Remembering the Old Sniper | Shooting USA

i'm sorry to report that our friend ted gundy passed on in october at the age of 90. you may remember his story that ted was a designated sniper in the battle of the bulge before being wounded you may remember ted wrote to me in 2009 saying he couldn't imagine how today's snipers could be accurate at a thousand yards and that we arranged for the army to host him as an honored guest at fort benning so he could find out the result was an extraordinary special produced for our impossible shot series in honor of ted gundy and all the veterans of the greatest generation we're presenting his story once again for ted gundy and the rest of the greatest generation as they've been called this is the way it was it's been too long ago it's uh i need to bring back old memories the barracks i slept about oh third or fourth bank from the end bunk the mess hall i couldn't i never didn't leave anything on my plate then even the latrine yeah bring back old memories long time ago world war ii company street at the national infantry museum at fort bending georgia is a painstakingly accurate recreation of the conditions young recruits lived in for ted gundy who was 19 and fresh out of high school when he joined the army in 1944 boot camp is his last innocent memory before being shipped across the atlantic it wouldn't be long before he'd experienced the horrors of war and we went a little farther and the machine gun shot at us the machine gun had moved across the road and had us pin down and then that's when our tire rods come in and it lit back in the second and third squad right behind us and when i looked down and blood was going out my leg and medic came and gave me a shot and i asked him where the rest of boy's at he said they're all dead ted gundy is 84 now he's visiting fort benning this week as a distinguished guest of the army he once served while he's here he'll inspire the next generation of soldiers be treated to vip tours going into belgium and holland be honored in ways that will test his emotions congratulations sir you don't know how much that means to me and ultimately this old sniper will get the chance to try an impossible shot of his own from a thousand yards coached by the best sniper team on earth i can't hardly talk i was excited really excited this is something that i never never dreamed in my life if this would ever happen that was especially true 65 years ago as he fought for his country and to stay alive not long after arriving in europe ted and his squad were thrust into a fierce firefight history remembers it as the battle of the bulge the battle of the bulge was the largest battle the united states army ever fought it's the winner of 1944. the german army is beaten up and quickly losing ground but as the allies continue their advance toward the german homeland adolf hitler decides to launch a final desperate offensive for the most part it was a complete surprise to front-line allied units when the germans finally led into them that's because hitler had waited for the winter weather to reach its worst the germans knew the allies had air superiority they waited for a storm a snowstorm to attack because they knew that the allies wouldn't have air cover on the ground the situation might have been even worse it was cold it's cold i guess coldest winter they ever had over there the americans are not prepared for winter warfare they don't have the proper shoes they don't have the proper overcoats they don't have the proper blankets but i thought that night when i laid down to go to sleep that i wouldn't be here the next day it was that cold i figured hitler's strategy has worked the allies are scrambling and suffering heavy losses at one point they were in such need of fighters they got cooks they got truck drivers they started handing them weapons and they said go fight among those arriving on the front lines is a yet to be battle-tested ted gundy well he was i think more worried what was gonna do fighting you know because we had been in that combat and i guess it had an inner mind when it was in training that was gonna get shot at you know but it doesn't take long for the german offensive to waiver hitler has gambled on the weather keeping the allied planes grounded and then the skies cleared suddenly the allies are able to use their vast superiority from the air to retake control of the battle by mid-january almost six weeks after the first shots were fired the germans are beaten casualties are more than eighty thousand per side it's a great american victory but sadly for ted gundy and his unit the glow of glory will soon fade replaced by a darkness that's still there more than six decades later ted gundy was an army sniper when he finally made it into battle that cold winter of 1944 but it wasn't his experience as a marksman that he relied upon when he and his squad quickly came under an artillery barrage and i wrote my dad told him i said i've dug some dirt but i've dug this one faster never dug anything else and it gets when you get shelling you you get right at the job you know when you hear a shell coming in get on the ground and get as flat as you can get but two weeks after the battle of the bulge while on patrol in germany no amount of digging would have helped i never did hear the next one that hit me just felt like someone could give you a big kick in the leg that was the last time ted gundy would see a battlefield the lower part of his right leg was shredded had it not been for his friend charles jones he might not have survived i knew it was bleeding bad but i didn't know the artery was cut and jones had crawled down next to sergeant for some reason i don't know why and i hollered at him to come and put turning it on my leg and he come up i forget what we use for tourniquet now i think maybe a boot lacer out of one of my boots and tighten it up and then the medic came and gave me a shot and i asked him where the rest of boys at he said they're all dead i just got scanned and boned don't have any muscle in it ted gundy was one of the lucky ones though he'd lose his right leg just below the knee jones would survive the war as well and the two would remain close friends until jones's death in 2009 i can't believe how hard that was for me now you can't believe how hard you miss a buddy i saw my left leg and it was banged up a little bit and i looked down i could see my right leg was still attached it was just kind of slumped over and i reached down and just felt a big hole where my thigh should be back at fort benning ted gundy has found someone he can relate to got a leg above the knee sergeant josh olson's story is eerily similar to ted's in fact it seems the only thing they don't have in common is their age i got hurt in an ambush in the town of telfar it was in northern iraq sergeant olsen was part of a four vehicle patrol i was in the lead vehicle and the first rpg hit the back of my humvee we got out returned fire about 90 seconds later a second rocket was fired in that split second everything changed for sergeant josh olson i got knocked down at first i thought i just got shot in the body armor and i just thought the wind got knocked out of me so i tried to kind of stand up and walk it off kind of like i did in football and for some reason that my leg wasn't working i didn't know why much like ted gundy almost 60 years before him the artery in sergeant olsen's leg had been severed saving the leg wasn't an option and living a full life was now up to him the very first time i ever put a prosthetic on was when i realized that it kind of really sank in and was like okay well now i have to rely on you know this titanium this aluminum that this is how i'm going to be able to get around for the rest of my life six years later sergeant olsen couldn't be doing better he stayed in the army and today competes an international rifle for the elite army marksmanship unit meeting ted gundy only helps it makes me feel good knowing that you know you're as seasoned as you are and you still walk around on a prosthetic that gives me hope because there's some days i don't want to wear mine and um i'm like can i do this for the rest of my life and you're doing everything that you know you possibly can do that's that's it you're doing 100 but you can't do it quite as good as guys both legs sometimes you can do it better too theirs are a pair of lives on parallel planes separated only by the arrows they served in and sacrificed for they called you guys the the greatest generation they call my generation the next greatest generation that's big shoes to fill hope we're doing a good enough job you're doing a good job and then you're doing what we did to what we had to do and you're doing what we're gonna have to do i think he can outrun me ted gundy was once in their boots today he's been asked to speak to the army's newest class of infantry on graduation day at fort benning georgia it's you boys i i get kind of choked up looking at you young men and i know you're the you're the leaders of the day you've got to do what we was doing in world war ii really they choked you up you know they're going into combat and somebody won't give them back 65 years ago ted was one of those lucky ones who did come back this is your emblem one shot one kill yes sir one shot one kill in boot camp so many decades ago ted gundy was recognized as his company's top marksman and designated his platoon sniper today he's at fort benning's army sniper school nothing like this existed during world war ii he was pretty much given a gun you know given a general idea of how to zero it and go forth and i mean today the sniper trains and he was very involved but ted still considered very much a part of an elite fraternity always i mean once you're a sniper you're a sniper it's about who you are how you live what you believe and that's what sniper truly is you know it's awful to have to kill somebody but when someone's killed and trying to kill you there's no alternative you either kill somebody or you're going to get killed you know it's no fun but occasionally snipers do have fun on the job every year fort benning hosts the best in the world in the international sniper competition the winners get their names on a trophy that sits just inside the front door at sniper school and the two-time champions are about to give ted gundy the thrill of a lifetime glad to meet you sir johnson good morning sir it's our first class st john it's a pleasure really excited this is something that i never never dreamed of alive if this would ever happen ted's about to try something he's long dreamed of attempt to shot at a thousand yards using equipment that's changed a bit since 1944 the only similar thing between the two guns is they're both bolt actions that's the only thing that hasn't changed everything else is completely different they were really good shooters back then because today we have these state of art equipment and really and truly we're making the same shots they were making back then we'll find out if an old sniper still has what it takes next once a sniper always a sniper the black hat is the grandest prize an army marksman can earn and ted gundy is about to see just how much he's revered so on behalf of the officers non-commissioned officers soldiers and civilians of the united states army marksmanship unit sir i'd like to present you this black hat of the us army marksmanship unit oh you don't know congratulations sir you know how much it means to me we've only presented about eight black hats to non-members of the army marksmanship unit the wearer of the black cat is a member of an elite they're members of the best shooters in the world you don't know how much you guys i'll never forget it sir that means that means the world to us but now it's time for ted to show the world he deserves the black hat the world war ii sniper will attempt a shot he'd never dreamed possible hitting a target with modern equipment at a thousand yards he'll be coached by the finest sniper team in the world two-time international champions amu sergeants robbie johnson and jason st john he walked up when he came over and he was expressed to us that he was honored to be here with us and i guess not trying to be insulting to the man i just thought that was silly because i mean the honor is definitely all ours so to meet someone that was actually there and and was a sniper back then and you know was in the battle of the bulge and bastogne and man it's just a great honor for me ted will be starting with a shot from 300 yards and this will truly be a blast from the past he hasn't seen his army issued 1903 springfield a4 since leaving the service in 1944 that's why val forget has flown in his company navy arms specializes in making exact replicas of historic guns so he's made a special trip from maryland to make yet another surprise presentation to ted gundy and on behalf of shooting usa navy arms and a grateful nation we want to give you an exact replica of your 1903 a4 that you used in the war god bless you sir he's representative of millions of men and women that serve our country every day you want to let them know how much it means to all of us as americans for what he sacrificed so he's got his rifle he's got his world-class instructors now it's up to him to ring a target from 300 yards okay i'm dead on dude it's all on you sir damn good yeah the first shot's good but ted's not satisfied that's uh three inches below center mass and three inches left you want to go one more you can try to hit that gong you just barely missed the goal so one more shot from 300 yards with a world war ii era rifle at a dead center hit yeah you got you got the gong that time sir dead center but you walked him right up one two three you couldn't ask for any better performance so you take direction better than my partner does i don't think so and now he'll have one more chance to take direction the next shot is the one he's been waiting for a thousand yards i couldn't i couldn't dream in a thousand years how how you would do that now you'd even see it a human that far away you know you're anxious to find out yeah he'll have the latest technology on his side for this one the 03 springfield is replaced with the amu's custom remington 700 one of the most accurate rifles in the world modern day snipers also have the luxury of working in teams sergeant johnson is the shooter while sergeant st john is the spotter weather conditions environmentals as they call them are the key to calculating the perfect shot for every mile an hour a win that we're looking at right there we're moving the bullet 10 inches and once the calculations are made it's up to sergeant johnson to take the shot and then he'll say ready and then i'll tell him i'm ready by telling him to send it if he doesn't get it off in three seconds then we're looking at major changes possibly in environmentals and so we would have to restart robby go ahead and give me a light half to a heavy quarter favor towards that heavy quarter though okay send it and that one was one inch one inch right of center and about three inches low ted gundy has been watching intently if you'd like to shoot down we'd be honored to have you shoot our rifle sir okay this is the moment this old veteran has been dreaming about trying to put a bullet on a target at a thousand yards away i hope that i can hit the target but i i would if i was betting money i'd bet nine to one that i don't but that's a long long way it is but he's got the equipment he's got the instruction and perhaps most importantly he's got the experience we have so much respect that those guys could take the rifles back then and do pretty much the same things we're doing now it's finally time for ted gundy's dream shot nervous it's all right sir it's going to hit that's it that's it actually it was much better than a good hit though no one could tell from more than half a mile away ted's first attempt is a head shot on the steel target and i can't explain it how my heart was pounding and i breathing heavy and luck it even hit it look well he might have gotten away with saying he was lucky on the first shot but not the second you just hit him right in the mouth or the third should be good another one right in the mouth huh perfect shot sir at 84 ted gundy's still got his sniper skills you got about a five inch group here which is well within or even better than the capabilities of what that gun can do that's something to be very proud of you know i just couldn't believe i could hit anything that far away whatever age we are we get to that point where you're like i can still do that you know and i think he proved today he still can it's a five inch group and a thousand yards it's impossible so it's perfect shooting that brings the perfect end to a perfect week for an american veteran ted gundy still a soldier still a sniper still a one of hero one of the nicest things ever happened in my life you

Channel: Shooting USA

Views: 3,045,858

Rating: 4.9162102 out of 5

Keywords: Shooting USA, guns, firearms, news, shooting sports, television, Ted Gundy, Sniper, Smith & Wesson (Business Operation), Outdoor Channel (TV Network), Jim Scoutten, Army, United States Army (Armed Force), Old Sniper, 1000 yard shot

Id: 1VADFpAfDLY

Length: 21min 6sec (1266 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 25 2015