1966 ~ BALLAD of the GREEN BERETS

Ballad of the Green Berets is a tribute to US Special Forces soldiers.  It is one of the few popular songs of the Vietnam War years to cast the military in a positive light and in 1966 became a major hit, reaching No. 1 for five weeks on the Hot 100.

The song was written by then Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, beginning when he was training to be a Special Forces medic. Robin Moore, the author of the book, "The Green Berets", helped Sadler write the lyrics and get a recording contract with RCA Records .

The lyrics were written, in part, in honor of U.S. Army Specialist 5 James Gabriel, Jr., a Special Forces operator and the first native Hawaiian to die in Vietnam. He was killed by Viet Cong gunfire while on a training mission with the South Vietnamese Army on April 8, 1962. One verse mentioned Gabriel by name, but it was not used in the recorded version.

Sadler recorded the song and eleven other tunes in New York in December 1965. The song and album, "Ballads of the Green Berets," were released in January 1966. He performed the song on television on January 30, 1966 on The Ed Sullivan Show,

You can hear the song on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kj9qv6rmG8

Barry Sadler was born  November 1, 1940 and passed away on November 5, 1989 and is buried at  Nashville National Cemetery, in Madison Tennessee, U.S.A..