October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force Massacre story needs to be told Mike Ware of Haskins, Ohio, a veteran of the Army's 101st Airborne Division who served in Vietnam during America's most controversial and divisive war, reacted to an ad in The Blade last week that promoted the series of articles that started on today's front page. October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force 7 allegations focused on GI from Arizona Sam Ybarra sat in the darkness of his mother's Arizona home, sobbing. Once a feared member of Tiger Force who boasted of shooting civilians, he was now a broken figure - haunted by images of the war. October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force About the series/The Blade's team The Blade's investigation began after the newspaper obtained 22 pages of classified Army records detailing atrocities by Tiger Force. The records of the Army's Criminal Investigation Command were just the start. October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force Experts: Earlier Tiger Force probe could have averted My Lai carnage MY LAI, Vietnam - Just before dawn, the ritual begins. People gather around stone statues, some whispering prayers, others crying. Every year, hundreds of Vietnamese travel to the memorial that marks the day the soldiers swept into the tiny village before sunrise expecting to meet enemy soldiers. October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force DAY 1: Rogue GIs unleashed wave of terror in Central Highlands QUANG NGAI, Vietnam - For the 10 elderly farmers in the rice paddy, there was nowhere to hide. The river stretched along one side, mountains on the other. Approaching quickly in between were the soldiers - an elite U.S. Army unit known as Tiger Force.
October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force THE SERIES: Elite unit savaged civilians in Vietnam It was an elite fighting unit in Vietnam - small, mobile, trained to kill. Known as Tiger Force, the platoon was created by a U.S. Army engaged in a new kind of war - one defined by ambushes, booby traps, and a nearly invisible enemy. October 19, 2003 | Tiger Force Primary figures Special Agent Gustav Apsey - The lead agent in the 41/2-year Tiger Force case, he oversaw an investigation that utilized more than 100 investigators to interview 137 witnesses in 63 cities. October 20, 2003 | Tiger Force DAY 2: Inquiry ended without justice Seven years after leaving Vietnam, James Barnett broke down. Haunted by the killing of civilians, the former Tiger Force sergeant invited Army investigators to his home to offer a surprise confession.
October 20, 2003 | Tiger Force Vietnamese teen saved by sergeant After watching Tiger Force soldiers execute an unarmed villager, Sgt. Gerald Bruner did the unthinkable. He raised his rifle with his own threat: He would kill anyone who tried to shoot any more civilians. The soldiers backed down.
October 20, 2003 | Tiger Force 2 officers clashed over the treatment of noncombatants The two elderly Vietnamese women were walking toward the soldiers when Tiger Force platoon Lt. James Hawkins ordered his men to shoot. Quickly, another lieutenant, Donald Wood (left), told the men not to fire. October 20, 2003 | Tiger Force Hearsay account triggered the probe After 41/2 years of investigating Tiger Force, the only soldier disciplined in the case was the one who brought it to the Army's attention. October 21, 2003 | Tiger Force DAY 3: Pain lingers 36 years after deadly rampage SONG VE VALLEY, Vietnam - Incense smoke rose over the grave as Tam Hau knelt on the grassy mound. Hands trembling, she prayed quietly to the uncle who stumbled upon the soldiers so long ago. Like so many others, he didn't survive.
October 21, 2003 | Tiger Force `Free-fire' situation set stage for abuses By the time Tiger Force soldiers stopped firing their weapons, six people were dead, including two children. They weren't carrying weapons, or dressed in enemy uniforms, but it didn't matter: They were living in a free-fire zone.
October 21, 2003 | Tiger Force Charges still possible but unlikely, experts say Thirty-six years after their tours in Tiger Force, former platoon members still could be prosecuted for what happened in Vietnam, although legal experts say it's unlikely to happen. October 21, 2003 | Tiger Force Army makes adjustments in effort to prevent abuses Lt. Col. Chris Hughes had a tough decision to make on a tense street in a southern Iraqi city, so he gave his 130 troops a set of orders that would draw international attention. Drop to one knee. Point your weapons to the ground. And smile. October 21, 2003 | Tiger Force Vietnam won't dwell on past, official says HANOI, Vietnam - Responding to The Blade's investigative series that an elite unit of American soldiers slaughtered hundreds of innocent civilians during the Vietnam War, a Vietnamese official said yesterday the country wants to put the conflict behind it even though it caused "much suffering.
October 22, 2003 | Tiger Force DAY 4: Demons of past stalk Tiger Force veterans For Barry Bowman, the images return at night. The elderly man praying on his knees. The officer pointing a rifle at the man's head. The shot. That piercing shot. Before it's over, the old man drops to the ground - his body twitching in the blood-soaked grass.
October 22, 2003 | Tiger Force Why did some troops target civilians but others did not? Ken Kerney said he joined the Army to fight communism, but he would face another struggle in Vietnam. Entering a special fighting unit in one of the country's most dangerous war zones, he watched in 1967 as his new peers sliced ears from enemy dead and opened fire on unarmed villagers. October 22, 2003 | Tiger Force Vietnam's children: Photo story Toledo Magazine's photo story by Andy Morrison on Vietnam's children.
October 26, 2003 | Tiger Force Vietnamese colonel to investigate Tiger Force Thirty-six years after a U.S. Army platoon swept through the heart of Vietnam torturing and killing civilians, a Vietnamese military official is investigating the atrocities to determine how many people died in the rampage. (This story was published on Oct. 27.) October 31, 2003 | Tiger Force Army brass let Hackworth retire despite host of alleged misdeeds At a motel outside Washington a redheaded woman clad only in a robe opened her door one morning to two men. October 31, 2003 | Tiger Force Ex-officer may face justice for atrocities Three decades after an Army platoon repeatedly executed unarmed civilians and prisoners in Vietnam, a military lawyer has recommended the unit's former commander be brought up on a war-crime charge. November 8, 2003 | Tiger Force Witness to Vietnam atrocities never knew about investigation Dennis Stout was a soldier caught between the ethics of his job and surviving in an unforgiving Army. As a military journalist, he watched platoon soldiers force 35 women and children into a pasture in the heart of Vietnam’s Central Highlands. December 21, 2003 | Tiger Force Tiger Force documents elude Army investigators (This article was published on Dec. 30, 2003) February 15, 2004 | Tiger Force Investigators will question ex-GIs about killing spree In a case that has reached the top levels of the Pentagon, military investigators will begin interviewing former soldiers of an elite platoon accused of slaughtering scores of unarmed civilians in the Vietnam War. March 12, 2004 | Tiger Force Tiger Force answers still elusive For 37 years former Army journalist Dennis Stout has waited for answers - and justice - after witnessing members of an elite platoon in Vietnam kill unarmed civilians.
March 28, 2004 | Tiger Force Unit's founder says he didn't know of atrocities A day after enemy soldiers had nearly overrun his base camp, the commander of one of the most battered and bloodied battalions in Vietnam prepped his elite platoon to hunt down their attackers.
April 6, 2004 | Tiger Force Blade wins Pulitzer: Series exposing Vietnam atrocities earns top honor Three Blade reporters won the Pulitzer Prize - journalism's highest honor - yesterday for uncovering the atrocities of an elite U.S. Army fighting unit in the Vietnam War that killed unarmed civilians and children during a seven-month rampage. Michael D.
May 2, 2004 | Tiger Force Local vet puts focus on recent good deeds The Toledo Rotary members grew silent as Fred Grimm tried to compose himself. Standing to address the luncheon crowd of 220 last week, the Vietnam veteran choked back tears as he recalled how difficult it was to read in The Blade about the atrocities committed by an elite Army platoon.
June 2, 2004 | Tiger Force Kerry’s candidacy opens war wounds In a packed Senate committee room more than three decades ago, John Kerry, a gangly 27-year-old war hero with mop-top hair, recounted the horrors of the Vietnam War -- unspeakable atrocities to which fellow veterans had admitted. Rapes. Tortures. Beheadings.
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