<Archive Obituary> Barry Sadler (November 5th 1989)
Bill Schenley
Photo: http://greenberetcd.com/images/uniform1.jpg
Ballad of the Green Berets:
http://www.brownielocks.com/balladofthegreenberetsWAVE.html
FROM: The Associated Press (November 6th 1989) ~
By Paul Randall Dickerson, Press Writer
Barry Sadler, who co-wrote and sang the hit Vietnam War-era
"Ballad of the Green Berets," died 14 months after being
shot in Guatemala, where he reportedly was training
anti-communist Contra fighters.
He was 49.
Sadler, who suffered brain damage in the mysterious Sept. 7,
1988, shooting, died Sunday at the Veterans Administration's
Alvin C. York Medical Center, hospital spokesman Albert
Archie said. A cause of death wasn't given and an autopsy
will be performed, he said.
Then-Army Staff Sgt. Sadler helped write the ballad while
recuperating from a leg wound he suffered while serving as a
medic in Vietnam. The song, the No. 1 hit in the country for
five weeks in 1966, glorified the fighting men of the
Special Forces during the early days of America's
involvement in Vietnam.
He went on to write 20 adventure books featuring a mercenary
named Casca, but never repeated the musical success of the
ballad, which sold 9 million singles and albums. His other
efforts included producing and writing a bicentennial year
album called "Of Thee I Sing."
"He was a very loyal person with old-fashioned prinicples,"
said a friend, Bill Parrish of Nashville. "He was a solider.
That was his job. He talked of caring for people and had
established a trust fund for orphans in Vietnam."
In recent years, he spent time in Central America.
Sadler was shot in the head as he got into a taxi in what
authorities said was apparently a robbery attempt. The crime
remains unsolved.
According to one friend, Duke Faglier, Sadler helped with
firearms training for the U.S.-backed Contras in their fight
to overthrow the Nicaragua's leftist government.
After Sadler was shot in Guatemala City, Faglier recounted
death threats Sadler had received during five years living
in Guatemala.
"I'm sure it made us less than popular," Faglier said of the
training, without saying who financed the effort.
Faglier said he shared quarters with Sadler in Central
America.
But another friend, Col. Lew Millet of Idyllwild, Calif.,
discounted Sadler's soldier of fortune image. He said his
friend went to Central America as a soldier and medic.
"He liked the people there," Millet said. "I don't think
Barry was directly involved as a soldier of fortune. It
keeps you young to stay in touch with your old profession,
and that was Barry's interest."
Since the shooting, he has been hospitalized in Cleveland or
at the VA hospital here named for the World War I hero and
Tennessee native known as Sgt. York. Friends recently
described Sadler as lucid and able to use one arm, though at
times during his hospitalization relatives said he was
unable to make legal decisions for himself.
Sadler is survived by his wife, Lavona, and three children.
---
Photos: http://bvi.rusf.ru/fanta/foto/b_sadler.jpg
http://www.sizemoremusic.com/sadler_tree.gif
http://www.gocontinental.com/photos3/sadler~1.jpg
Barry Sadler in art:
http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/s/supgrber.jpg
http://www.legendshobbies.com/dragon/70056.jpg
Matthew Kruk
was dead. Thanks.
Will
clearing that up.
Bill Schenley
> Thanks for clearing that up.
I'm not sure much about his death *has* been cleared up. No one seems
to agree on how he died.
There were only two witnesses, the cab driver and a teenage prostitute
who was with Sadler. The cab driver said Sadler had his weapon out
and was showing it to the hooker when it discharged. He didn't see
the gun go off ... he only heard it.
The cab driver not seeing Sadler shoot himself is where the confusion
began. Sadler's agent had him moved, almost immediately, to the VA
hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. The story of the "assassin" began to
circulate right away ... The hopeful result would be skyrocketing
sales of Sadler's really terrible Casca/mercenary books. The taxi
driver was jailed for a year ... during which time Sadler was
reinvented as the new and improved war hero ... now fighting the
Commies in Central America.
The prostitute ran off, but when located and questioned years later
... she confirmed the taxi driver's account. She said that she ran
off because she was young and that an American had just killed himself
... and she knew she would be in trouble if she stayed.
So who knows ... Was it a robbery, an assassination, a suicide or was
it just a poor, down-on-his-luck guy who was showing off for a young
girl ... and then had his death exploited by several sleazy factions?
I seem to recall that there was going to be a tell-all movie ...
go...@my-deja.com
Well, the gun going off in his hand wouldn't be the most improbable
scenario. When I was in Guatemala City a friend and I went to the
"American Bar," a familiar-feeling bar for Americans. Sadler was there,
and his gold record was on the wall. That was about the highlight for
me. I spent an hour in the company of Sadler and a war-chum, watching
them push a 9mm back and forth across the table, massaging it and being
sure to talk knowledgably about it and other firearms..and in between
being sure that I and my friend were aware of the many languages they
spoke. My friend wasn't much comfort as he said, "Oh we do too!"
whenever possible. They ignored him and I was fairly aghast at all
three of them, at how pretentious they were now without being
substantial at all in the present.
Sadler and his chum seemed to be aware that it was all behind them.
Sadler also spoke about the security measures he needed to live in
Guatemala MalaGuate. One way or another, I guess it caught up with him.
thesonoftruth
Matthew Kruk wrote:
> I really like these archive posts. In cases like this one, I never realised he
> was dead. Thanks.
Everything I had read about his death mentioned suicide.
doc
news:1131250823.9...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:
> Everything I had read about his death mentioned suicide.
>
He was a troubled soul, but I must confess a hidden pleasure in reading his
CASCA series.
I suppose that makes JD giggle. Of course, he was too sophisticated to
enjoy pulp...
thesonoftruth
Jimmy Dean? Salinger?
Bill Schenley
> > suicide.
> He was a troubled soul, but I must confess a hidden
> pleasure in reading his CASCA series.
They were *really* badly written ... Although, I like the premise of
the series. Sadler wrote only the first two (there were 22 total) ...
but even the collective ghosts did a terrible job.
> I suppose that makes JD giggle. Of course, he was too
> sophisticated to enjoy pulp...
Com'on, Doc, this stuff doesn't even qualify as pulp. Badly written
and poorly researched. They are just awful.
Like I wrote, I like the storyline ... but it belonged under the pen
of much better historical fiction writer.