Green Beret Murder Case (1969)

[f50lrrp]

In 1969, 5th Special Forces Group Commander, Col. Robert Rheault and seven other SF personnel were charged with murder and incarcerated at the Long Binh Jail (LBJ).

In 1970, I was assigned to HQ USTASCOMEUR, as the Operations NCO for the DCSINTEL. A Major David Bender reported in to the DCSINTEL wearing an SF Patch on his right sleeve. Bender was an Intel Branch officer and the other SF Officers assigned to HQ USTASCOMEUR shunned him. I asked Colonel Sidney Hinds why this was happening and all he would say was that Bender was a snitch.

Everytime Bender would leave his jacket hanging on the coat rack, someone would cut off the SF patch.

I went on a TDY for six months and when I returned, Major Bender was gone.

All these years later, I still am not clear if Bender was involved with Colonel Rheault's case or not. Does anyone here know?

Mike

[Pete]

Those Gallant Men - On Trial in Vietnam

By John Stevens Berry

In his intro he writes "...There were a number of people who would have preferred that I not write this book at all. Among them were Col. Bob Rheault (U.S.A. Ret.), Col. Leland Brumley who is still on active duty, and former Maj. Budge Williams. When all of them were convinced that I would go ahead with the book irrespective of their wishes that I "scrub" it, each of them worked hard to provide me with accurate information........They went out of their ways to help me write a book they would have preferred not to have been written."


At the time all this took place Berry was the Chief Defense Counsel for II Field Force in Vietnam. He was on the defense for Col. Brumley.

While about the trail it covers the case itself. There is no indexing in the back of the book so I would have to read it again to see if it mentions Bender. Still, it was an interesting book on how the system worked at that time.