{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"The News Journal","provider_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net","title":"Out & About KY Style: Barry Sadler &ndash; The News Journal","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"3wmig8fv2o\"><a href=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/out-about-ky-style-barry-sadler\/\">Out &#038; About KY Style: Barry Sadler<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/out-about-ky-style-barry-sadler\/embed\/#?secret=3wmig8fv2o\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Out &#038; About KY Style: Barry Sadler&#8221; &#8212; The News Journal\" data-secret=\"3wmig8fv2o\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Gary-West-column-head-for-websocial-2.jpg","thumbnail_width":480,"thumbnail_height":473,"description":"Barry Sadler. The first time I heard his name was soon after my arrival for assignment at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, as the deputy post information officer in 1967. Sadler, while a Special Forces Green Beret, was still officially a soldier stationed at Bragg, and his newly released song, \u201cThe Ballad of The Green Berets\u201d was sweeping the nation in 1966. It was the height of the Vietnam War and with a divided country on the war\u2019s merits, Sadler and his song were like a propaganda promotion to literally rally the troops and the nation. The handsome 27-year-old, could easily have been the face on a recruiting poster. The Pentagon even sent Sadler on a fifteen month tour with the song and the Special Forces. Even though he left the military in 1967, the military never left him. For six weeks, \u201cThe Green Beret\u201d song topped the national charts, selling nine million records, and two million albums, requesting to be played more than the Four Tops, The Righteous Brothers, and Mamas &amp; Papas. Appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show and every talk show in the country, Barry Sadler and his song became a rallying cry, if not for the war, for our soldiers. As a Second Lieutenant at the time because of my journalism education, I was given the responsibility of editing the \u201cFt. Bragg Paraglide,\u201d the largest civilian enterprise military newspaper in the nation. One would think with that editor title I would be able to meet Barry Sadler. After all, I had interviewed several military celebrities at Bragg, including a son of the NASCAR France family, and a couple of Olympic track stars. Meeting Sadler should be a piece of cake. Not! He was gone. I had missed him by a couple of months, but would be content with the stories. All the while there was a movie in the works, not about Sadler, but based on his song. John Wayne, the movie star, was all in for doing a film that would pay tribute to the military, especially the Green Berets.\u00a0 He would star and co-direct it. He had requested and received co-operation from President Lyndon Johnson. Equipment, uniforms, weapons, and even extras were made available. Thinking the movie might be filmed at Ft. Bragg, the headquarters for the Special Forces, I saw this as perhaps another chance to meet Barry Sadler, even though he would have no role in the film, only his song. If not Sadler, surely the \u201cDuke\u201d (John Wayne). The film ended up being shot in Ft. Benning, Georgia. Nothing I know of was filmed in Bragg. Movie critics were harsh, giving it a zero. However, at the box office the cash registers rang. John Wayne had done it again. In 1967, spending $7 million to make $32 million was okay. One of the sites for \u201cThe Green Berets\u201d movie to debut, was at the main Post Theater at Bragg. I recall it seating about 300, and because of my position as an information officer I was invited. It was a circus. The producers began with a Ken Darby choral arrangement of \u201cThe Ballad of the Green Berets.\u201d Barry Sadler was no where to be heard. And neither was much of the movie\u2019s dialogue. The jeering and hollering that night from the young soldiers, many who already had two Vietnam tours under their belts, found many of the scenes just downright funny, if not unbelievable. I had not been to Vietnam, but I found them funny as well. A 60-year-old colonel, John Wayne, leading a charge was not the way it really-was.\u00a0 The army in Vietnam was young, 19 and 20 year-olds. Even the senior officers on the ground didn\u2019t come close to the role John Wayne portrayed. I left the theater not sure what I had seen, just glad I wasn\u2019t doing a review for the Ft. Bragg paper. Still, it was a memorable night for what I had seen and heard from the audience, not the movie. Deep down I had hoped Barry Sadler might be in attendance. I found out later his life had turned into a disaster after his Green Beret days. The Carlsbad, New Mexico-born Sadler attempted to follow up his mega-hit song with others, but with little success. Over the years for him it was a failed bar in Tucson, Arizona, where by his own admission he drank up any profits. Some said his royalties in the late 60s and early 70s amounted to more than $500,000 (today over $4 million). It was written that he spent more than $100,000 on booze, bad business and women. By now Sadler felt like Nashville was where he needed to be, so that\u2019s where he headed in 1973. Some thought the most famous Green Beret ever was no more than a one-hit-wonder with a novelty song that had struck a patriotic chord. Trying now to make a living, he made special appearances, still riding on the silver wings that had been pinned on his chest a few years earlier at Ft. Bragg. In the meantime, he had hooked up with a part-time waitress\/singer named Darlene Sharp, an ex-girlfriend of an ex-con who had shot a man. His name was Lee Emerson, and several confrontations between Sadler and him became known in Nashville. Emerson, considered a tough, nevertheless hung out with his share of notables in town. Even though he was labeled as a \u201cpill head\u201d who drank too much, he worked as manager for singers, Marty Robbins, George Jones, and Bobby Helms. In early December 1978, Emerson traveled to the parking lot of the apartment where Sadler and his girlfriend were. Reports said almost immediately the for-mer Green Beret shot Emerson between his eyes, killing him. Facts revealed Sadler then took one of his own guns and placed it in the unarmed Emerson\u2019s hands. Investigators quickly saw through the set-up and arrested Sadler. Lawyering up with Joe Binkley, Sr., a prominent Nashville attorney, it was learned that Emerson had made [&hellip;]"}