GySgt Carlos Norman Hathcock, A Marine we should know - "AN AMERICAN LEGEND"
VIDEO
GySgt Carlos Norman Hathcock II is a legend in the Marine Corps. Every Marine knows the name and details of his combat record in Vietnam as a sniper. Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock is considered the father of modern sniping in the Marine Corps.
Born on May 20th 1942 in rural Arkansas, Hathcock lived with his grandmother. Out of necessity he learned how to shoot in order to help feed his poor family. He dreamed of being a Marine and in 1959, at the age of 17, enlisted in Marine Corps.
GySgt Hathcock, an MP at the time, deployed to Vietnam in 1966. He was already a notable marksman in the Marine Corps having won many shooting championships. Captain Edward J. Land Jr. recognized his talents and recruited Marines who had set records in sharpshooting to become snipers. GySgt Hathcock had won the most prestigious long range shooting competition, the Wimbledon Cup in 1965 and was recruited by Land to become a sniper in Vietnam.
Gunny Hathcock is credited with killing 93 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and Viet Cong (VC) soldiers. These kills were all confirmed by a 3rd party. He is most likely responsible for the deaths of many, many more enemy soldiers that were never confirmed. GySgt Hathcock was so proficient at his craft that he NVA placed a $30,000 bounty on his life. The average NVA reward for killing a US sniper was reported to be $8.
"White Feather"
Nicknamed "White Feather" because of the white feather on his bush hat, the NVA sent a platoon of trained snipers to hunt Hathcock.
One of his most famous kills was of a sniper who was believed to have been sent specifically to kill him. Hathcock and his spotter were operating near Hill 55 when they began stalking the enemy sniper. Hathcock fired when has saw the sun reflect off the enemy sniper's scope. The round went straight through the sniper's scope, killing the sniper before he could fire at Hathcock.
On another mission Hathcock crawled over 1500 yards for several days to eliminate an NVA General. Gunny Hathcock spent four days and three nights without sleep stalking his target. He moved inch-by-inch in order to get into position to kill his target and was successful. He redeployed to the United States after this mission.
He returned to Vietnam in 1969, this time as a Sniper Platoon Commander. GySgt Hathcock is credited with using a 50-caliber machine gun with a mounted scope as a sniper weapon. This extended his lethal range to 2500 yards and led to the development of the 50-caliber sniper rifle years later.
GySgt Hathcock was riding on an Amtrack near Khe Sahn in 1969 that stuck a mine. Although severely burned he pulled seven Marines from the vehicle and would later be awarded the Silver Star for his heroic actions.
Due to his wounds his days as an operational sniper were over. After he was returned to active duty and assigned to Marine Corps Base Quantico to help establish Scout Sniper School to formally teach sniping.
In 1975 his health further deteriorated and he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He was medically retired with 100% disability just short of 20 years of active duty. He often visited Scout Sniper school and also began training Law Enforcement. Hathcock taught Virginia Beach Police Dept. SWAT team snipers, at no charge, from 1984 until his death in 1999.
""
""
""