I picked today's quote of the day because of a comment I received. Let's face it - when a Marine Corps sniper points something out to you, you'd better pay heed.

Master Gunnery Sergeant David McKee, USMC sniper (Ret.) noted that I failed to acknowledge the passing, 7 years ago yesterday, of a Marine Hero.

He said,
Could have included in today's "passings", GySgt Carlos Hathcock, USMC - the greatest of all combat snipers. 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam; however, associates believe the real count was closer to 300. Owner of "the shot", when he took are .50 caliber M2 machine gun, modified it to single shot and mounted an Unerti scope. Gunny Hathcock took out a target at 2500 yards, in simple terms, 1.42 miles. Two Hathcock quotes, "one shot, one kill" and "You can run, but you'll just die tired." Outside combat he was a gentle and caring man, missed by his brother and sister Marines.

I told David that I'd make up for that omission by letting you know a little about the legendary GySgt. Carlos N. Hathcock II.

He was only 17 when, in 1959, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. While stationed in Hawaii with Company E of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, he won the Pacific Division Rifle Championship. He set the Marine Corps record on the "A" Course at Chrry Point with 248 out of a possible 250 points, and won the Wimbledon cup by out-shooting more than 3000 other servicemen in competition in 1965.

As impressive as his competitive shooting was, though, Gy Sgt. Hathcock was not a showpiece. He was a true Marine, and proved it in service in Vietnam. He joined the new sniper program, and went to work on Hill 55, southwest of Da Nang. He and his fellow snipers took such a toll on the enemy that the NVA put a $30,000 price on the head of the man they called Long Tra'ng - white feather, for the item he wore in his hat to taunt his enemies.

Hathcock made good on his words - "one shot...one kill." He was involved in a number of covert ops, in some cases accepting assignments he was given a very small chance of living through. Hathcock was responsible for the swift and sure demise of a French interrogator who worked for the North Vietnamese - torturing captured American Airmen. He took out one North Vietnamese general from 800 yards away.

One enemy sniper learned the hard way exactly how good Hathcock was. After a long "cat and mouse" session, Hathcock, with the help of his spotter, shot the enemy sniper from 500 yards away, the bullet going right up through the scope of the enemy's rifle.

Unbelievably, one of Hathcock's kills involved a shot from a scope-mounted Browning M-2 .50 caliber machine gun at a staggering 2500 yards! It stood as the record for a combat kill until 2002, when it was broken by a Canadian sniper team led by Master Corporal Arron Perry of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Perry's shot was from a distance of 2,430 meters from a McMillan Long-Range Sniper Weapon - it took out a Taliban fighter during Operation Anaconda.

It wasn't just Hathcock's shooting, though, that made him so highly regarded among his fellow Marines. In 1969, when the Amphibious Tractor he was riding in ran over an anti-tank mine, he was severely burned rescuing his brothers. He pulled seven from the flames before jumping to safety. His injuries were devastating - severe burns over ninety percent of his body (forty nine percent were third-degree burns).

And yet, even that did not take him from the Corps. Though he could not effectively return to combat, neither did he disappear. He instead devoted his energies to helping establish a scout and sniper school at Quantico. Sadly, it would be Multiple Sclerosis that eventually separated Hathcock from his beloved Marines - just 55 days shy of the 20 years of service that would have earned him full retirement pay.

Inexplicably, Hathcock was never honored with an award so many believe he truly earned - the (Congressional) Medal of Honor. A humble Hero, Hathcock did not seek commendation from his superiors - typical of the truly noble.

Though he eventually lost his battle with Multiple Sclerosis at 0630 on February 23, 1999, he remains to this day the ideal of the Marine Corps Hero.

Links for information about GySgt Hathcock:
MarineScoutSniper.com
Cybersniper.com
Sniper Central
Sgt Grit
US Marine Corps News
Carlos Hathcock Award
Carlos Hathcock Tribute Page

Quote of the Day
"The most deadly thing on the battlefield is one well-aimed shot."
GySgt. Carlos N. Hathcock II, USMC Sniper

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Today in History
0303 - 1st official Roman edict for persecution of Christians issued
1208 - St. Francis of Assisi, 26, receives his vocation in Portiuncula, Italy
1389 - Battle at Falköping - Danes defeat King Albert of Sweden
1496 - England's Henry VII ends commercial dispute with Flanders
1510 - Pope Julius II excommunicates the republic of Venice
1525 - Battle at Pavia - Emperor Karel V's troops beat French king, François I caught taken / 8700 killed
1527 - Ferdinand of Austria crowned as King of Bohemia
1528 - János Zápolyai, Hungarian king, recognizes Sultan Suleiman's suzerainty
1530 - 1st imperial coronation by a Pope, Charles V crowned by Clement V
1538 - King Ferdinand of Austria & King János Zápolyai of Hungary sign Peace of Grosswardein
1541 - Santiago, Chile founded by Pedro de Valvidia
1582 - Pope Gregory XIII announces New Style (Gregorian) calendar
1708 - Prince Johan Willem Friso sworn in as viceroy of Groningen
1779 - George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes from British
1786 - Charles Cornwallis appointed Governor-General of India
1793 - French troops conquer Breda
1803 - Supreme Court 1st rules a law unconstitutional (Marbury vs Madison)
1807 - 17 die & 15 wounded in a crush to witness execution of Holloway, Heggerty & Elizabeth Godfrey in England
1821 - Mexico gains independence from Spain
1836 - 3,000 Mexicans attack 182 Texans at the Alamo, lasts 13 days
1839 - Steam shovel patented by William Otis, PA
1848 - King Louis-Philippe abdicates, 2nd French republic declared
1855 - US Court of Claims established for cases against the government
1857 - 1st perforated US postage stamps delivered to the government
1863 - Arizona Territory created; Forrest's raid on Brentwood, TN
1864 - Battle of Tunnel Hill, GA (Buzzard's Roost)
1868 - House of Representatives vote 126 to 47 to impeach President Andrew Johnson; 1st US parade with floats (Mardi Gras-Mobile AL)
1881 - De Lesseps' Company begins work on Panamá Canal
1888 - Louisville, KY becomes 1st government in US to adopt Australian ballot
1891 - French troops under Captain Archinard occupy Diéna, West Sudan
1894 - Nicaragua captures Tegucigalpa, Honduras (National Day, sort of)
1895 - Cuban war of independence begins
1902 - Battle at Yzer Spruit - Boer General De la Rey beats British
1903 - US signs agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
1917 - German plan to get Mexican help in WWI exposed (Zimmerman telegram); Russian revolution breaks out
1918 - Estonia declares independence from Russia
1920 - Peace treaty gives Estonia independence
1921 - 1st transcontinental flight in 24 hours flying time arrives in Florida
1923 - Flying Scotsman goes into service; Mass arrests of Mafia in US
1924 - Greek parliament proclaims republic
1924 - Mahatma Gandhi released from jail
1933 - Final demonstration of German communist party in Berlin; League of Nations tells Japanese to pull out of Manchuria
1938 - Du Pont begins commercial production of nylon toothbrush bristles
1940 - Frances Langford records "When You Wish Upon a Star"
1941 - 43 Geuzen resistance fighter trial opens in the Hague; Anti Nazi meeting at Noordermarkt Amsterdam
1942 - Voice of America begins broadcasting (in German)
1943 - General Bradley flies to Algiers; Texas League announces it will quit for the duration of WWII
1944 - Argentina coup by Juan Peron minister of war
1945 - Egypt & Syria declares war on Nazi-Germany; Manila freed from Japanese; Nazi occupiers begin state of siege
1946 - Juan Peron elected President of Argentina
1948 - Communist Party seizes complete control of Czechoslovakia
1949 - V-2/WAC-Corporal 1st rocket to outer space, White Sands NM, 400 km; Israel & Egypt sign an armistice agreement
1950 - Labour wins British parliamentary election
1955 - Pact of Baghdad between Iraq & Turkey signed
1960 - Italian government of Segni falls
1961 - Explorer (10) fails to reach Earth orbit
1965 - East German President Ulbricht visits Egypt
1966 - Coup ousts President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana
1968 - 1st pulsar discovered (CP 1919 by Jocelyn Burnell at Cambridge); US troops reconquer Hue Vietnam
1969 - Mariner 6 launched for Mars fly-by
1970 - 29 Swiss Army officers die in avalanche (Reckingen, Switzerland)
1971 - Algeria nationalizes French oil companies
1974 - Pakistan officially recognizes Bangladesh
1976 - Cuba adopts its constitution
1976 - Leonid Brezhnev opens 25th congress of CPSU; President Carter announces US foreign aid will consider human rights
1979 - Highest price ever paid for a pig, $42,500, Stamford, TX; War between North & South Yemen begins
1981 - Jean Harris is convicted of murdering Scarsdale diet doctor Tarnower; Britain's Prince Charles announces engagement to Lady Diana Spencer
1984 - Iraq resumes air attack on Iran
1985 - Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev crowned King of Nepal
1986 - Voyager 2, 1st Uranus fly-by; Texas Air buys Eastern Airlines for $676 million
1987 - Radio personality Larry King suffers a heart attack
1988 - Supreme Court votes 8-0 Jerry Falwell cannot collect for Hustler parody
1989 - 150-million-year-old fossil egg (oldest dinosaur embryo) found
1989 - US Boeing 747 loses parts of roof over Pacific, 9 die
1991 - US & Allies begin a ground war assault on Iraqi troops
1996 - Cuba downs 2 US planes
1997 - Deng Xiaoping, leader of China, cremated (died Feb 19th)
1997 - South Africa announces it is constructing largest modern day blimp
2002 - XIX winter Olympics closes in Salt Lake City, UT

Birthdays
1500 - Emperor Charles V, King of Spain (1516-56)/Holy Roman Emperor
1536 - Clement VIII [Ippolito Aldofireini], last Counter-Reformation pope (1592-1605)
1545 - Don John of Austria, the elder, Austrian general
1547 - Jan of Austria, Spanish military man/land guardian of the Netherlands
1557 - Matthias C. Sarbiewski [Sarbievius], Polish Jesuit/poet/Holy Roman emperor (1612-19)
1684 - Catherine I Empress of Russia 1725-27
1786 - Wilhelm Karl Grimm, German story teller (Grimm's Fairy Tales)
1809 - Edwin H.K. Freiherr von Manteuffel, governor/viceroy (Elzas-Lutherian)
1811 - Edward Dickinson Baker, Union Major General
1824 - John Crawford Vaughn, Confederate Brigadier General
1827 - Charles Davis Jameson, Union Brigadier General
1831 - Georg Leo earl von Caprivi, German chancellor/premier of Prussia
1833 - Eduard earl von Taaffe, Austrian premier (1868-93)
1838 - Thomas Benton Smith, Confederate Brigadier General
1885 - Admiral Chester Nimitz, USN (commanded Pacific fleet in WWII); Joseph Sprinzak, Speaker of Israeli Knesset (1949-59)
1898 - Kurt Tank, German WWII aircraft designer
1924 - William Pillar, British Admiral
1926 - Reginald Freeson, British MP
1929 - David Houston, Major-General/Lord Lieutenant of Sutherland
1931 - Inge Bernstein, British judge; Lev Vasilyevich Vorobyov, cosmonaut
1932 - Andrew Jacobs, Jr. (Representative-IN)
1934 - Bettino Craxi, Italy's 1st socialist premier (1983-87)
1937 - Jerry Wiggin, British MP
1942 - Joe Lieberman (Senator-CT)
1955 - Steven Jobs cofounder of Apple Computer
1972 - Manon Rheaume, 1st female NHLer (Tampa Bay)

Passings
1563 - François Guise, French General/duke, assassinated at 44
1815 - Robert Fulton steamboat pioneer
1829 - Auguste Chouteau, St. Louis co-founder
1944 - Leo H.A. Baekeland, Belgian/US chemist (bakelite), dies at 80
1945 - Ahmed Maher Pasha, Egypt's PM, assassinated in parliament
1953 - Karl R.G. von Rundstedt, German General-field marshal (Ardennes), dies at 77
1975 - Nikolai A. Bulganin, marshal/premier of USSR (1955-58), dies at 79
1990 - Malcolm Forbes CEO (Forbes Publishing), dies of a heart attack at 70; Sandro Pertini, President of Italy (1978, 85), dies at 93
1994 - Lores Bonney, aviator, dies at 96
1998 - Henny Youngman, comedian (Take my wife please), dies at 92

Reported Missing in Action
1965
Frakes, Dwight Glenn, USN (CA); A3B shot down, got tangled in chute and sank, KIA, body not recovered

1966
Hetrick, Raymond H., USAF (PA); A1E shot down

1968
Friese, Laurence V., USMC (SD); A6A shot down (w/Marvel), released by DRV March, 1973 - transferred to the Navy after his return, and retired as a Commander - alive and well as of 1998

Marvel, Jerry W., USMC (IN); A6A shot down (w/Friese), released by DRV March, 1973 - retired as a Colonel - deceased May, 1995