Out & About KY Style: Barry Sadler

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.

Gary West is an author and News Journal columnist.

Sadler, while a Special Forces Green Beret, was still officially a soldier stationed at Bragg, and his newly released song, “The Ballad of The Green Berets” was sweeping the nation in 1966. It was the height of the Vietnam War and with a divided country on the war’s 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, “The Green Beret” 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 & 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 “Ft. Bragg Paraglide,” 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.  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 “Duke” (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 “The Green Berets” 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 “The Ballad of the Green Berets.” Barry Sadler was no where to be heard. And neither was much of the movie’s 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.  The army in Vietnam was young, 19 and 20 year-olds. Even the senior officers on the ground didn’t come close to the role John Wayne portrayed.

I left the theater not sure what I had seen, just glad I wasn’t 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’s 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 “pill head” 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’s 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 a series of threatening phone calls to Sadler and Sharp, and on one occasion slugged Sadler when the two saw each other in downtown Nashville.

Sadler pled guilty of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 4-5 years. Upon appeal and due to circumstances in the shooting, his sentence was reduced to 28 days.

Many felt the judge could not get beyond Barry Sadler’s hero status. After all, here was a Green Beret medic, severely wounded in Vietnam, earned a Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, Parachute Badge and Combat Infantryman Badge. And on top of that had written and sang one of the most patriotic songs in American history.  Didn’t that count for something. Apparently it did.

Now with a slightly soiled reputation, Sadler, in 1984, moved to Guatemala City under the guise of providing medical care for the impoverished. Rumors of arm sales were making the rounds and his love for guns only added to it.

One thing that wasn’t in doubt was his enjoyment for writing.  In spite of only a tenth grade education, he cranked out 22 pulp fiction novels which not only gave him satisfaction, but a steady income since his Green Beret song royalties had diminished.

In September 1989, while sitting in a parked taxi, in Guatemala City, Sadler was shot in the head. Severely wounded he was flown back to Nashville by private jet.  The shooting was a mystery. Some witnesses said he was fidgeting with a gun and accidentally shot himself, while others said it was robbery or an assassination attempt.

Back in the US, Sadler was moved around to several VA Hospitals, never recovering from his brain injury. Fourteen months after the shooting he died in the VA Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He had turned 49 four days earlier.

Not long after the Green Beret movie came out a $100,000 drive was implemented to construct a bigger-than-life statue of a Green Beret at the Special Forces Headquarters at Ft. Bragg. John Wayne and Barry Sadler each gave $5,000  and Defense Secretary Robert McNamera a $1,000. The remaining money came from former Green Berets around the world.

“The Ballad of the Green Berets” today still plays on emotions when performed at military funerals or reunions.

“Fighting soldiers from the sky

Fearless men who jump and die

Men who mean just what they say

The brave men of the Green Beret…”

There’s no excuse, get up, get out and get going! Gary P. West can be reached at westgarypdeb@gmail.com.