Carlos Hathcock Vietnam Marine Sniper Legend

When the movie American Sniper came out friends of mine were talking about Carlos Hathcock and how he saved lives in Vietnam. Not enough hours in the day, I never got around to posting about him but thanks to the posting below, here's his story.

This Marine Was The ‘American Sniper’ Of The Vietnam War
We Are The Mighty
BLAKE STILWELL,CONTRIBUTOR
JANUARY 23, 2015

Many American snipers had a bounty on their heads. These were usually worth one or two thousand dollars. The reward for the sniper with the white feather in his bush cap, however, was worth $30,000. 

Carlos Hathcock at work in the fields of Vietnam.
(Photo: U.S. Marine Corps)

Long before Chris Kyle penned “American Sniper,” Carlos Hathcock was already a legend.

He taught himself to shoot as a boy, just like Alvin York and Audie Murphy before him. He had dreamed of being a U.S. Marine his whole life and enlisted in 1959 at just 17 years old. Hathcock was an excellent sharpshooter by then, winning the Wimbledon Cup shooting championship in 1965, the year before he would deploy to Vietnam and change the face of American warfare forever.

He deployed in 1966 as a military policeman, but immediately volunteered for combat and was soon transferred to the 1st Marine Division Sniper Platoon, stationed at Hill 55, South of Da Nang. This is where Hathcock would earn the nickname “White Feather” — because he always wore a white feather on his bush hat, daring the North Vietnamese to spot him — and where he would achieve his status as the Vietnam War’s deadliest sniper in missions that sound like they were pulled from the pages of Marvel comics.

1969, a vehicle Hathcock was riding in struck a landmine and knocked the Marine unconscious. He came to and pulled seven of his fellow Marines from the burning wreckage. He left Vietnam with burns over 40 percent of his body. He received the Silver Star for this action in 1996.
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Obituaries
Carlos Hathcock; Sniper in Vietnam February 28, 1999|JON THURBER | TIMES STAFF WRITER