Vietnam Green Berets S.O.G. Medal of Honor Recipients

The stories that I write and tell are about the extraordinary men of SOG, MACV-SOG, military assistance command, Vietnam, special operations group, code named the studies and observation group. SOG was the best kept secret of the Vietnam war, so secret that is was labeled a “black” operation, meaning that its very existence was concealed, even denied by the united states government. This top secret unit existed for only eight years; January 1964 thru may 1972. During that time it established tactics that are still in use today and in the eight years of its existence it garnered nine medals of honor for the green berets. 23 SOG men received the distinguished service cross, the second highest medal awarded for valor in combat. Most SOG medals were downgraded by at least one degree in order to keep attention away from their top secret operations. Operations that were conducted “across the fence”, that is to say, across the international borders of Laos, Cambodia and north Vietnam. There were 248 medals of honor awarded during the Vietnam war. Most of these medals were awarded posthumously, in fact 156 (62.9%) were awarded posthumously. Army soldiers received the most medals of honor with 161, followed by the marines with 57, 16 went to the navy and 14 to the air force. Of the 161 medals of honor awarded to the army 21 went to special forces, the green berets, representing over 13% of all medals of honor awarded. Of the 21 awarded to special forces nine went to SOG. At the height of the Vietnam war there were over 600,000 American soldiers serving in uniform in Vietnam. Of that six hundred thousand, only four thousand were special forces, the green berets, representing less than 1%, yet they garnered 13% of the medals of honor. Consider also that of those four thousand green berets fewer than 10% a year volunteered for MACV-SOG’s top secret operations. When you eliminate the administration, training and support personal, that number shrinks to about 108.