White Feather - The Deadliest Sniper in US History

the weather was humid and extremely hot and sniper carlos hathcock and his spotter john roland burke were tired from running around the vietnamese jungle looking for their next prey still hathcock remained unfazed peering through his binoculars the experienced gunman quietly inspected his target a feared countersniper known as the cobra but had become his nemesis while fighting against the north vietnamese but hadcock was confident that the cobra was no better than him after all the brave soldier had a 30 000 bounty on his head the highest ever for an american sniper in vietnam after failing the first attempt cobra and hathcock ran deep into the jungle in a cat and mouse game until the two men were within sight of each other they then aimed their rifles at each other and what happened next only cemented the so-called white feather sniper as a marine corps legend the white feather carlos hathcock took part in two vietnam tours the five foot 10 120 pound sniper never willingly took a day off and he volunteered for so many dangerous missions that at one point his commanding officer had no choice but to restrict him to his quarters hathcock mainly used the standard winchester model 70 3006 caliber rifle with an eight power unital scope and on some occasions he also used an m2 browning machine gun it was with his winchester rifle that he set the record for the longest confirmed sniper dispatch at 2 500 yards a record that remained unbroken for 35 years as the sniper's notoriety grew among the vietcong and the north vietnamese army the enemy started to refer to him as dukish long-tron or the white feather sniper the nickname referenced the white feather that hathcock used to carry on a white band in his bush hat the feared sniper took so many lives that he soon had a bounty on his head while rewards put on american snipers by the people's army of vietnam typically ranged from eight to two thousand dollars hathcock's head was worth thirty thousand dollars on one occasion after an enemy sniper platoon was sent to hunt down the white feather many marines in the same area decided to wear the distinctive white feather on their hats thus deceiving the north vietnamese and further complicating the counter sniper's job still while holding the record for the highest bounty hathcock shot and annihilated every marksman that tried to get him carlos halfcock carlos norman hathcock ii taught himself to shoot and hunt from an early age mainly out of necessity to help feed his family throughout his childhood and early adolescence hathcock and his dog would venture deep into the arkansas wilderness where he pretended to be a soldier and hunted imaginary japanese soldiers using a 22-caliber j.c higgins single-shot rifle that his father brought back from his service in world war ii growing up hathcock dreamed of becoming a united states marine and he achieved it in 1959 when he enlisted in the service at 17 years old [Music] by 1965 the young marine had won several shooting championships and prizes such as the wimbledon cup the most prestigious award for long-range shooting hathcock arrived in vietnam a year later and started his first deployment as a military policeman protecting soldiers and resources on army installations and enforcing military laws and regulations however hathcock wanted adventures and he soon volunteered for combat captain edward james land an officer who pushed the marines into preparing snipers in every platoon personally hand selected carlos after learning of his sharpshooting records and the arkansas native then became a sniper hathcock was then transferred to the first marine division sniper platoon stationed at hill 55 10 miles southwest of da nang where he would become a marine corps legend in the vietnam war's most lethal sniper apache sniper [Music] hathcock was not the only infamous sniper lurking within the vietnam jungle there was also an alleged female platoon leader interrogator and sniper on the viet cong side that the marines nicknamed apache and she was known for her sadistic methods while operating in the vietnamese jungles long before halfcock arrived according to several accounts apache was as beautiful as she was lethal and she was not only known for her leadership and sniper skills but also for her propensity towards torturing american gis it is said that she would often place herself and her victims near us army bases to ensure that the other american officers could hear the agonizing screams apache intercrew operated around hill 55 which was hathcock's base and her weapon of choice was a 7.62 millimeter model 44 russian-made machine-legant rifle with the scope in november of 1966 after taking the life of one of his closest comrades hathcock searched the vast landscape for the sniper and kept returning every night with no news it is said that late one afternoon captain edward james land spotted a small framed vietnamese woman carrying a rifle that fit apache's description accompanied by five viet cong armed guerilla members as the american duo approached the group hathcock and lan treaded carefully and waited for the right time to shoot finally as the woman squatted down to relieve herself land called in an artillery barrage on the group of vietnamese snipers realizing that they were being ambushed the group started running towards them as they were being shot and captain land ordered hathcock to take her down according to accounts hathcock quickly attacked apache with his winchester sniper rifle and as the woman fell to the ground he shot one extra bullet at her for good measure afterward the men stared at each other in disbelief and a few seconds later the silence turned into screams and laughter they had just put down the most lethal woman in vietnam [Music] a legendary shot carlos hathcock was constantly chased by another north vietnamese known as the cobra a feared countersniper that used a powerful mussine nagat 9130 rifle with a scope the feared gunman had made it his personal mission to take down hathcock and took several other marines in the process including a gunnery sergeant outside of hathcock's own living quarters hathcock later recalled that upon finding his fallen comrade on the floor quote i took a vow right there and then i was gonna get him some way or another the american recognized that cobra was skilled and it was only a matter of time before one took the other down however he was confident that as good as his enemy was he was not better than him one day hathcock and his spotter john roland burke departed base with their gear and began to trail the enemy sniper in the vietnamese jungle near their firebase hill 55 as the cobra spotted hathcock and his team he silently aimed at the american sniper however hathcock accidentally fell over a tree and shot missed hitting bricks canteen instead after failing the shot cobra left his position and ran deep into the jungle and the two opposing marksmen and their spotters ended up on the opposite sides of where they'd started unfortunately for the north vietnamese they were now facing the sun and the glimmer of light reflected off the sniper's scope upon spotting the glint within the bushes hathcock immediately took his rifle and fired at his nemesis then upon approaching his victim he was shocked to find out that his bullet went straight through the cobra's scope hitting the counter sniper right between the eyes hathcop then took possession of the counter sniper's rifle hoping to take it home as a trophy however the weapon was eventually stolen from the base's armory a marine through and through believing the tathcock was burned out after his recurring dangerous missions the top american officials decided to discharge the sniper in 1967 however he re-enlisted after only one week back at home with his wife and child the patriot wasn't trained on anything else and was a marine through and through wishing to continue protecting his country and his comrades hathcock was then assigned to the rifle teaching team in quantico virginia but he wasn't happy there and was eventually sent back to vietnam taking command of a sniper platoon on september 16th 1969 the lvt-5 amphibious armored fighting vehicles he and his team were riding struck an anti-tank mine along highway 1 north of landing zone baldi the vehicle burst into flames immediately determined to save as many lives as possible hathcock went back and forth and kept enduring the flames as he pulled seven marines from the blazing vehicle before collapsing in a rice paddy unaware of his own injuries several other marines then came to his rescue and placed him in water hathcock and the seven rescued marines he pulled from the vehicle were then evacuated by helicopter to the hospital vessel uss repose they were then taken to a naval hospital in japan and at last to the burn center at brook army medical center in texas [Music] the incident left him with burns on 43 of his body some of which were third degree thus ending his career as a sniper while in recovery hathcock received the purple heart followed by our silver star for his brave performance in the amphibious tractor incident the marines tried to retire him once again that same year but they had no luck [Music] quantico the still young 27 year old desperately wanted to fight even though he was walking with a limp and beginning to suffer from mobility issues as such the top brass decided to send him to spain to work as a gunnery sergeant on the uss simon lake submarine tender however when a new commander arrived at the vessel in 1975 he was stunned to find that hathcock could no longer move without help the sniper was then sent to the hospital where his doctors revealed a grim diagnosis he was suffering from multiple sclerosis after receiving the terrible news carlos halfcock moved back to quantico's marine base where he helped establish the marine corps scout sniper school providing sniper instructions to police departments and select military units including seal team six because of his multiple injuries and his evolving disease hathcock was continuously in pain but dedicated himself to teaching a new generation of snipers however his health continued to deteriorate and in 1979 the legendary sniper collapsed while teaching a class with no more mobility and only 55 days short of his 20th anniversary of enlistment the beloved instructor was forced to retire [Music] legacy [Music] carlos hathcock remains a legend among the us marine corps and even has an award named in his honor the gunnery sergeant carlos hathcock award presented annually this award was established to quote recognize an individual who has made significant contributions in operational employment and tactics of small arms weapons systems which have impacted the readiness and capabilities of the us military or law enforcement hathcock would say during an interview that he only survived as a sniper because of his ability to get into a concentration bubble putting himself into a state of complete utter and absolute focus with his equipment and his environment where every breeze and every leaf meant something then also focusing on his target in the end hathcock had almost 100 confirmed lethal hits of vietcong personnel and north vietnamese however such actions had to be confirmed by a third party during the conflict and it had to be by someone other than the sniper's spotter these third parties were not always present making confirmations quite tricky especially when the target was behind enemy lines as was commonly the case in vietnam hathcock estimated that the actual amount varied between 300 and 400 enemy personnel during the war despite his undeniable efficiency the sniper always stated that he didn't enjoy the slaughter and that the only thing on his mind whenever he went on a mission was protecting as many americans as possible thank you for watching our dark docs video please let us know your thoughts about the legendary white feather in the comment section below and before you go don't forget to share this video and subscribe to all our duck documentaries channels for more exciting military inspired content stay tuned

Channel: Dark Docs

Views: 5,943,801

Keywords: history, history channel, military, military history, dark docs, education, documentary, white feather, vietnam, vietnam war, sniper, record, world record, best, history documentary, american history, history education, short documentary, educational, documentary history, army, marines, american, soldier, edutainment, war, factual, facts, documentaries, us, united states, america, summary

Id: 7wCmtr4GFFc

Length: 12min 50sec (770 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 01 2022