Revenge on the Tiger 

By Pat Flanagan

            What is to follow is probably one of the most unusual and strangest stories from Viet Nam.  It actually starts and ends with PFC Gerald R. Olmsted, member of the 196^th Infantry but assigned to serve in Company A, 3^rd Battalion, 8^th Infantry, 4^th Infantry Division.

            Private Olmsted was born on August 6, 1947 and died on January 10^th, 1969, in the service of his country.  He was 22 years old.  It is to him that I hope this story helps us all to remember and honor him and others for their sacrifice.

             Though I never knew Private Olmsted, our paths would later cross each other as fate would have it.  We shared a kind of kinship in that we both did LRRP’s, Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols.  Basically this type of mission is where about four infantryman leave their base for a number of days, usually four or five, go out into the jungle and look for the enemy.  As long as you don’t find them, it is fairly safe, but the situation quickly changes if you do find them.  In that case, you often are outnumbered and in need of extreme help.

            I used to tell the men in my LRRP’s, “Our mission is to find the enemy, but, once off the base, I am the commanding officer and now our mission is to hide from the enemy.  If they find us, we will radio in that we found them and pray.”  Somewhat questioning, my response was that this was a good strategy for staying alive.  I never had a problem with anyone not following orders.

            What happens is that the LRRP usually leaves their base and starts moving through the jungle toward their first position that was established by the “powers that be” on the base.  This is usually where the LRRP spends the night.  Often the jungle would be so thick and they might have to change the position as night began to fall.  In that case, we would call into the base to let them know exactly where we were.  This was important so that if any artillery was fired or jets dropping bombs, they shouldn’t do this in an area where we happened to be.  Unless we needed to call artillery onto ourselves for self-defense, and sometimes that would happen.  Being able to read a map and compass is a life-saving skill in those cases.

            Once at the site, we would secure the area by placing Claymore mines all around us, setup our ponchos into a ground cloth or tent, and then make a quick dinner before nightfall.  Once night hit, we would then establish guard duty and scheduling.  One man would stay up listening for any strange movements or sounds while the others slept.  After a time, he would wake the next man up for his duty and go to sleep.

            The next day, the process would repeat itself all over again until the time of the LRRP was over and one could head back to their base and its safety.  Generally the hardest part of the LRRP was staying awake during your guard duty.  Nobody to talk to, one shouldn’t move a lot or make noises and no smoking cigarettes as the smell would give away one’s position.  Most of the time, it was very boring and often one would doze off.  Now that was a court martial offense as you had just then jeopardized everyone’s life.  But it happened.  Particularly after a long and grueling walk in the jungle with full back packs.  It was natural to be tired, even somewhat exhausted.  The heat, the humidity, the jungle, the insects, the leeches, all took a toll on wearing one out.  Periodically we would radio back to our base to let them know we were still alive, safe and secure.

            On January 10^th, 1969, Private Olmstead went out on a mission just like this with three others of his brothers.  The next morning, upon waking up, Private Olmstead was gone.  Vanished in the middle of the jungle.  I cannot imagine the shock of the remaining men.  What I think happened is that during the night, one of the men fell asleep while on guard.  It couldn’t have been the enemy as they would have killed all of them.  Something had come in during the night and silently took Private Olmstead away.  It was a very large tiger.

            Nineteen days later, on a similar type of patrol, during the night, Specialist 4 Raul Lerma Segovia, a member of the same unit, also was killed probably by the same tiger.

            Spec. 4 Segovia was in B Company, 3^rd Battalion, 8^th Infantry, 4^th Division and on a LP (Listening Post) that night.  Both men died of wounds sustained from a tiger.  It could not have been a very pleasant death.  Both men were recognized as one of the most unusual fatalities in the Viet Nam war.  Clearly tigers are very territorial and this one was especially so.

            But the story has somewhat of a happy ending.  By now the 3^rd Battalion of the 8^th Infantry was fighting mad.  They weren’t stupid and knew they had the “tiger by the tail”.  They wanted revenge.  Even up the score, so to speak.  It was soon after that some great men went out and finally shot the enemy.  And they brought the body back to Dak To for a proper burial.  Mostly I think they just wanted to prove that they had killed the tiger and bask in the glory of revenge.  It certainly was the highlight of my day.  A lot of beer was consumed that night in celebration.  And we didn’t even need a hunting license in those days.  The tiger killings abruptly stopped from that day on.  And I have the pictures to prove it.

To this day, I always love to eat Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes.  Kind of like I’m eating “Tony the Tiger” and it just feels so “GREAAAAAAAAT”!.  My revenge after so many years after the tiger killings of Viet Nam.

May God rest the souls of all those who died in Viet Nam from tigers, snakes, and rats.  Their sacrifice was just as important to remember as all the other casualties of the war.