Into The Tree Line

We’ve been talking about forgiveness, and forgiveness can be scary. And very often, just doing the right thing is scary.

Let me tell you a story today about doing the right thing, even when you know just how much danger you are putting yourself in.

"Sergeant First Class, Jerry M. "Mad Dog" Shriver was a legendary Green Beret. He was a platoon leader with Command and Control South, MACV-SOG.  A joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction which were called, depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.

On the morning of April 24, 1969, Shriver's hatchet platoon was air assaulted into Cambodia by four helicopters. Upon departing the helicopter, the team had begun moving toward its initial target point when it came under heavy volumes of enemy fire from several machine gun bunkers and entrenched enemy positions estimated to be at least a company-sized element.

Shriver was last seen by the company commander, Capt. Paul D. Cahill, as Shriver was moving against the machine gun bunkers and entering a tree line on the southwest edge of the LZ with a trusted Montagnard striker. Capt.Cahill and Sgt. Ernest C. Jamison, the platoon medical aidman, took cover in a bomb crater. Cahill continued radio contact with Shriver for four hours until his transmission was broken and Shriver was not heard from again. It was known that Shriver had been wounded 3 or 4 times. An enemy soldier was later seen picking up a weapon which appeared to be the same type carried by Shriver.

Shriver was never seen or heard from again. He was listed as missing in action. No trace of SFC was ever found." From Vietnam War Stories

Men and women like Sergeant First Class Shriver inspire me to overcome my fears. To face my demons and battle them. To walk into the darkness because it’s the right thing to do, knowing, that in this life, you are not always rewarded for doing the right thing.

May Sergeant First Class, Jerry M. "Mad Dog" Shriver memory be eternal. May you face your fears, find forgiveness in your heart, and live your life moving forward.