24 April,1969 Fifty-five years ago today with two days left till the end of his third consecutive tour the Green Beret living legend Mad Dog Shriver and his indigenous team of Yards embarked on one last mission.A mission he knew he would not return from.To understand why Jerry knew and why the mission was doomed is hidden in redacted top secret files and the hearts of his old SOG teamates.But to get an understanding of who Jerry was you don’t have to dig too deep.Shriver’s legend started before Vietnam as he stood out from early on.It was said that Jerry was unbeaten at hand to hand combat even when he would fight multiple opponents simultaneously.Unrivaled in marksmanship and endurance Shriver would run for hours and shoot flies off the walls.When he made it to SOG he was known to carry two pairs of pistols as well as his OSS suppressed M3,a dozen grenades,grenade launcher,four knives and 500 rounds of ammo at the same time.No soldier ever packed more firepower.
He spoke Russian, German,Vietnamese and multiple native dialects.At 6ft 4 /190lbs and with perfect vision and hearing Shriver was a super soldier.By the end of his first tour he had killed over 100 VC in close quarter combat and had received two silver stars and various medals he cared nothing about.By 1969 Mad Dog had run four times the recon missions that his SOG teammates had and racked up a body count that got the VCs and Washington’s attention.A $10K bounty was placed on his head by the VC.
MAC-V SOG teams had a 100% causality rate but nothing could kill the Mad Dog.
But Jerry was in too deep.All those recon missions and CIA dirty work would eventually catch up to him and he knew it.It was on that fateful April afternoon that Mad Dog being shot four times and with his team decemated held out for four hours requesting air support until he lost radio contact going MIA.
The king of the jungle disappearing into history.
So raise a glass for Mad Dog and give thanks for his ultimate sacrifice.
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