THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON ter and angry. 18, the high school dropout said they dug dozens of mass ‘I am still angry. We were farmers. We didn’t hurt anyone,’ says Nguyen Dam, 66, who recalls The platoon — broken into was arrested for underage graves after the soldiers moved running away when Tiger Force attacked the farmers in a Song Ve Valley rice paddy. groups of four to six soldiers — drinking and carrying a con- through the valley. began attacking villages with a cealed weapon. He was Nguyen Dam, 66, recalled the war. people killed — not by whether a Within days of taking over, vengeance, according to former released grim task of burying neighbors For Tiger Force, the Song Ve village was taken, according to Colonel Morse changed the names soldiers. from jail on and friends whose bodies were campaign was over. the sworn statements of 11 former of the battalion’s three compa- “Everybody was blood thirsty the day he left in the fields. On Aug. 10, platoon soldiers — officers. nies — an action questioned by at the time, saying ‘We’re going to was inducted “We wouldn’t even have meals armed with new supplies and In what became one of the investigators years later. get them back. We’re going to go into the because of the smell,” the rice reinforcements — rode a truck bloodiest periods of 1967, the Instead of companies A, B, back there. We’re going to even the Army. farmer said. “I couldn’t breathe the convoy into a new area 30 miles Army launched a campaign on and C, they were now known as score,’ ” former medic Rion Causey Soldiers air sometimes. There were so north. Sept. 11 known as Operation Assassins, Barbarians, and Cut- said in a recent interview. recall him as many villagers who died, we could- Known as the Quang Nam Wheeler. throats — with a sign hoisted over He said he watched as soldiers the most n’t bury them one by one. We had province, the vast landscape was The battalion commander who battalion headquarters bearing took out their aggressions on prolific killer to bury them all in one grave.” covered by triple-canopy jungles would lead Tiger Force and three the new names. And Colonel unarmed civilians who refused in the platoon. Dishonorably and intricate, enemy tunnels. other units was Lt. Col. Gerald Morse would go by the name to leave their homes. discharged in 1969 for The mission was to control Morse, who had taken over the pre- “Ghost Rider.” “I’ve never seen anything like Platoon moved north, actions unconnected to the province, but not in the tra- vious month. Under his command, Tiger it. We just came in and cleared focused on body count Tiger Force, he returned to ditional way of winning territory. The 38-year-old officer was Force was encouraged to forcefully out the civilian population,” said Days after the attack on the The platoon became dragged described as an aggressive, hands- patrol the dozens of hamlets in the Mr. Causey, 55, now a nuclear his Arizona reservation, farmers, U.S. planes flew over the into a battle that became a mantra on commander who rode in heli- province. engineer in California. “It was a day where he struggled with valley, dumping thousands of gal- of the war: body count. copters and kept in frequent radio But the soldiers soon learned by day by day thing.” alcoholism and drug abuse. lons of defoliants to ensure no one The success of a battle would contact with his units in the 1st this was different from the Song He died in 1982 of pneumo- would grow rice there during the be measured by the number of Battalion, 327th Infantry. Ve Valley. See TIGERS, next page nia at 36. 5 0 C E N T S e 4 6 P A G E S T O L E D O , O H I O , M O N D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 0 , 2 0 0 3 F I N A L

V E H I C L E P O L I C Y Lucas County A BLADE INVESTIGATION to shrink its f leet of cars Commissioners eager to improve oversight By DALE EMCH use are, weekly or bimonthly BLADE STAFF WRITER usage repor ts, and accurate gas Lucas County hasn’t unveiled use. We need total accountabili- its revamped car policy yet, but ty.” the commissioners are making The county may consider the one promise: The 433-vehicle state’s approach to decreasing fleet will shr ink. the size of its vehicle fleet. The Ga i n i n g c o n t ro l ove r w h o’s state crafted a for mula that dic- dr iving those vehicles — par tic- tates a mileage level where it ularly the 105 commuter cars in makes more sense to reimburse that fleet — became a pr ior ity a n e m p l oy e e f o r t h e i r m i l e s f o r t h e c o m m i s s i o n e r s a f t e r dr iven. Treasurer Ray Kest’s arrest for For example, it was deter- dr iving under the influence of m i n e d t h a t f o r a 1 9 9 8 - 2 0 0 3 BLADE PHOTO ILLUSTRATION/WES BOOHER AND SEAN McKEOWN alcohol in a county car. compact car dr iven less than Pvt. Sam Ybarra, Sgt. Harold Trout, and Spec. Kenneth ‘Boots’ Green, from left, were among the soldiers of I n t h e d a y s f o l l ow i n g M r. 9,118 miles, it generally makes Tiger Force accused of committing war crimes from May to November, 1967, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. K e s t ’s a r r e s t i n A u g u s t , i t more sense to reimburse for became obvious that state law mileage, according to Ben Pis- b a r r i n g t h e p e r s o n a l u s e o f c i t e l l i , a s p o k e s m a n f o r t h e c o u n t y v e h i c l e s w a s b e i n g Dep a r tm e n t of Adm i n i s t ra t i ve i g n o re d a n d t h e re w a s l i t t l e Ser vices. oversight of car use. T h e O h i o D e p a r t m e n t o f T h e p o l i c y, w h i c h m a y b e Administrative Ser vices for mu- p r e s e n t e d t o c o m m i s s i o n e r s lated the plan after G ov. Bob Inquiry ended this week, will be designed to Taft ordered a reduction of the address those problems. state’s 12,565 vehicle fleet. “I think what we need to see “ We’re tr ying to control costs i s c o n t r o l , ” C o m m i s s i o n e r and look at the most effective Harr y Barlos said. “ What we use of the state vehicles,” he n e e d t o h a v e i n p l a c e i s a said. “It’s the same decision we system to deter mine who’s dr iv- without justice ing, what the parameters of the See CARS, Page 5 Army substantiated numerous charges — I N S I D E S T E P T O S A I N T H O O D then dropped case of Vietnam war crimes Weather Mother Breezy, war m; high 74. Tonight, © THE BLADE, 2003 Instead, the case was hid- ● By the time the investiga- chance of a shower ; low 56. DAY TWO OF A By MICHAEL D. SALLAH FOUR-DAY SERIES den in the Army’s archives, and tion was completed in June, Weather, Page B8 Teres a and MITCH WEISS key suspects were allowed to 1975, six key suspects were BLADE STAFF WRITERS continue their military careers. allowed to leave the Army — N. Toledo shooting even years after leaving Viet- BURIED SECRETS By the time the investigation escaping the reach of military nam, James Barnett broke was over, a justice system that prosecutors. A man fleeing a Nor th Toledo offi cially Sdown. BRUTAL TRUTHS promised to prosecute war crim- When the Army’s final report gas station after a robber y is Haunted by the killing of inals ended up protecting them. reached commanders in 1975 for fatally shot in a str uggle with an civilians, the former Tiger Force undercover police detective. At every turn, the system failed. possible prosecution against ‘bless ed’ sergeant invited Army investi- An eight-month investiga- four remaining suspects, inves- Second News, Page B1 gators to his home to offer a tion by The Blade, based on tigators gave inaccurate and at LOS ANGELES TIMES surprise confession. thousands of military records times, incomplete information. ON THE RADIO VATICAN CIT Y — Royalty He admitted to shooting a and interviews, shows: In three cases in which the ● p ra ye d a l o n g s i d e t h e p o o r, young, unarmed mother. He Commanders knew of the final report accused people of and Indian dancers shared admitted to his platoon’s cruel platoon’s atrocities in 1967 but “murder,” commanders took no treatment of villagers. refused to investigate. action. stage with the world’s most ● e m i n e n t p r e l a t e s , a s Po p e He asked for immunity from Soldiers went to Army com- Investigators found that five John Paul II yesterday beati- prosecution, but in the end, he A special report manders in 1967 to complain other soldiers carried out atroc- fied Mother Teresa of Cal- never needed the legal protec- about the killing of civilians, ities, but their names were never tion. about a platoon’s atrocities but their pleas were ignored. mentioned in the final report. cutta, giving the famous nun No one would. in Vietnam and how ● Army investigators learned Four military legal experts Today: Vietnam series an elite status one step shor t Though the Army substanti- the war crimes about the atrocities in Febru- who reviewed the report for The of sainthood just six years Blade staff wr iters Michael D. ated 20 war crimes by 18 Tiger ary, 1971, but took a year to Blade questioned why the case Sallah, Mitch Weiss, and Joe went unpunished after her death. Force soldiers committed in interview witnesses. was closed so abruptly. Mahr will be inter viewed about Before an enor mous audi- 1967 — with numerous eyewit- ● Two Army investigators “There should have been a their ser ies on V ietnam — “Bur- e n c e t h a t s p i l l e d f r o m St . ied Secrets, Br utal Tr uths” — nesses — no charges were filed. U.S. fighting unit in Vietnam pretended to investigate while [military grand jury] investiga- P e t e r ’s S q u a r e d o w n t h e An investigation that should reached the Pentagon and White encouraging soldiers to keep tion of some kind done on this,” dur ing the mor ning dr ive-time broad V ia della Conciliazione show today on WXKR-FM, 94.5. have brought justice to the House but never a court of law quiet so they wouldn’t be pros- to the Tiber River, the woman longest series of atrocities by a — or the American public. ecuted. See INQUIRY, Page 7 already known as the Saint of Yankees even Series the Gutters for her work with Andy Pettitte pitches neatly into t h e s i c k , d y i n g , a n d THE SERIES the ninth to draw the New York u n w a n t e d , w a s n a m e d SUNDAY TODAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY Yankees even with a 6-1 win in “blessed” by a frail, sick Pope. The farmers of the Song Ve The cover-up began before Thirty-six years later, the Many former Tiger Force Game 2 of the World Ser ies. He praised her as an icon Valley thought they would the killing ended. And by the reminders of Tiger Force’s soldiers say they’re haunted Spor ts, Page C1 o f t h e G o o d S a m a r i t a n , be safe. They were too old time the Army finished its rampage through Quang by their memories of the saying her goodness der ived to serve in the military and investigation — which was Ngai province are every- killings and mutilations of from having “chosen to be not aligned with the North sent to the Pentagon and where, and the stories of prisoners and unarmed vil- not just the least, but to be Vietnamese. But the farmers the White House — no one their atrocities are still told lagers in 1967. Ten have the ser vant of the least.” were wrong. Tiger Force sol- was ever charged. A justice by Vietnamese villagers. To been diagnosed with post- The ceremony chimed with diers killed farmers, vil- system that promised to this day, the shooting deaths traumatic stress disorder. s o n g a n d l a n g u a g e s , a n d lagers, and prisoners in the prosecute war criminals evoke anger in those who Some have turned to alcohol sparkled with colors of cos- valley and across the ended up protecting them. survived the attacks — with and drugs to ease their pain. t u m e s , f a c e s , fl a g s , a n d Central Highlands in the some calling for the former Tradition, elegance, and love flowers. It took place under mark war m-weather weddings. longest series of war crimes American soldiers to be s u n n y, b l u e s k i e s d e s p i t e of the Vietnam War. prosecuted. Peach Plus, Page D9 See TERESA, Page 5 Recommendation The Blade’s recommendation on the Toledo-Lucas County Public Librar y levy. Pages of Opinion, Page A10 Bush open to North Korea deal Business ...... B6 Media ...... D3 Classifieds ..... C10 Obituaries .... B4, 5 Comics ...... D5, 6 Opinion ... A10, 11 WASHINGTON POST Nor th Korea — China, Japan, Crossword .... C15 Peach ...... D1 BANGKOK — President Bush U.S. offers no-attack pledge Russia, and South Korea. Horoscope .... C15 Sports ...... C1 A senior administration offi- Local news ...... B1 Today’s log ...... B3 said yesterday that he is willing Lottery ...... A5 TV listings ...... D4 to commit to a wr itten guar- cial said Mr. Bush had r uled out antee not to attack Nor th Korea if Pyongyang s crap s nukes a bilateral agreement, reasoning in exchange for steps by the that if Nor th Korea violated a countr y toward abandoning its g u a r a n t e e s t h a t No r t h Ko re a which Nor th Korea has insisted m u l t i p a r t y p a c t , “t h e y w o u l d nuclear weapons programs. might consider a concession. must be par t of an agreement not only be dismissive of the The President’s aides said he N o r t h K o r e a h a s p u r s u e d involving nuclear concessions. United States, but they would wants to have a proposal ready n u c l e a r w e a p o n s d e s p i t e “ We will not have a treaty,” also be dismissive of the other for Nor th Korea to consider by agreeing to freeze its programs Mr. Bush said dur ing a photo par ties that par ticipated in the Recycled Copyright © year’s end, when administration i n 1 9 9 4 i n a d e a l w i t h t h e s e s s i o n w i t h T h a i l a n d P r i m e assurance.” and 2003 C l i n t o n a d m i n i s t r a t i o n . So m e M i n i s t e r T h a k s i n S h i n a w a t r a . recyclable The Blade officials hope to restar t the six- A l t h o u g h B u s h a i d e s s a i d nation nuclear talks with Nor th U . S . o f f i c i a l s c o n t e n d t h e “ That’s off the table.” allies have encouraged the new REUTERS Welded construction L.P. chose quality, commitment, Korea that began in August. countr y already possesses one Mr. Bush said he would sign a approach, the immediate public service, and a lower price. Welded construction L.P. chose The new approach constitutes or two nuclear weapons. secur ity declaration if it were a reaction was restrained. President Bush meets Thai Buckeye TeleSystem. We go beyond a phone company. 419-724-9881. –Adv. a change for a White House that Mr. Bush r uled out the idea of joint agreement with the four troops in Bangkok dur ing h a d re s i s t e d o f f e r i n g s e c u r i t y a for mal nonaggression treaty, other countr ies in the talks with See BUSH, Page 6 his tr ip to A sia. BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2003 SECTION A, PAGE 7

PRIMARY FIGURES Vietnamese Special Agent Gustav Apsey — The lead agent in 1 the 4 ⁄2-year Tiger Force teen saved case, he oversaw an investi- gation that utilized more than 100 investigators to interview 137 witnesses in 63 cities. He prepared the by sergeant 1975 final report for com- manders for possible prose- cution, including 20 sub- stantiated war crimes rang- Michigan man turned gun ing from murder and assault to dereliction of duty against 15 soldiers who survived the on soldiers to avert shooting war. Now 63 and retired, he © THE BLADE, 2003 lives in Washington state. By MICHAEL D. SALLAH ——— and MITCH WEISS Sgt. James Barnett — The BLADE STAFF WRITERS Tennessee native was pro- After watching Tiger Force sol- moted to lieutenant after diers execute an unarmed villager, Vietnam. His surprise con- Sgt. Gerald Bruner did the unthink- fession to Army investiga- able. tors in 1974 about killing an He raised his rifle with his own unarmed mother and other threat: He would kill anyone who atrocities by Tiger Force sol- tried to shoot any more civilians. diers would expand the The soldiers backed down. investigation, but in the end, For his efforts, he was berated no one was charged. He by a commander for turning on said he resigned from the other soldiers — and told to see a military in an effort to avoid psychiatrist. prosecution. In 2001, he But his actions in the village died of cancer in Alabama at near Chu Lai in August, 1967, was 56. the only known time a platoon member threatened to shoot one ——— of his own to stop the brutality, Sgt. Gerald Bruner — He Army records show. was the only known solider He complained to superiors to threaten other members about the attack on the farmer, of the platoon to stop a civil- but nothing happened. ian from being killed. He Seven years later, he complained would later complain to to Army investigators looking into three superiors, but no Tiger Force atrocities. Again, noth- investigation was conduct- ing happened. ed. He transferred from In the end, the sergeant was Tiger Force and served two unable to bring justice to a case that more tours in Vietnam. He troubled him to his grave, said died in Colon, Mich., in family members. 1997. He was 59. When he died of cancer in 1997, Gerald Bruner, above, trans- ——— he was still bothered by the two months he spent with the pla- ferred from Tiger Force in Howard “Bo” Callaway — toon. September, 1967. Karen He was appointed secretary “He used to tell me that he Bruner of Colon, Mich., of the Army in 1973 by hoped justice would come of the examines photos of her late President Richard Nixon. investigation,” said his younger Records husband, who died in 1997. brother, Michael Stuckey. “He was THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON show sum- disillusioned with what he called maries of the the zealot characters in Tiger Force. leaflets dropped days earlier by “The Vietnamese fell to his commander “that this particular affairs program. And that wasn’t our Tiger Force He said they often went beyond the the Army allowing them to be knees and spoke tearfully in his lan- incident was being taken care of, deal. We were out there to hunt and investigation gray area. They took their aggres- evacuated from the area. guage. I didn’t like the sight of it, so and not to worry about it, and kill.” were sent to sions out on villagers.” “They were happy as hell to I turned away and walked away just to forget it … not to talk to any- The angry exchange in the vil- his office for Two weeks after the shooting in see us,” Sergeant Bruner told inves- from the area.” one about it.” lage was the last between the two review begin- the village, Sergeant Bruner asked tigators. Sergeant Doyle then ordered He said the commander began men. Mr. Bruner was injured a ning in 1972. to be transferred from the pla- But what followed was a fatal his men to shoot the farmer. yelling at him about the incident, month later after stepping on a He resigned toon after watching two lieutenants shooting that was recalled by sev- Moments later, the farmer’s suggesting the sergeant see a psy- booby trap and immediately trans- in June, scare a farmer by shooting at his eral witnesses during the Army’s 16-year-old brother was brought chiatrist because of his threat to 1975, the ferred from the platoon. feet and killing his cattle, records investigation. to the platoon leader and was shoot fellow soldiers. He was honorably discharged same month the Tiger Force state. He served two more tours in Soldiers said Sgt. William Doyle, tossed to the ground next to his In an interview with The Blade, final report was sent to com- from the Army in November, 1975. Vietnam, including a stint as a a team leader, began asking the dead brother. Mr. Doyle said the events described He moved with his wife and manders for possible prose- sniper. farmer if he had seen Viet Cong in One of the soldiers pointed a 45- by witnesses “are all true.” cution. Now 76, he told The daughter to Michigan, where he But his memories of the exe- the village. caliber handgun at the teenager’s Mr. Doyle said he tried to kill the worked for the U.S. Veterans Blade he doesn’t remember cution in the hamlet 36 years ago The farmer said he would show head, until Sergeant Bruner inter- farmer, but his gun jammed, so he the case. Administration in several capac- remained a powerful image for the soldiers where the Viet Cong vened. The boy and the rest of his ordered his men to carry out the ities, including assisting veterans ——— him, relatives said. guerrillas were hiding, but he family were whisked away without execution. “I wanted to summar- diagnosed with post-traumatic “Every time he brought up Viet- wanted them to escort his family injury the following day. ily execute him, but my gun only Sgt. Gary Coy — A member stress disorder. nam, he would bring up the village, to a relocation center for safety, the In an interview with an inves- fired one round and it hit him in the of a company that occasion- Family members say he was and what happened,” said his soldiers said. tigator in February, 1974, Sergeant arm.’’ ally patrolled with Tiger pained by his memories of Vietnam, Force, he triggered the Army widow, Karen Bruner of Colon, Sergeant Doyle insisted the Bruner said he detailed the atroc- He said he was aware that Mr. Mich. man tell the soldiers immediate- ity to Capt. Carl James, a battalion Bruner had objected to the killing, often drinking to forget. investigation after claiming Before he died at age 59, Mr. in 1971 that he saw a soldier The confrontation began after ly where the enemy was located, officer. and was critical of the former ser- the platoon entered a clearing striking the farmer in the head The captain later told investi- geant. Bruner recorded a tape about his behead a baby. He later told tours in Vietnam for a Pearl Har- investigators that he heard with a cluster of huts on the edge with a rifle. Again and again, the gators he recalled a conversation “Everyplace he went, he was of the Annamese Mountains, man pleaded for his family’s pro- with Sergeant Bruner about the the only one carrying goddamn bor commemoration in 1988, about the incident second- recalling the shooting of the farmer. hand. Now 55, he resides in records state. tection. case, according to an Army inves- Chu Hoi leaflets,” he said, referring The soldiers were greeted by In the tape, he condemned the Missouri. Without warning, the platoon tigator’s account of the interview, to the Army leaflets dropped in smiling adults and children emerg- leader raised his M-16 and shot the but the captain refused to sign a villages by helicopters that guar- killing. ——— ing from a hut, three soldiers told man through his forearm. statement. anteed the safety of civilians if “To me, this is what you call Lt. James Hawkins — A Army investigators. Medic Ralph Mayhew recalled Sergeant Bruner said he was they moved to relocation camps. murder — they flat out murdered chief murder suspect in The villagers were holding the next scene. told by an unidentified company “It was like he was on a civilian- the guy.” 1975, the former platoon commander told The Blade he was flown to the Pentagon in November of that year and told he would not be charged. He later Inquiry: Ex-GIs say hundreds may have been killed in violation of military law became a major and was promoted to head the Continued from Page 1 Management Leadership Branch at the aviation said retired Lt. Col. H. Wayne Elliott, a school in Fort Rucker, Ala. former Army law professor. “I just He retired in 1978 and can’t believe this wasn’t a pretty high became a civilian flight profile thing in the Pentagon.” instructor at Fort Rucker. 1 Now 63, he lives in Florida 4 ⁄2-year investigation and maintains all his killings by Army began in 1971 were justified. In a story that has never been told, ——— the elite platoon torched villages, exe- Sgt. Harold Trout — cuted prisoners, and slaughtered an Another murder suspect, the untold number of unarmed civilians former second-in-command between May and November, 1967, of Tiger according to Army records. Force In recent interviews with The Blade, remained in former platoon members say hun- the Army dreds may have been killed — in vio- after the lation of military law and the 1949 investigation Geneva Conventions. and was pro- The volunteer, 45-man unit from the moted to 101st Airborne — created in 1965 to find sergeant the enemy in the jungles — was sent major before to South Vietnam’s Central Highlands retiring in to help stop the North Vietnamese 1985. He told The Blade he from taking over the region. won’t talk about the allega- But as the war intensified, soldiers tions except to say it was a in the platoon began to indiscriminately long time ago and he has kill villagers. “no regrets.” Now 66, he The atrocities were kept secret until lives in Tennessee. 1971, when the Army began an inves- 1 tigation that lasted 4 ⁄2 years — leading ——— agents to 63 cities in the United States, Lt. Donald Wood — A Tiger Germany, Korea, and the Philippines. Force officer who tried to More than three decades later, stop two atrocities in 1967, Army spokesman Joe Burlas said he he later complained to supe- couldn’t explain the breakdowns in riors about the mistreatment the longest war-crime case from Viet- of civilians, but no investiga- nam. tion was conducted. He But one thing is clear: evidence of became a lawyer in Findlay and died in 1983. He was 36. See INQUIRY, next page 5 0 C E N T S e 4 2 P A G E S T O L E D O , O H I O , T U E S D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 1 , 2 0 0 3 F I N A L

Israeli strikes A BLADE INVESTIGATION in Gaza kill 11, injure dozens Call to oust Arafat renewed

NEW YORK TIMES that two of the three people G A Z A C I T Y, Ga z a St r i p — inside the car were killed. Israeli warplanes and helicopter T h e Is ra e l i a r m y s a i d t h a t gunships str uck Gaza five times helicopters fired several missiles y e s t e rd a y, k i l l i n g a t l e a s t 1 1 at the getaway car of gunmen people and injur ing more than w h o fl e d a f t e r t h e y w e r e 90, Palestinian hospital author i- detected tr ying to cross the bar- ties said as Pr ime Minister Ar iel r ier that brackets Gaza against Sharon affir med Israel’s threat the Mediterranean Sea. t o re m ov e Pa l e s t i n i a n l e a d e r T h e a r m y s a i d t w o o t h e r Yasser Arafat. gunmen had been shot near the Sirens wailed through Gaza fence. It was not cer tain if they City last night while Israeli air- were killed. Sp e a k i n g t o Pa r l i a m e n t i n craft continued to tear through Jer usalem yesterday, Mr. Sharon the darkness over head after one e x p r e s s e d c o n fi d e n c e i n t h e of the most intense, lethal air Israeli plan to oust Mr. Arafat. barrages of the conflict, now “Our policy is becoming more more than three years old. and more conceivable to var- The deadliest attack of the ious inter national bodies,” Mr. day occurred after dark in the Sharon said. “I am convinced Nuseirat refugee camp. Pales- our policy will succeed.” THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON tinian witnesses said that Israeli Mr. Sharon did not explain helicopters fired at a car, then what measures Israel might take Tam Hau lights incense before kneeling in prayer at the grave of her uncle, Dao Hue, who was killed by a Tiger Force officer. fired again as a crowd gathered. against him. Hospital officials said at least “ T h i s m a n i s t h e g re a t e s t eight people were killed and 70 obstacle to peace,” Mr. Sharon were injured. It was not clear said. “ Therefore Israel has com- h ow m a n y o f t h e c a s u a l t i e s mitted to removing him from were militants and how many were bystanders. Witnesses said See GAZA, Page 6 Pain lingers 36 years $374.2B deficit is after deadly rampage less than feared, but Reminders of 1967 are never far away still shatters record for those in the Song Ve Valley of Vietnam © THE BLADE, 2003 DAY THREE OF A schools, communal centers, prosecuted. By MICHAEL D. SALLAH and prayer services. “The people who carried LOS ANGELES TIMES FOUR-DAY SERIES ment and Budget. and MITCH WEISS Elderly villagers still out these crimes need to be WASHINGTON — The federal The deficit is still expected to BLADE STAFF WRITERS describe the Army helicopters held responsible,” said Vo gover nment posted a $374.2 bil- top $500 billion in 2004 — even SONG VE VALLEY, Vietnam BURIED SECRETS dropping leaflets, warning the Thanh Tien, 50, a local provin- lion deficit in the fiscal year that w i t h a n i m p r ov i n g e c o n o m y. — Incense smoke rose over people to go to relocation cial official. “They made it very e n d e d S e p t . 3 0 , m o r e t h a n Mr. Bolton said the shor tfall will the grave as Tam Hau knelt on BRUTAL TRUTHS camps. hard for the people who live d o u b l e t h e p r e v i o u s y e a r ’s decline by half over five years if the grassy mound. Within days, the soldiers along the river.” shor tfall but less than antici- C o n g r e s s h e w s t o P r e s i d e n t Hands trembling, she wearing the “chicken patches” In seven months of atroci- pated, the Treasur y Depar tment Bush’s tax and spending pre- prayed quietly for the uncle — the eagle insignia of the ties — May to November, 1967 repor ted yesterday. scr iptions. who stumbled upon the sol- 101st Airborne Division worn — a third took place in this T h e 2 0 0 3 d e fi c i t c a m e i n The 2003 deficit dwar fed the diers so long ago. by Tiger Force — were round- valley in Quang Ngai province, l ow e r t h a n t h e $ 4 5 5 b i l l i o n record of $290.4 billion set in Like so many others, he ing up families, seizing their a place so remote and timeless figure projected by the Bush 1992, when Mr. Bush’s father didn’t survive. food, and torching their huts. the effects are visible decades a d m i n i s t ra t i o n a f e w m o n t h s was president, and the $157.8 Torn by bullets, the body of Over the next six weeks, later. ago. Treasur y officials said that b i l l i o n s h o r t f a l l r e c o r d e d i n Dao Hue was found near the platoon members killed an Many villagers said they’re tax collections were better than 2 0 0 2 , w h e n t h e g ov e r n m e n t river, a mile from the hut he untold number who refused to still paying for the actions of expected and spending was less e n d e d a f o u r - y e a r s t r e a k o f shared with his niece. go to the decrepit camps, soldiers who broke the rules of than anticipated in the final budget surpluses. The elderly carpenter was A special report according to a Blade investiga- war. months of the fiscal year. The retur n to deficit spending one of the first civilians killed about a platoon’s atrocities tion based on Army records “Even after 30 years, it “ T h e i m p r ov e m e n t i n o u r reflects a combination of forces: by Tiger Force soldiers in a in Vietnam and how and interviews with more than hurts,” said Ms. Tam, now 70, budget picture since our fore- t h e 2 0 0 1 r e c e s s i o n a n d t h e chain of atrocities that forever the war crimes 100 former Tiger Force sol- pointing to her stomach. “I ask cast last July is an encouraging slow-paced recover y that fol- changed the Song Ve Valley. diers and Vietnamese vil- myself why my uncle had to sign that the economic recover y lowed, three successive tax-cut The reminders are every- went unpunished lagers. die. He did nothing wrong.” i s g a i n i n g m o m e n t u m , ” s a i d packages pushed by Mr. Bush, where: the unmarked graves To this day, the shooting The details of his death are Joshua Bolten, director of the along the trails, the bend in were pulled from the mud. deaths evoke anger in those still recalled by people in the White House Office of Manage- See DEFICIT, Page 6 the river where the men tried The stories of the troops who survived the rampage — Hanh Tin hamlet, a cluster of to hide from the soldiers, the firing on unarmed civilians in with some people calling for rice paddy where the bodies the summer of 1967 are told in the former soldiers to be See REMINDERS, Page 4

Top court says no THE SERIES I N S I D E The U.S. Supreme Cour t has SUNDAY MONDAY TODAY WEDNESDAY declined to hear a petition from The farmers of the Song Ve The cover-up began before Thirty-six years later, the Many former Tiger Force Weather a coalition of Ohio school Valley thought they would the killing ended. And by the reminders of Tiger Force’s soldiers say they’re haunted Windy, spotty showers; high 58. distr icts that has accused the be safe. They were too old time the Army finished its rampage through Quang by their memories of the Tonight, par tly cloudy ; low 39. state gover nment of violating to serve in the military and investigation — which was Ngai province are every- killings and mutilations of the federal constitution. Weather, Page 10 not aligned with the North sent to the Pentagon and where, and the stories of prisoners and unarmed vil- Nation, Page 3 Vietnamese. But the farmers the White House — no one their atrocities are still told lagers in 1967. Ten have Roberta de B oer were wrong. Tiger Force sol- was ever charged. A justice by Vietnamese villagers. To been diagnosed with post- Oklahoma tops BCS diers killed farmers, vil- system that promised to this day, the shooting deaths traumatic stress disorder. East Siders — who will never be lagers, and prisoners in the prosecute war criminals evoke anger in those who Some have turned to alcohol convinced they haven’t been Oklahoma and Miami are one- two in the first Bowl Champion- valley and across the ended up protecting them. survived the attacks — with and drugs to ease their pain. Balkanized by a city too ready to Central Highlands in the some calling for the former either ignore them or subject ship Ser ies standings for this college football season. Ohio longest series of war crimes American soldiers to be them to all manner of slights — of the Vietnam War. prosecuted. are confident, citywide trekkers. State of the Big Ten Conference is ranked sixth, and Nor ther n Second News, Page B1 Illinois of the Mid-Amer ican Conference is ranked 10th. Plot against Diana? Spor ts, Page C1 A repor t that Diana, Pr incess of Snip er s usp ect defends s elf, Wales, feared a plot against her is fueling calls for a new investi- Feasts for fall gation into her death in a crash. Roasts are classic foods that beg to be on the fall table, and World, Page 2 hear ty seasonal meals feature denies role in Va. attacks cuts of beef, pork, or lamb. Phantom population Peach, Page D1 NEW YORK TIMES p u n i s h m e n t f o r M r . on a guess,” said Mr. Muham- The Toledo metropolitan area V I RG I N I A B E AC H — Jo h n Muhammad than on winning m a d , a 4 2 - y e a r - o l d f o r m e r gains 41,000 residents over the Supersonic winners Allen Muhammad, the accused an acquittal. A r m y s e r g e a n t . “ W h a t i s i t summer — on paper, at least. B u t t h e m o m e n t M r . A Toledo couple are to take their master mind of the Washing- about a human life where we Business, Page B6 seats among the passengers on ton-area sniper shootings, fired Muhammad strode to the lec- have reduced it, where we can the last transatlantic flight of his lawyers yesterday and took t e r n t o p re s e n t h i s o p e n i n g take it, based on a guess?” the Concorde supersonic jet on c o n t r o l o f h i s ow n d e f e n s e, statement, he made clear his C i rc u i t Co u r t Ju d g e L e Roy Fr iday after winning tickets in telling the jur y in a rambling goal would be to demonstrate Millette, Jr., decided to allow an online auction sponsored by but at times forceful opening that he was innocent of any Mr. Muhammad to represent NBC’s Today show. argument that “I had nothing cr imes and was the victim of an himself at the star t of a dra- Peach Plus, Page D3 to do with these cr imes.” u n j u s t p r o s e c u t i o n b u i l t o n matic first day of arguments The surpr ise move seemed guesswork. and testimony. Recycled Copyright © Business ...... B6 Markets ...... B9-11 the result of a sharp philosoph- “ They are saying the entire The prosecution outlined its and 2003 case is based on a theor y,” said recyclable The Blade Classifieds ...... C7 Obituaries .....B3-5 i c a l c l a s h b e t w e e n M r . e v i d e n c e l i n k i n g M r . Comics ...... D5, 6 Opinion ...... A8, 9 M u h a m m a d a n d h i s t h r e e Mr. Muhammad, who seemed M u h a m m a d a n d t h e m a n POOL PHOTO Wholehan Marketing, Inc. chose quality, commitment, Crossword ...... C9 Peach ...... D1 c o u r t - a p p o i n t e d l a w y e r s , to gain confidence as he spoke accused of being his accom- service, and a lower price. Wholehan Marketing, Inc. chose Horoscope .... C10 Sports ...... C1 John Muhammad fired his w h o s e p re t r i a l m o t i o n s a n d for nearly 30 minutes. plice, Lee Boyd Malvo, to 10 Buckeye TeleSystem. We go beyond a phone company. Local news ...... B1 Today’s log ...... B3 419-724-9881. –Adv. attor neys and addressed the remarks suggested they would “I’m locked up, I’m denied Lottery ...... A7 TV listings ...... D4 cour t for nearly 30 minutes. focus more on avoiding capital my constitutional r ights, based See SNIPER, Page 6 BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS SECTION A, PAGE 4 THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2003

Reminders: People remain unaccounted for

Continued from Page 1 huts and concrete homes with clay roofs where people share narrow dirt roads with water buffalo. His grave is passed every day by farmers heading to the rice paddies and children walking to school. Older villagers say they still don’t understand why the man who helped build their homes was slain. “He didn’t do anything,” said Lu Thuan, 67. “They just shot him. No reason. Nothing.” Villagers continue to talk about ‘the missing people’ The fog covering the Song Ve Valley had burned away, revealing a swath of rice paddies. Vo Tai Can, 12, and his two friends were no longer safe. The three had been trying to hide from the soldiers to avoid being sent to a relocation camp. Now they were in sight of Tiger Force. Within minutes, they were cap- tured, the boy taken away by helicop- ter, his companions — partially blind men in their 20s — led to a rice paddy. Without warning, the men were executed, Army records state, their bodies tossed into open graves. The two civilians were among the THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON many people killed in the valley for failing to abide by the Army’s reloca- Kieu Thi Lan is often reminded of her grandfather, Kieu Cong, by other family members. She wonders why American soldiers shot and killed him. tion order. Thirty-six years later, no one knows In recent interviews with The how many were executed by platoon Blade, several former platoon soldiers members for not leaving. Of the esti- said they fired on numerous villagers mated 5,000 people who lived in the who were never counted among the valley in 1967, some fled to the moun- dead. tains, while others were forced to live Several assaults were carried out in the camps. after the valley was declared a “free-fire Hundreds remain unaccounted for zone” — a military designation often today. misinterpreted by soldiers to mean Villagers still talk about the “miss- that they could fire freely on unarmed ing people” — their names and where civilians. But it only allowed soldiers to they lived, but their whereabouts are attack when they received fire, and still a mystery. only to shoot at the enemy, not It wasn’t until the war ended that unarmed civilians. villagers began to realize that many No records were kept on the num- would never return. ber of people killed by Tiger Force in One was Vo Tai Can. the Song Ve Valley, said several former Shortly after his capture, the boy platoon members. with the wide grin who often played “We killed anything that walked,” along the dirt roads of Van Xuan village recalled former Sgt. William Doyle, a was sent to a relocation camp, said platoon team leader. “It didn’t matter if Nguyen Dam, 66, a rice farmer. But they were civilians. They shouldn’t after the war, he was never seen in the have been there.” valley. For young people of the valley, Like a member of the lost genera- questions still abound over why the tion, “he was just gone,” Mr. Nguyen Army killed so many villagers. said. “We have no idea where he went.” The granddaughter of a farmer shot Some said he was forced to live in by Tiger Force soldiers said she is still the Nghia Hanh camp, enclosed by confused over his death. “He was just a concrete walls and razor wire. civilian. He was just a farmer,” said Mr. Nguyen said he may have been Kieu Thi Lan, 29, a kindergarten the last person in the valley to see the teacher. boy as he was being carried away in the Like so many others who were born helicopter but couldn’t do anything to THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON after the war, she said she is often help. Nguyen Thi Que, who lives and works in the Song Ve Valley, was 6 months old when her mother was killed. ‘When I reminded of her grandfather, Kieu In fear of being killed, Mr. Nguyen think about my mother, I get angry about the American soldiers who killed her,’ she says. Cong, by other family members. escaped to the mountains. Her neighbor, Nguyen Thi Que, 37, learned about the death of her mother Attack on farmers head of the family — in charge of car- Rampage of 1967 Vietnamese historians. For hundreds from relatives. defines war for many ing for his mother, four siblings, and of years, the fertile basin was settled by She said she was 6 months old his own young family. changed lives forever farmers who grew rice in one of the when her mother was fatally shot by a In homes scattered across the val- “Life became harder,” said Mr. most productive regions of the nation. soldier in June, 1967 — her body left in ley are death certificates bearing the Kieu, now 72. In the valley, part of a generation is “These are people who did noth- a bunker. names of people killed by the Tiger In one brutal attack, he said, he was growing up without parents and ing,” said Lu Thuan, who hid in the “When I think about my mother, I Force soldiers in the summer of 1967. forced to accept responsibilities he grandparents. mountains to avoid being shot. get angry about the American soldiers For Kieu Trac, the paper is a shoulders to this day. In nearly every home, there’s a Mr. Vo said the attacks on civilians who killed her.” reminder of his father’s last day. Every year, he gathers his family — story. between June and August, 1967, were Now a mother with three children, He was among 10 elderly farmers 16 members living in the same con- The soldiers shooting farmers in war crimes that Americans never pub- she said she often thinks about how who were toiling in a rice paddy when crete and bamboo home — to remind the rice field. The soldiers shooting the licly acknowledged. her life could have been different if her platoon soldiers opened fire, killing them of the man who taught him to village elder at the edge of the hamlet. “We think the U.S. government mother was still alive. “When I look at four. farm. The soldiers shooting the old man near should take responsibility and look my friends with their mothers, I get Years later, the attack on July 28 Kieu Cong was a gentle provider the river bend. back at what happened during the war sad,” she said as she stood in a rice continues to define the war years for who spent long days in the fields, with “There were so many people to these people,” he said. paddy, her 9-year-old daughter playing the people of the Song Ve Valley. little time to share with his five chil- dying,” said Vo Thanh Tien, a commu- Records in the National Archives — at her side. Every year, relatives pray for the dren. But when he did come home, he nal leader. mostly 1967 battalion reports — do not Even older villagers who lived victims at Buddhist ceremonies and often sat with his son and gave advice That’s why he and others say the indicate the villagers in the Song Ve through the war say they can’t provide light incense and candles at their about living a moral life. U.S. and Vietnamese governments Valley were hostile to U.S. troops. the answers. graves. “He told me not to steal,” he said, should investigate the atrocities com- Former Tiger Force platoon mem- Kneeling at the grave of her uncle, Villagers say the assault has his eyes moistening. “He encouraged mitted in the valley nearly four bers said their mission was to stop the Tam Hau shook her head slowly as she become the most recognized atrocity me to avoid the bad things in life.” decades ago. farming in the Song Ve to deprive the talked about Dao Hue, a widower with of 1967 — one they still talk about His father was not a part of the Mr. Vo and others said they want to Viet Cong of a potential food source. no children. 1 when the topic of the war arises. guerrilla movement nor did he take know why the Army let its troops lose During a 4 ⁄2-year Army investiga- The 68-year-old man was carrying The attack marked the last time sides in the war, he said. control, especially among noncombat- tion of Tiger Force atrocities — from geese to his hut after wading across the anyone would openly grow crops dur- Staring pensively at the altar with ants who took no side in the war. 1971 to 1975 — 14 soldiers said they Song Ve River when he was shot to ing the war, say villagers. incense in his cramped living room, he Unlike other areas of Quang Ngai witnessed or participated in the death by a Tiger Force lieutenant. But more than farming, it changed pointed to his father’s name on the province, the valley — connected to killings of at least nine unarmed vil- “He was a poor man,” she said. “He lives. wall, and said, “He just wanted to the coast by twisting dirt roads — was lagers in the valley. But those are just was a kind person. He never hurt any- Suddenly, Kieu Trac became the farm.” not a center of rebellion, say the documented cases. one. Why did they do this to him?”

THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON Above, Lu Thuan, 28, son of a Song Ve Valley survivor of the same name, says he and his friends want to live in peace, as his nephew, Lu Hien, seems to confirm by flashing a peace sign. Right, farming ceased after Tiger Force swept through the region in 1967 but has since resumed. 5 0 C E N T S e 4 2 P A G E S T O L E D O , O H I O , W E D N E S D A Y , O C T O B E R 2 2 , 2 0 0 3 F I N A L

I N S P E C T O R G E N E R A L’ S R E P O R T B esse danger A BLADE INVESTIGATION signs missed for 3 years NRC insp ectors failed to act By TOM HENRY t BLADE STAFF WRITER Officials confident of fixing coolant pump. Page 7 Nuclear Regulator y Commis- t sion inspectors at the Davis- FirstEnergy planning for Besse nuclear plant failed to act deregulation. Page B6 on war ning signs of reactor- head corrosion as early as three n u c l e a r d i s a s t e r, o v e r l o o k e d years before the football-sized a c c u m u l a t i o n s o f b o r i c a c i d h o l e w a s f o u n d , a n i n t e r n a l that damaged air coolers in the investigation has deter mined. h o t , r a d i o a c t i v e c o n t a i n m e n t The NRC’s two full-time resi- r o o m , t h e re p o r t s a i d . T h e y dent inspectors at Davis-Besse ov e r l o o k e d a c c u m u l a t i o n s o f at the time, and possibly an airbor ne r ust so heavy in that inspector from the NRC’s Mid- building that air filters eventu- west regional office near Chi- ally were replaced ever y other cago who was at the plant in the day, the repor t said. spr ing of 2000, “did not recog- At least one of the resident nize the significance of bor ic inspectors was believed to have THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON a c i d c o r ro s i o n , ” t h e a g e n c y ’s seen photographs that depicted Therlene Ramos visits the grave of her son, Sam Ybarra, at a cemetery on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Office of Inspector G eneral said heavy streaks of r ust along the Arizona. After returning from Vietnam, Ybarra drank for days at a time. ‘He was alive, but dead,’ she said. i n a 3 0 - p a g e re p o r t re l e a s e d reactor head — but didn’t know yesterday. what to make of them. Those The two resident inspectors, p h o t o g r a p h s , t a k e n b y t h e who are not there any longer, u t i l i t y i n A p r i l , 2 0 0 0 , w e r e o v e r l o o k e d t h e f a c t t h a t tur ned over to the NRC before FirstEnergy Corp. was teeter ing the near-hole was discovered in on the edge of violating federal t h e p l a n t ’s r e a c t o r h e a d i n Demons of past stalk l a w w i t h t h e r a t e a t w h i c h March, 2002, the repor t said. re a c t o r c o o l a n t w a s e s c a p i n g The repor t showed 38 times f r o m D a v i s - B e s s e ’s l o o p e d from Apr il, 1999, through Apr il, piping system. The leakage was 2000, in which resident inspec- so pronounced that the utility t o r s d o c u m e n t e d b o r i c - a c i d moved up a 1999 maintenance problems in their logbooks: outage nearly a month to avoid w Sixteen were instances in Tiger Force veterans a possible order to shut down w h i c h u n i d e n t i fi e d r e a c t o r the plant, the repor t said. c o o l a n t s y s t e m l e a k a g e © THE BLADE, 2003 mares — and over the past 36 and sleeping pills, but he can The inspectors, who are sup- approached the regulator y limit By MICHAEL D. SALLAH DAY FOUR OF A FOUR-DAY SERIES years have sought counseling, never seem to get enough rest, p o s e d t o b e t h e p u b l i c ’s and MITCH WEISS they said. he said. f r o n t l i n e d e f e n s e a g a i n s t a See BESSE, Page 7 BLADE STAFF WRITERS Nine have been diagnosed Mr. Teeters is among the one- For Barry Bowman, the BURIED SECRETS with post-traumatic stress dis- in-six Vietnam veterans — about images return at night. order, or PTSD, a psychiatric 500,000 — who have been treat- The elderly man praying on BRUTAL TRUTHS condition that can occur fol- ed for PTSD. his knees. The officer pointing a lowing life-threatening experi- Most people who overcome Senate vote clears way rifle at the man’s head. ences. the disorder are able to recall The shot. To this day, they wrestle with horrific events without feeling the That piercing shot. memories of Tiger Force’s ram- trauma. The frequency of night- Before it’s over, the old man page through more than 40 ham- mares decreases while patients to b an abortion method drops to the ground — his body lets in the Central Highlands of gain more control over their twitching in the blood-soaked South Vietnam in 1967. lives. By ANN McFEATTERS grass. Mr. Bowman, who was stand- But it can be more compli- BLADE WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF HOW THEY VOTED Over and over, Mr. Bowman ing next to Mr. Dao when he cated for those who commit- WA S H I N G TO N — A f t e r a n relives the execution of the Viet- was shot to death by a platoon ted — or failed to stop — atroc- namese villager known as Dao leader, said he remains shaken ities, clinicians say. e m o t i o n a l s e v e n - y e a r b a t t l e , By a 64-34 vote, the Senate Hue. A special report by the unprovoked attack on In addition to the trauma, legislation banning a controver- passed the Partial-Birth Abor- sial late-ter m abor tion proce- Despite years of therapy, the about a platoon’s atrocities the 68-year-old man as he prayed they are often saddled with a dure known by cr itics as par tial- tion Ban Act. A “yes” vote is former Tiger Force soldier is still in Vietnam and how for mercy. strong sense of guilt that can b i r t h a b o r t i o n re c e i ve d ove r - for banning the abortion pro- deeply troubled by the brutal the war crimes “It was devastating,” he said. complicate the deeper feelings whelming final passage in the shooting he witnessed as a young For many, the images never of fear and isolation, says Dr. cedure. medic in the Song Ve Valley. went unpunished fade. Dewleen Baker, director of a Senate yesterday, sending it to He’s not alone. When Douglas Teeters clos- PTSD research clinic in Cincin- President Bush who has vowed t Ohio: Republicans Mike Of the 43 former platoon expressed remorse for commit- es his eyes, he sees villagers nati. to sign it. DeWine and George members interviewed by The ting or failing to stop atrocities. being shot as they wave leaflets “It’s another layer that needs Opponents of the ban said Voinovich both voted yes. Blade in an eight-month inves- They share some of the same that guaranteed their safety. this will mark the first time tigation of Tiger Force, a dozen symptoms — flashbacks or night- He takes anti-depressants See DEMONS, Page 6 Congress has cr iminalized what t Michigan: Democrats Carl they call a number of safe med- Levin and Debbie Stabenow THE SERIES ical procedures and noted it both voted no. w o u l d b e t h e fi r s t s t a t u t e SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY TODAY placing a restr iction on abor tion The farmers of the Song Ve The cover-up began before Thirty-six years later, the Many former Tiger Force since the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Valley thought they would the killing ended. And by the reminders of Tiger Force’s soldiers say they’re haunted Cour t decision legalized abor- on behalf of the National Abor- be safe. They were too old time the Army finished its rampage through Quang by their memories of the tion in 1973. tion Federation on grounds that to serve in the military and investigation — which was Ngai province are every- killings and mutilations of Opponents of the bill imme- the bill prohibits several safe not aligned with the North sent to the Pentagon and where, and the stories of prisoners and unarmed vil- diately announced they would a b o r t i o n p r o c e d u r e s u s e d Vietnamese. But the farmers the White House — no one their atrocities are still told lagers in 1967. About 10 go to cour t to tr y to block it on before a fetus is viable outside were wrong. Tiger Force sol- was ever charged. A justice by Vietnamese villagers. To have been diagnosed with grounds it is unconstitutional. the womb. diers killed farmers, vil- system that promised to this day, the shooting deaths post-traumatic stress disor- Within minutes of the late- Lorraine Kenny, who handles lagers, and prisoners in the prosecute war criminals evoke anger in those who der. Some have turned to after noon 64-34 vote in favor of r e p r o d u c t i v e - r i g h t s c a s e s f o r valley and across the ended up protecting them. survived the attacks — with alcohol and drugs to ease the ban, the Amer ican Civil Lib- Central Highlands in the some calling for the former their pain. er ties Union said it is filing suit See ABORTION, Page 5 longest series of war crimes American soldiers to be of the Vietnam War. prosecuted.

Dana ups dividend I N S I D E Toledo’s largest company, Dana Corp., announces it will College tuition s o ars 4 0% in 10 years Weather increase its quar terly dividend. Breezy, chilly, and par tly cloudy ; Business, Page B6 high 48. Tonight, par tly cloudy Rep ort cites drop s in state s upp ort, endowments, fund-raising and cold, with a low of 35. Yankees win Weather, Page C12 LOS ANGELES TIMES e r a l g ov e r n m e n t , ” s a i d Re p. In a game inter- Jo h n A . Bo e h n e r ( R . , Oh i o ) , r upted by rain, WASHINGTON — The cost RISING COST OF COLLEGE EDUCATION of higher education across the who chairs the House Com- New plant, new jobs? the New York Average tuition and fees at U.S. colleges, in 2003 dollars: Yankees scored United States has r isen more mittee on Education and the A consor tium of investors is Workforce. “Even when states consider ing Toledo Lucas- often and late to than 40 percent over the last 10 Private Public Public we re i n c re a s i n g t h e i r i n ve s t - County Por t Author ity land for beat the Flor ida y e a r s , a c c o rd i n g t o a s t u d y four-year four-year two-year an up to $250 million plant that Marlins 6-1. The released yesterday by the Col- $20,000 ment in higher education in would tur n coal into coke, a key Yankees take a lege Board. re c e n t y e a r s , c o l l e g e t u i t i o n ingredient in steel production. 2-1 lead in the The annual “ Trends in Col- was skyrocketing.” The plant would be expected to World Ser ies. l e g e P r i c i n g ” r e p o r t s a i d $15,000 $19,710 On a yearly basis, the sharp- br ing as many as 150 good- Game Four will be tonight. d e c l i n e s i n s t a t e f u n d i n g , est fee hikes occurred at four- paying jobs to the east side. Spor ts, Page C1 endowments, and fund-raising $7,520 y e a r p u b l i c c o l l e g e s , w h e r e Second News, Page B1 h a d c o n t r i b u t e d t o s o a r i n g $10,000 average tuition costs rose to Satchmo’s home tuition costs at four-year public $4,694 $4,694, a 14.1 percent increase and pr ivate universities. $1,672 $1,905 from 2002, College Board offi- The Queens, N.Y., home of “In a troubled economy, col- $5,000 cials said. Louis Ar mstrong gives a glimpse leges are faced with . . . holding $813 Tuition at four-year pr ivate of the jazz great’s pr ivate life. down pr ices without sacr ificing 0 colleges reached an average of Peach, Page D1 e d u c a t i o n a l q u a l i t y, ” s a i d $19,710 this year, up 6 percent ’01’99’97’95’93’91’89’87’85’83’81 ’03 Gaston Caper ton, president of from 2002. At two-year public Recycled Copyright © Business ...... B6 Lottery ...... A5 the College Board, a nonprofit Source: The College Board and 2003 © 2003 KRT institutions, tuition rose to an Classifieds ...... C6 Markets ...... B8, 9 group that owns the SAT, a average of $1,905, up 13.8 per- recyclable The Blade Comics ...... D5, 6 Obituaries .....B3-5 s t a n d a rd i z e d t e s t t h a t m a n y year per iod, the study found. costs has been pummeling par- cent from last year. Crossword ...... C7 Opinion ... A10, 11 colleges require for admission. Dur ing the same per iod, tuition e n t s a n d s t u d e n t s f o r m o re Woodlands Consulting Group chose quality, commitment, John Harris ..... C1 Peach ...... D1 Since 1998, the annual cost service, and a lower price. Woodlands Consulting Group fees for pr ivate universities rose t h a n a d e c a d e , a n d t h e Horoscope ...... C8 Sports ...... C1 Average tuition fees at four- of tuition and fees for a new, chose Buckeye TeleSystem. We go beyond a phone 42 percent. problem has not been a lack of company. 419-724-9881. –Adv. Local news ...... B1 Today’s log ...... B3 y e a r, s t a t e - f u n d e d c o l l e g e s jumped 47 percent over a 10- “ H y p e r i n fl a t i o n i n c o l l e g e spending by states or the fed- See COLLEGE, Page 8 BURIED SECRETS BRUTAL TRUTHS SECTION A, PAGE 6 THE BLADE: TOLEDO, OHIO ■ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2003

Former Sgt. William Doyle, who admitted shooting civilians in Why did some troops target Vietnam, explained the platoon’s conduct this way: ‘You can do any damn thing you want to, anywhere you want civilians but others did not? to. … Who’s going to check you? What’s the checks and balances? There’s not any.You’re Experts trace soldiers’ conduct to conflicting directives calling all the shots.’ U.S. ARMY

© THE BLADE, 2003 stretch the definition of “enemy,” Spec. Dan Clint said one night, By JOE MAHR said Dr. Robert Lifton, a psychia- while he was the lone soldier on BLADE STAFF WRITER try professor at Harvard medical guard duty, he pondered execut- Ken Kerney said he joined the school who has studied Vietnam ing a sleeping Private Ybarra. Army to fight communism, but he veterans. “I was going with the idea that would face another struggle in That was particularly the case if I got rid of Ybarra I’d be saving Vietnam. in a place where people looked dif- a lot of innocent lives,” he said Entering a special fighting ferent, spoke different, and acted recently. unit in one of the country’s most different — where stereotypes But he decided against it and dangerous war zones, he watched could feed the anger of young chose not to complain to com- in 1967 as his new peers sliced Americans overseas for the first manders about the private, either. ears from enemy dead and opened time, sociologists said. In fact, only two platoon soldiers fire on unarmed villagers. He had “Civilians very easily replace were known to have complained a choice to make. military targets — not just hap- about the killing of civilians, “It’s a line, and you have to penstance, but become psycho- according to Army records. ask yourself, ‘Do I want to cross it?’” logically perceived as something The rest kept quiet — citing the former Tiger Force rifleman close to the enemy,” Dr. Lifton fears of retribution and a need said recently. “Because once you said. “So desperate were they psy- to depend on fellow troops who, cross that line, you’ll do it again and chologically for an enemy that again. It will escalate. And that’s any Vietnamese could fill that despite their war crimes, helped exactly what happened.” role.” protect the rest of the platoon in He said he never crossed the Former soldiers have pointed combat. line, but others made a different to the case of Sam Ybarra. By Sep- The code of silence was choice. tember, 1967, the point man was embraced by new soldiers who More than three decades after already known for cutting off ears entered the unit after the killing the war crimes of Tiger Force, for- and scalping prisoners, but he of prisoners and civilians had mer platoon members still debate became even more vicious after his begun. what caused the unit to commit best friend, Kenneth “Boots” That’s to be expected because atrocities. Green, was killed by a North Viet- most replacement soldiers would Former Tiger Force soldier Ken Kerney, who did not take part in atrocities, said: ‘Once you But scholars say the platoon’s namese sniper that month. have had to assimilate to survive, actions mirror long-held theo- cross that line, you’ll do it again and again. It will escalate. And that’s exactly what happened.’ “After Boots died, he [Private said retired Col. Ramon “Tony” ries of abnormal behavior. Ybarra] got creepy,” former Private Nadal, who taught leadership and To sociologists and military to produce enemy “body count,” ists, rapists — and killers. of sociologists who have studied Kerney said in a recent interview. psychology at West Point. experts, the problems of Tiger the unclear directives could have No one was watching. war crimes. Each incident desen- “He had his mind made up that he “It takes a major set of gonads Force began with its battalion given some soldiers their own “There are just four or five of sitizes soldiers enough to permit was going to kill as many people to go into a combat arms unit in leaders. perceived authorization to kill you together. If you trust the guys an even more vicious act, said as possible and nobody was going the middle of a war and be the first The Geneva Conventions and prisoners and unarmed villagers. you’re with, if you have good men military sociologist Morten Ender to stop him. Nobody.’’ guy — the new guy there — to the Army’s own rules have long for- “They don’t see themselves with you, you don’t have to worry of the U.S. Military Academy at Private Kerney was among say to all you old grizzled veterans bidden targeting noncombatants, as responsible agents,” said Dr. about what you do. You can do any West Point. the many unit soldiers who did not who are armed and may have but several commanders gave Herbert Kelman, a Harvard Uni- damn thing you want to, any- “It becomes ingrained,” Dr. commit war crimes, according been committing war crimes, ‘I’m opposing views to Army investi- versity sociologist. “They tend to where you want to,” Mr. Doyle Ender said. to Army accounts and soldiers’ not going to do that,’” he said. gators on whether soldiers had see themselves more as tools, as recently told The Blade. The atrocities also increase recollections. But, Colonel Nadal, a former a right to shoot unarmed people. acting on behalf of the authority.” “Who’s going to check you? in severity as the soldiers experi- Psychologists and sociolo- special forces and company com- Some said they could under Armed with conflicting direc- What’s the checks and balances? ence the psychological frustra- gists say they’re not sure what mander in Vietnam, said he had certain circumstances and some tives, the special platoon com- There’s not any,” he said. “You’re tions of combat. causes some soldiers, but not no tolerance for soldiers who said they couldn’t at all. monly went into combat on its calling all the shots.” In a war where fellow soldiers others, to commit atrocities, except crossed the line. Those conflicting directives own — breaking into small teams As the war intensified, so did often died from snipers or booby that each soldier carries a unique “None of that is an excuse,” he filtered down to soldiers, who for long missions in distant areas the platoon’s atrocities — from traps, the mix of fear, anger, and moral code and tolerance for out- often cited them to investigators of operation. body mutilations and prisoner mourning in the survivors can side pressures. said. “Most of the units in Vietnam and The Blade as a reason they To former Sgt. William Doyle, executions to the killing of civil- quickly dehumanize the enemy. Some of those who didn’t com- did not do what this unit did.” killed unarmed people. the lack of oversight allowed Tiger ians. In their zeal for perceived mit atrocities said they tried to Blade staff writer Mitch Weiss Combined with the pressure Force soldiers to become arson- The escalation mirrors findings vengeance, war criminals often stop the crimes when they could. contributed to this report.

Demons: Several former GIs in Tiger Force have suffered from post-traumatic stress disor- Continued from Page 1 enemy soldiers. Experts say body mutilations to be addressed,” she said. “It’s are classic symptoms of soldiers in not that easy. How do you rec- oncile killing civilians? It’s hard, secondary stages of PTSD in which especially when you have a core fear turns into anger, said Dr. Baker, set of values.” who treats veterans at the Cincin- Sometimes, patients will vac- nati Veterans Affairs Medical Cen- illate between justifying their acts ter. “They kick into a second stage and condemning what they did, — a rage mode.” said Dr. David Manier, a psy- Former platoon medic Joseph chology professor at the City Uni- Evans, who lives in Atlanta, said versity of New York who treats in a recent interview that he sev- veterans for PTSD. ered ears. “You fall into this unbe- When the attacks on villagers lievable frustration,” said Mr. are executions — not shootings in Evans, 59, who has been treated the frenzy and confusion of bat- for PTSD. “You’re burned and tle — “it makes it more difficult to you’re fried and you’re scared, make sense of things,” he said. and you do it to make light of the Mr. Teeters said he struggles burden you’re underneath.” with his own acts — the executions of captured soldiers — and the actions of former platoon mem- Former soldier says bers in the deaths of villagers. he wants to apologize “The killing haunts me every minute of my life,’’ he said in a William Carpenter said before recent interview. “To survive, you he dies, he wants to return to the had to say, ‘The killing don’t mean Song Ve Valley. nothing.’ That’s how you got The 54-year-old former pla- through it, man. But eventually, it toon specialist wants to go to the all catches up with you.’’ rice paddy where Tiger Force sol- Former Sgt. Ernest Moreland diers killed four elderly farmers. refuses to talk about his role in the He wants to apologize to their stabbing death of a detainee near families. Duc Pho, saying he fears he could Thirty-six years later, he said be charged. But he said he still tries the assault on 10 farmers remains to rationalize the killing. “The things you did. You think a vivid memory. “I want to tell them back and say, ‘I can’t believe I did how sorry I am that it happened,” that.’ At the time, it seemed right,” said Mr. Carpenter, of Rayland, he said. “But now, you know what Ohio, who has been treated for you did was wrong. The killing PTSD. gets to you. The nightmares get to Experts say one way of coming you. You just can’t escape it. You SPECIAL TO THE BLADE/RON LEWIS to terms with the disorder is to can’t escape the past.” Rion Causey, a former Tiger Force medic, says he participated in group counseling a decade after seeing the killing of villagers openly acknowledge past actions. He is among nine of the vet- in Vietnam. ‘I didn’t condemn what was going on at the time. I was 19 years old, but I knew what they were doing was wrong.’ Mr. Carpenter said he didn’t fire erans interviewed who said they on the farmers but never report- turned to drugs or alcohol to ease ed the atrocity to commanders. their pain after returning from was not the same person. He was but I knew what they were doing proverbial ‘To whom it may con- ple’s lives as a medic and I took it Like other former Tiger Force Vietnam. alive, but dead.” was wrong. It was wrong.” cern round.’’’ that way. But then, I could steadi- members, he said he can justify “I drank too much. I got into a Two others said they are Several former platoon mem- ly see that the longer I stayed in many of the aggressive acts toward lot of fights,” said Mr. Moreland, Looking the other way remorseful for standing by while bers said they went through stages combat, the more that was chang- villagers, but he said it’s “in the who now lives in Florida. platoon members took out their — at first disturbed by the brutality ing.’’ takes a toll on veterans middle of the night when the It wasn’t until four years ago that aggressions on villagers. against unarmed villagers and A culture existed in Tiger Force demons come that you remember. he sought help. “I came very close Several veterans said that by the “I regret not reporting it,” said then ignoring it. Eventually, they that embraced the executions of That you can’t forget.” to committing suicide,’’ he said. time they joined Tiger Force, the former medic Harold Fischer, admitted to taking part in war prisoners and civilians — one Another platoon soldier, Sam unit was steeped in practices that vio- now 54. “I was young. I didn’t crimes. encouraged by officers and ser- Ybarra, often drank for days at a lated Army regulations and inter- know any better.” Barry Bowman, now living in geants. time, rarely leaving his trailer in Ari- national law. Now living in Texas, he was Rhode Island, said he joined Tiger One former sergeant now being ON THE WEB zona, said his relatives. To survive, they felt they had to with Tiger Force during the mil- Force to save lives. treated for PTSD said he wanted While he showed classic symp- look the other way. itary campaign near Chu Lai. He In one of the atrocities inves- 1 his men to kill without hesita- toms of PTSD, with long bouts One of those was Rion Causey. said he knew the slaughtering of tigated during the Army’s 4 ⁄2-year The Blade’s investiga- of depression, he died in 1982 The 55-year-old nuclear engi- civilians was morally wrong but inquiry, he refused a sergeant’s tion. tion, Buried Secrets, before being diagnosed. In the neer said he participated in group feared retribution from platoon order to kill a wounded prisoner “It didn’t matter if they were Brutal Truths — along years after the war, he expressed counseling a decade after wit- members for speaking up. in the Song Ve Valley. But four civilians. If they weren’t supposed with recorded interviews remorse for killing civilians, said nessing the killing of villagers “We had to live with these guys months later, he said he didn’t to be in an area, we shot them,” with former Tiger Force his mother, Therlene Ramos, 78. northwest of Chu Lai. “I was wak- in the field,” he said. “They’re hesitate to kill an injured villager said William Doyle, 70, of Mis- soldiers — can be found “He drank to forget about what ing up at night with the sweats,” armed and dangerous and moti- dressed in the gray robes of a souri. “If they didn’t understand on the Internet at: he did,” she said. “He was a nor- he said. vated. They have a lot of testos- Buddhist worshipper. fear, I taught it to them.” mal person before he went to “I didn’t condemn what was terone. They’re young. Who knows “It was against everything I He said he and others also www.toledoblade. Vietnam. When he comes back, he going on at the time,” said the what they would do? You get into stood for,” he recently said. “My cut off the ears of numerous com/tigerforce was an alcoholic, smoking. He former medic. “I was 19 years old, a firefight and you may get a basic mission was to save peo- dead Vietnamese to scare