It’s October 10th 1966 and in Fort Jackson South Carolina a bus pulls up full of recruits. One by one, the strapping young men exit the bus hurried along by a drill instructor shouting insults at them. They’re in the Army now… The young men line up outside the bus all the while being barked at by the drill sergeant. It’s a tried and tested routine to start to mould these young boys into men of steel. As the drill sergeant walks along the line he notices something wrong. He was aware that these men were young, but are they sending children now? At the end of the line is Richard J Flaherty. At 4‘9” or 145cm at a stretch he was tiny compared to the others. The drill sergeant, “Baker” marches Flaherty to the Captain’s office. “Sir, you have got to fix this. This has got to be a joke. He’s gonna get himself or worse get someone else killed”. Flaherty jumped in: “Give me a chance. I can take it. Whatever you throw at me.” “WAS I TALKING TO YOU BOY?!” The captain jumped in. “Sergeant, if you can’t break him you’re gonna have to keep him.” And with that the discussion was over. Sergeant Baker knew what he had to do. What followed was weeks of bullying from the fellow recruits. “DWARF!” “LEPRECHAUN!” “Private Mighty Mouse!” No one wanted to have to rely on this short man to pull them injured out of a firefight. And a rather large fellow named Charlie Skaggs took the lead in trying to convince Flaherty that he should choose another career option. Flaherty was super fit. What he lacked in stature he more than made up for in muscle and determination. Anything the army could throw at him he excelled at. Other than his height, he was a model recruit. The drill sergeant had one more chance to break Flaherty. Hand-to-hand combat training. The men paired up to practice fighting techniques. Flaherty was assigned Charlie Skaggs. “I’m going to snap your neck like a chicken bone”. The Sergeant blew the whistle and Flaherty leapt into action. Taking Skaggs by surprise with his speed and agility Flaherty was a blur of punches and slaps. Aiming for his groin and his eyes, his knees, anything soft, Flaherty deftly struck out and avoided Skaggs who seemed like a lumbering giant compared to this small ferocious creature that was wheeling and punching and kicking like a demon. The other men stopped and watched the incredible display. Skaggs roared with pain and managed to grab the diminutive Flaherty. At this point everyone was cheering for Flaherty. Skaggs pounded the man repeatedly to the ground, the weight difference proving too much of a disadvantage. Thwump, thwump as his body hit the ground. Somehow Flaherty managed to roll away. Both men are injured now but the melee continues. Both men trade blows, punches, kicks. Neither man gives ground. Neither man gives quarter. The drill sergeant blew the whistle. The two gladiators looked at each other as equals. They shook hands and became firm friends. No one ever questioned Flaherty’s right to be in the forces again. One and a half years later on April 19th, 1968, Flaherty is now a Lieutenant in the 501st Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne division deep in the lush jungles of Vietnam. He’s a Platoon leader in Operation Delaware, a push to sever a crucial supply line of the north vietenamese army. The Platoon are silently snaking through the thick jungle when the point man at the front makes a signal that something is up… Everyone freezes. Suddenly all hell breaks loose as a rocket propelled grenade comes whooshing towards the Americans taking out the point man. It’s followed by an eruption of AK-47 fire. The rockets come flying past shredding trees and jungle as the Flaherty and his platoon duck and cover into the floor of the muddy jungle. Flaherty grabs 3 grenades and makes his way towards the front of the platoon under heavy fire. They’re pinned down by a bunker and have to flank the enemy or get torn to pieces. He gives the grenades to one of his men at the head of the platoon ordering him to lob one at the enemy every 30 seconds. While gathering the men for an assault a hail of RPGs come in, throwing Flaherty through the air. Knocked unconscious, he’s been hit with shrapnel in the head. His men pull the shrapnel from his head and he’s bleeding. But that wouldn’t keep the “1 meter lieutenant as he was known down”. Regaining consciousness and shaking himself to his senses he immediately set about the enemy position. Flaherty peeks from behind a tree. The enemy bunker is nestled in between the trees, its heavy walls and clear lines of fire make assaulting it frontally almost certain death. Taking stock of the situation he realizes that the platoon is in a tough spot. They have a 90mm m67 recoilless rifle that resembles a bazooka. He orders his men to let loose 3 rounds every 10 seconds and then wait 1 minute so the rifle doesn’t overheat. He slaps a fresh magazine in and sprints up an incline towards the bunker. He’s immediately spotted and draws all the fire from the Vietnamese. The jungle crumples around him as he sprints across the line of fire. A bullet catches him on the heel of his boot sending him sprawling, but he’s up again before the enemy can get him and gets safely to cover. In the meantime 2 men jump up, one carrying the M67 the other carrying the ammunition and take position behind a tree trunk. The rifle hits and dirt is thrown up. The battle continues. Machine gun fire zipping across the forest as the M67 operator counts to 10 and fires again. It’s a direct hit on the sandbags in front of the bunker sending up huge plumes of dirt and sand into the air. In the trees but still a target for the Viet Сong machine gun fire Flaherty is temporarily blinded as debris from the gunshots covers him and goes into his eyes. Meanwhile from the other side, under cover of the dirt from a knock by the M67 his men reach the bunker and go to work silencing it permanently. The day wears on and the Viet Cong push back the Americans from the bunker. There’s confusion and unbeknownst to Flaherty a squad gets trapped. The main body of the American’s have to put up a vicious defence for their lives. They set up a perimeter using claymores and trip wires but AK-47 fire has them eating dirt. More than 15 men are injured and the medic is doing all he can. They need an evacuation or artillery support, preferably both. But the firefight is too hot for extraction and while the fight is going on Flaherty realizes with dread that a squad of men are missing outside of the perimeter meaning they can’t call in artillery. As night falls, the battle abates. But the American’s know they may not see the morning. The Vietnamese sneak in under cover of darkness and expertly disable the booby traps. Flaherty knows they won’t survive if they just carry on like this, they have to get the missing squad and call in support. Searching the fallen Vietnamese soldiers they manage to find a small uniform. It’s still too big for him but he has to make do and isn’t about to give up on the rescue for something as trivial as ill-fitting clothes. On top of the uniform he also takes a captured AK-47 as his only weapon. Smudging his face with mud and pulling his helmet down low, Flaherty looks back at his men and orders them to stay put. “I’ll be back”. He crawls out past the perimeter, finds one of the fallen Vietnamese, grabs him and starts to drag him towards the enemy. Walking closer the Vietnamese shout encouragement as he drags the fallen man into the enemy lines. The disguise was working. He leaves the body and starts to move through the camp searching for his men. Heading for the site of the earlier battle he finds the destroyed bunker deserted. There are piles of fallen… But was that a movement? Flaherty takes a chance and in the darkness whispers the password “Purple Haze, Purple Haze” A shape calls back the response: “Goofy grape. Goofy grape.” He’d found 3 of the men. They go from crater to crater… ”Purple Haze, Purple Haze”. Eventually, the whispered response — “Goofy Grape”. 7 men are found. The platoon are around 150 meters away but the enemy are even closer, they need to be very careful. They get as close as close as they can, then the men jump up and make a run for the perimeter all the while shouting “Purple Haze, Purple Haze!” so they don’t get shot by their own men. The Viet Cong know at this point that they’ve been fooled and unleash hell. 6 men make it across the perimeter including Flaherty who at that point orders the artillery fire. There’s a distant BOOM and then a WHOOMPH as the Viet Cong positions erupt as howitzer fire finds its target. The following morning 5 helicopters fly in to a scene of devastation, but Flaherty has saved his platoon. He would go on to serve 13 months in Vietnam, earning him a Silver Star for his actions on that day. He became known famously as the “Giant Killer”. He continued to serve after his tour, earning a Green Beret and being deployed to Thailand to train Thai units in counterinsurgency. During this “training” he would earn himself two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. He was honorably discharged from the army in 1971 due to budget cuts and retired to civilian life. At least officially. But unofficially the Giant Killer was far from done. He got involved in several wars, became a CIA agent, taking part in drug busts as well as smuggling weapons to militias in Nicaragua. But his action packed life would come to an end when he was sent to prison for possessing silencers, after which he would end up homeless and remain so for the rest of his life. Sometime in the early 2000s he befriended a Miami police officer by the name of David Yuzuk, to whom he shared his stories. Yuzuk wrote a book on Richard called “Giant Killer”. When agreeing to tell his story he said: “If they ever make a movie about my life I want Brad Pitt to play me, and my quote is three million.” In 2015 at 3am while crossing the road, Richard J Flaherty the decorated American hero was knocked over by a car in a hit and run incident. He was aged 69. If you haven't yet, please subscribe to the channel and please watch more videos of ours. Thank you!
