Barry Allen Sadler (November 1, 1940 – November 5, 1989) was an American soldier, singer/songwriter, and author. Sadler served as a Green Beret medic, achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant. He served in the Vietnam War from late December 1964 to late May 1965. Most of his work has a military theme, and he is best known for his patriotic "Ballad of the Green Berets," a #1 hit in 1966. He died at age 49 after being shot in the head in Guatemala City.
Early life
Sadler was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, the second son of John Sadler and Bebe Littlefield of Phoenix, Arizona. According to Sadler's autobiography, I'm A Lucky One, his father developed a successful plumbing and electrical business in Carlsbad and owned several farms in the area. He describes his mother as managing restaurants and bars, and at times, games in casinos.
The family relocated often. His parents divorced when Sadler was five, and his father died not long after at age 36 from a rare form of nervous system cancer. His mother moved her family around as she worked at temporary jobs in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.
Career
Enlistment
Sadler dropped out of high school in the tenth grade in Leadville, Colorado. In 1958, at 17, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. He finished his General Educational Development certificate while in the Air Force. He trained as a radar technician in 1958 and was stationed in Japan. After his discharge in 1961, Sadler enlisted in the U.S. Army, and volunteered for Airborne and Special Forces, opting to be a medic.
Wounded in action
When he completed Airborne training, he underwent the lengthy training as a combat medic at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In May 1965, while he was on a combat patrol southeast of Pleiku in the Central Highlands, he was severely wounded in the knee by a feces-covered punji stick. Sadler dressed the wound with a cotton swab and an adhesive bandage, then completed the patrol; however, he subsequently developed a serious infection in his leg, and was evacuated to Clark Air Base Hospital in The Philippines. Doctors were forced to surgically enlarge the wound to drain it and to administer large doses of penicillin. Sadler returned to Fort Bragg where he made a complete recovery.
The Ballad of the Green Berets
Sadler recorded his famous song, "The Ballad of the Green Berets", a patriotic tune about the Special Forces, in December 1965. The writer Robin Moore, author of the novel The Green Berets, which became a 1968 movie, The Green Berets, featuring John Wayne, helped Sadler with lyrics and with getting a recording contract with RCA Victor Records. "The Ballad of the Green Berets" arranged as a choral version by Ken Darby was the title song of the movie. Moore also wrote an introduction to Sadler's autobiography, I'm A Lucky One, which he dictated to Tom Mahoney and was published by Macmillan Company in 1967. "The Ballad of the Green Berets" was released by RCA Victor Records in January 1966, and became a fast-selling single, holding No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five consecutive weeks from March 5 to April 2, 1966. The record sold more than nine million copies. The song was a great success in many U.S. cities; it scored five weeks at No. 1 on the weekly Good Guys music survey at WMCA, the top popular music radio station in New York during 1966. He sang it for his television debut on January 30 on The Ed Sullivan Show. Sadler had recorded an album of similarly themed songs which he titled Ballads of the Green Berets. It sold a million copies during the first five weeks of its release. Sadler had a minor success, the similarly patriotic-themed "The 'A' Team", later the same year when that single scored #28.
Awards and decorations
According to the ribbons and badges worn by Sadler in a televised performance of "The Ballad of the Green Berets," he received the following awards for his military service: Purple Heart Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Air Force Longevity Service Award, Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, and the South Vietnamese Parachutist Badge.
The ribbons shown in Sadler's television performance mentioned above did not represent all of Sadler's awards. Sadler was also entitled to the National Defense Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. He had the option of replacing the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with the Vietnam Service Medal. He is also seen in photographs in uniform wearing an Air Force Good Conduct Medal ribbon from his pre-Army service in the USAF.