The year was 1966, when morale among American troops fighting in Vietnam was low. The song that lifted their spirits was Barry Sadler’s ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’. Sadler, a member of the US Army’s elite Special Forces unit, wrote the song while recuperating in the hospital after being injured by a punji stick. The song was meant to boost the troops’ morale, and it quickly became a huge hit in the US after a TV news crew filmed him singing it. The song hit #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the US Adult Contemporary, and #2 on the US Hot Country Songs charts.
Sadler’s story is a poignant one. After he was injured, he nearly had to have his leg amputated, and while he was recovering, he wrote songs for other wounded soldiers. He released the rights to ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ so that as many people could hear it as possible, and it became an anthem for the troops fighting in Vietnam. The song was made into a John Wayne movie called ‘The Green Berets’. Unfortunately, Sadler was shot in the head during a robbery attempt at his home in Guatemala in 1988. He returned to the US and died from heart failure the following year.
The song has had a lasting impact on people over the years. Elisa Sanford commented on YouTube, “He had no idea this song would live on. Even after he was gone, it still gives me chills after all these years.” Puppycat58, who was seven years old when the song came out, said that her father wept when he listened, and the song still gives her chills. Sylvis Daubenspeck commented that the song was “an inspiring song which especially fit the era it was written in.”
Even people who were not alive when the song was released have been affected by it. Dullahan, born about a decade after the song was released, wrote a moving story in the YouTube comments section about a young Green Beret who had built a house for his wife just days before he shipped out to Vietnam. The house remained immaculate, but it was clear that no one was living in it. Dullahan’s parents told him the young man had died in Vietnam, and the story stayed with him. He wrote, “This song was new roughly a decade before I was, but it has an unusually somber place in my heart.”
The impact of ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ is undeniable. The song lifted the spirits of American troops during a dark time in US history and became an anthem for those fighting in Vietnam. The song’s lasting impact can be felt even today, with people still moved by its message of courage and patriotism.
Watch the video for ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets’ on YouTube and share it with your friends because this song is a testament to the courage and sacrifice of the US troops fighting for their country.
