The Vietnam War Sniper Known as White Feather

A quick note before I get started. A commenter to one of my earlier videos suggested the subject of this video. I wasn't familiar with Carlos Hathcock prior to some research, but decided this would be an interesting subject. I welcome suggestions for video subjects. I won't be able to do every one suggested, but I'll consider them all. Now on to the story. Carlos Norman Hathcock II was born May 20, 1942. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and grew up in Winn, Arkansas, living with his grandmother after the breakup of his parents. While visiting with relatives in Mississippi, he learned to shoot and hunt. Those skills came in handy in helping feed his poor family. At an early age, he hunted with a .22 caliber J.C. Higgins single-shot rifle. Hunting with a single shot meant you needed to be a good shot because you were likely to get no more than one shot at your quarry. As a child, Carlos dreamed of being a Marine, and at age 17 in 1959, he realized his dream and joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Prior to deploying to Vietnam in 1966, Hathcock won the Wimbledon Cup at Camp Perry, the most prestigious prize for long-range shooting. When he first deployed to Vietnam, Carlos was a military policeman, but his sharpshooting skills were noticed by an upper echelon officer, and he was transferred into a sniper position by the Marine brass. His skills as a sniper soon became known to the enemy. He always had a white feather stuck in the band of the bush head he wore, and the Vietnamese nicknamed him White Feather Sniper. He became so famous and troublesome to the enemy that they put a $30,000 bounty on him, $250,000 in today's money. That was the largest bounty ever put on a U.S. soldier in Vietnam. He killed every enemy sniper who tried to collect it. One would think that Hathcock used some special sniper rifle, designed specifically for use by military snipers, but that was not the case. Most of the time he used a rifle commonly used by civilian hunters, a Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 caliber and standard 8-power Unertl scope. He did modify a Browning M2 machine gun by mounting an 8-power Unertl scope on it, and occasionally used that weapon during his missions. He also carried a Colt M1911A1 sidearm. He completed several famous missions, including the shooting of an enemy sniper codenamed The Cobra, who had already killed several Marines and was believed to have been sent specifically to eliminate White Feather. The two faced off and Hathcock saw a glimpse of light reflecting off the enemy's scope. He took aim and shot the reflecting light. When he and his spotter went to examine the outcome of the shot, they found that the round had gone through his adversary's scope and into his eye for an instant kill. He retrieved the dead sniper's rifle and intended to take it home as a keepsake, but the weapon was stolen from the armory that was charged with keeping possession of the firearm. Another famous enemy combatant that he dispatched was a Viet Cong female platoon leader codenamed The Apache Woman. She was famous for brutally torturing captured American soldiers within earshot of other Americans so they could hear the screams of pain and suffering of her captives. He set the record for the longest recorded sniper kill in 1967 when he used his Browning machine gun to kill a Viet Cong guerrilla at 2,500 yards. The record stayed intact until it was broken by a Canadian sniper in Afghanistan. White Feather's most famous mission occurred days before the end of his first deployment. He was not told of the details and purpose of the mission until after he volunteered to carry it out. His mission was to stalk and kill a Vietnamese general. Over a four-day and three-night period, he very slowly crawled over 1,500 yards to get into position to make the shot. During the meticulous journey, disaster almost occurred on two different occasions. In one instance, an extremely venomous bamboo viper crawled over Hathcock's prone body. Had he not remained completely motionless and alerted the snake of his presence, the result could have been disastrous. On another occasion, shortly after nightfall, a patrol of Vietnamese soldiers passed by extremely close to his position. A couple of times, he was almost stepped on, but because of his nerves of steel and meticulous camouflage techniques, he remained undetected. When he got within 700 yards of the enemy encampment, the intended target eventually showed himself, and with one shot from his Winchester rifle, he dispatched his target. The remaining enemy soldiers turned and ran for the treeline instead of charging in his direction, and Whitefeather was able to escape undetected. Carlos returned to the U.S. shortly after that mission in 1967. However, he missed the combat duty and voluntarily returned to Vietnam in 1969. His career as a sniper ended on September 16, 1969, when the LVT-5 armored vehicle in which he was riding hit a landmine. He escaped out of the fiery crash, and although severely burned over a large portion of his body, he returned to the burning vehicle and helped pull seven other engine marines away from a potentially deadly explosion. Carlos was evacuated to a military hospital ship and eventually to a burn hospital unit stateside for treatment of third-degree burns on much of his body. He was awarded a Purple Heart and Silver Star for his heroism in the event. After Vietnam, he remained in the Marines and was active in helping establish a sniper school at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia. He was in constant pain from his injuries, but continued in the Marines, dedicating himself to sniper training. In 1975, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, but continued his enlistment for a couple more years until he was forced into retirement, 55 days before completing his 20-year enlistment. He died in 1999 at age 56 from complications of his wounds and multiple sclerosis. Carlos remains a legend in the Marines. Several awards have been named in his honor and awarded annually to deserving Marines. A sniper range is named for him at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Springfield Armory developed a highly accurized version of their M1A supermatch rifle and named it the M25 White Feather. His signature and White Feather logo are embossed on the receiver. Turner Sadlery also honored Carlos by producing a line of leather rifle slings with his name on them. In 2007, the Rifle and Pistol Complex at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar was renamed the Carlos Hethcock Range Complex. The White Feather's career statistics include 93 confirmed kills, but the total is considerably more than that, probably 300 to 400 total. In Vietnam, for a kill to be confirmed, a spotter and officer had to be present to verify the kill, thus the large discrepancy between confirmed and actual kills. If you enjoyed this video, give a thumbs up, make a comment, and most importantly, subscribe to the channel. As always, thanks for watching!