Royal Marine Reacts To White Feather - The Deadliest Sniper in US History 

I read his book in the 90’s when I was in the Marines. You should read it. There is a mission he went on to kill a Vietnamese bigwig. Absolute crazy mission and story. He got in, did the deed, and got out. And not one Vietnamese soldier saw him. Crawling across the open ground which took him days, he came face to face with a poisonous snake and stared it down, it slithered away. Vietnamese soldiers walked right by him as he was on the ground, and never realized he was there.

When I was stationed at camp lejuene I had the pleasure of meeting Carlos hathcock awesome dude

They never mentioned how he took days to creep into position and took out a high ranking NVA officer and escaped to tell about it. That was taken from his book.

Fact: The whole reason why Hathcock wore a white feather on his hat was to be recognized.... it was intentional on his part. Hathcock was taunting his enemies, much like Doc Holiday in the movie Tombstone, saying: "I'm your huckleberry" and "You're a daisy if you do"

While he was no sniper, my father was an extremely good shot who also learned to shoot out of necessity. Dad was born in 1913 and grew up in the Great Depression. Just like Hathcock, my Dad hunted (and fished) to feed the family. He was the oldest of 6 children and Grandma said that if not for the meat and fish Dad brought home there wouldn’t have been meat on the table. When he was drafted in 1941 other soldiers noticed right away that he was an excellent shot and many asked him for help in getting their own skills up to scratch. When I was a boy and he was teaching me to shoot, Dad used to put an empty .22 cal ammo box on a stick and spin it by just shooting the corners. I had a friend who met Carlos Hathcock in real life. He said you could feel his eyes on you if he looked at you across a crowded room.

Hathcock once said (paraphrasing, of course) that the only faces that ever haunted his dreams were the ones that got away. He said he just knew they went onto to kill some of his fellow Marines.

The movie "Saving private Ryan" has a nod to Carlos Hathcock, where a German sniper gets shot through the scope

Can't believe they don't mention the mission where he crawled over 1,500 yards through a field for four days and three nights without sleep, and with constant inch-by-inch crawling, to shoot a PAVN general.

“I think that says more about his wife and kids than it does about him!” 😂LOL PURE GOLD.

I had the privilege of meeting Carlos Hathcock at a gun show in Hampton, Virginia. I want to say it was around 1996. He was doing a book signing and even though I had already purchased his book I bought another one to get his signature. By that time MS pretty much had him wheelchair bound but his mind was sharp as a tack.

In 66 my parents paid $17k for a large house in great Long Island neighborhood and a Corvette was $4k.i hope that puts it into some perspective.

Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills is his book, very good read. I wish they had mentioned the mission to take out a high ranking NVA General where he spent 3 days crawling into range. Another was the Elephant Valley mission where he and his spotter tied up an entire NVA company for 2-3 days. Both of those are in his book.

can we all take a moment to appreciate the severety of that scenario. every sniper the NVA/VC had was actively HUNTING this man. think about that, dozens of proffessional killers, practiced in hunting humans all hunting you and any 1 moment could be ur last cause u never know if somewhere in the dense jungle a thousands meters from u is a sniper about to put a bullet in you. they killed a guy right outside his barracks! you could be takin a dump at the latrine and bam. everything goes black and ur corpse falls into the latrine. thats the reality this guy lived in. and he was fearless about it... the size of this mans bollocks. he wore a bright white feather to dare the enemy to spot him. im shocked they didnt find him by following the drag marks where he draggin his titanic testies on the ground.

Look up his Elephant Valley story... him and his spotter pinned down an entire NVA battalion for a a few days if I remember correctly. When they finally ran low of ammo they called in an arty strike

His unofficial numbers are more than likely accurate because he once pinned down an entire nva battalion by himself dude did alot of deployments to Vietnam so its quite possible

That shot on Cobra has been done in many movies. It wasn’t that he wanted to be away from his wife but he wanted to help and bring home his brother. After head trauma the Marine Corps let me go. When my MRI came back I was trying to complete a unit transfer with the army. My MRI showed I had multiple sclerosis. They have a few snipers who have mad longer shots but that was with modern scopes and it was in double and triple canopy jungle, the longer shot have been mad in the desert

You should check out Sayma Heyha, Finnish, WWII. I believe he has the highest kill count ever, and he never used a scope. Also, he hit incredible distances accurately without a scope. Amazing person and very humble. A Finnish Narional hero.❤ I mispelled his name. It's Simo Hayha. There's dots above the a's in the last name. 😊

Chuck Mawhinney actually had the most confirmed kills in Nam at 103. Mawhinney also had 216 probable kills. Hathcock had 93 confirmed and a further 300 plus probable.

I grew up like that in Arkansas and now my 5 year old son is growing up like that here too. It’s a way of life here

$30,000 from 1965 would be equivalent to somewhere between $217,804 and $263,641 in today's money (2024) Carlos Hathcock (USA): Over 90 confirmed kills (many unconfirmed) - Vietnam. Simo Häyhä (Finland): Over 500 kills - Nicknamed "The White Death," he holds the record for documented sniper kills during the Winter War (1939-1940). Vasily Zaytsev (Soviet Union): 428+ kills - Famous for his role in the Battle of Stalingrad (WWII).

I was a Medic and during Vietnam our medical Evacuation was superb. From the battlefield there was an elaborate chain of medical facilities with immediate care of life threatening wounds and once stabilized, wounded went to more and mor sophisticated hospitals. An entire branch of the US Air Force was tasked with transport out of Vietnam to Japan or other pacific bases with appropriate medical care. Wounded were "triaged" with severe cases sometimes flown directly back to the US in cargo planes fitted with complete Intensive care equipment. Doctors and Nurses who gave them hospital quality care throughout the flights. Extremely severe cases were provided with their own I.C.U. nurse for the entire flight to constantly monitor them. Once in the US, the wounded were sent to military hospitals all over the US that specialized in different types of care. The sniper Hathcock was transported to Brooke Army Hospital in San Antonio Texas which is the premier burn care center in the US. It is also where all Army Medical personnel were trained in those days. The medical evacuation chain of care had a general officer that conducted a daily assessment of ALL medical evacuation flights and tracked those flights around the world. He was briefed on particular issues with emergency cases onboard flights and could divert them to medical facilities along the flight paths if patients could not survive until their destination without immediate surgeries. Status of all patients was constantly communicated and weather along the flights across the Pacific to avoid storms and there were contingencies for every possible situation. If I am not mistaken, the survival rate for our wounded was in the high 95+% range overall. The critical factor in US Medical success was to get the wounded off the battlefield and to a nearby field hospital within 1 hour, called "the golden hour). The care of our wounded was a huge undertaking with a constant stream of airlift around the world for the entire war and we perfected extremely good survival of our wounded.

I did a little research into the deadliest snipers in history: Simo Häyhä of Finnland,was arguably the most prolific sniper of all time, earning the nickname “White Death” with up to 505 kills in the Finnish-Russian Winter War of 1939. Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper in the Red Army during World War II. She is credited with killing 309 enemy combatants. Vasily Zaytsev was a Soviet sniper during World War II. He is credited with 242 kills (including 11 German snipers). Chris Kyle was a US Navy SEAL sniper. During 4 tours of duty in the Iraq War, Kyle is credited with 160 confirmed kills during his military career. Charles Mawhinney was a United States Marine who holds the Corps' record for the most confirmed sniper kills, having recorded 103 confirmed kills and 216 probable kills in 16 months during the Vietnam War. Carlos Hathcock, nicknamed "White Feather", was a United States Marine with a service record of 93 confirmed kills during the Vietnam War. His unconfirmed kills number between 300 and 400.

He wanted them to know ..... that's why he left the White Feather in his cover.

You should look up the time he held off an enemy platoon while waiting for extract on a helicopter crash

They forgot a lot of good details like how he turned a browning machine gun into a sniper rifle and how he won several long range shooting competitions after he discharged

Carlos did an interview, its here on RU-vid. Broken into 3 parts.

Dark docs is one of my favorite channels. He has one on the deadliest US/UK task force 141 in Iraq. You gotta watch it. Pretty badass

I would recommend reading his biography. The 300-400 might be slightly exaggerated but not by much. That video didn't touch on his crazier stuff like slow crawling behind enemy lines for 3 days to get to a spot to shoot an enemy General. In my opinion given the equipment he had and the time frame I would list him easily in the top 3 snipers of all time.

Simo “the white death” is on probably on par with Carlos. Check that sniper out.

Hathcock was probably the most famous sniper from Vietnam but he was 3rd as far as confirmed kills in that conflict. Chris Kyle is credited with the most confirmed kills in US sniper history.

He grew up in the great depression when bullets were expensive missing was expensive and you wouldn’t eat shooting rabbits with a 22 bolt action rifle he was deadly accurate without even having to aim which you’d have to be to get a rabbit by the time you got it up to your shoulder and lined up the rabbit was gone when he shot the sniper through the scope. He was actually in the prone position, crawling through the jungle the glimmer caught his side peripheral, and he just quickly swung the rifle around and away from his body and fired.

Just going to say that the Winchester Model 70 is a classic. I own a scout model 30-06, and it kicks like a mule. But it’s was so accurate out of the box. Never needed anything done to it.

I've owned a few of those Mosin-Nagant 91-30 rifles, and none were super accurate. Maybe because they were old surplus rifles that you could pick up in the 90s for $49.95 every day of the week. My Springfield M1A National Match in .308 is a whole other story. What an amazing person.

He was full of heart!

Great video on Hathcock. I would not want to go thru sniper training. Having to lay in holes and hiding waiting for the target. A great book about Vietnam is "The 13th Valley" by John M Del Vecchio. It's a novel but is said to be really accurate. It spends much of the time in the jungle following an old vet (Egan) and a new guy (Cherry). You feel like you are there.

Carlos was made of different stuff. He was a good ole country boy who pioneered a lot of the sniper programs taught today. And he had no fear.

A quick check says that $30,000 in 1970 is equal to $244,000 in 2024.

@3:45, Carlos Hathcock used a Browning M2 .50 BMG heavy machine gun to make his (then) record sniper kill of 2,500 yards. He wouldn't have attempted such a shot with his Winchester Model 70 in .30-06 Springfield. The only way to shoot that far with a standard rifle cartridge would be with indirect fire. With direct fire, bullet drop at that range would be measured in hundreds of inches. Carlos Hathcock was credited with 93 confirmed kills. There are six other American snipers credited with a greater number of confirmed kills. The late Chris Kyle is #1 with 160 confirmed kills. So far, the sniper with the most confirmed kills in history is Simo Häyhä (aka White Death) of Finland. His tally was 505 with his rifle; he had several hundred more kills with a submachine gun. This all took place during a 100 day span during the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.

He was treated at a field hospital in Nam In Japan, the hospital is top tier He was moved to Brooks for two reasons 1st to clear beds for new severe injuries 2nd Brooks, Ft. Sam Houston is the top tier for burns

I read a book about him years ago. When it came to his shot that killed the Cobra. He said the only way he could have done that was the other sniper had him in the cross hairs and he just pulled the trigger first.

You should read the books about Carlos Hathcock, _”Marine Sniper”_ and _”Silent Warrior,”_ by Charles W. Henderson. I read them when I was a kid, and they’re still probably my favorite non-fiction books of all time. Very well written, and the guy’s real life story is better than any movie Hollywood could ever come up with. The white feather was basically a troll, and a pun. He was daring them to kill him, like “I’m so good I can put this big ass white _feather in my cap_ (get it?) and you guys still won’t find me before I get you.” He only took the feather out of his cap for his last, most dangerous mission, (he openly had a few days left in country, but volunteered, because he thought anyone else would probably die trying, and he had the best chance of surviving) He had to crawl through a grassy field for two days, avoiding patrols, and find a hide, take the shot, and then _crawl back out again!_ His whole body must’ve been screaming for him to get up and run, but he stayed calm, and crawled back out, avoiding even more patrols now actively searching for him, and painstakingly pushing up the grass behind him every few inches, so they wouldn’t see the trail he was leaving and find him. They just don’t build them like that anymore, they threw out the mold. These videos don’t tell the half of it. He also had a huge impact on future snipers, helping Major Ed Land develop the Marine Scout/Sniper school, at Quantico, and helping develop and test the first purpose built American sniper rifle, the M40. Before that they were using Winchester or Remington hunting rifles off the shelf. He had 93 confirmed kills, but in those days that meant an officer had to confirm each kill. And officers didn’t go out into the field much. From the book, Carlos estimated his real number of kills between 200-300.

The book is called Marine Sniper. We used to talk about it when i served in the 90s

I grew up in Texas hunting everything from birds to deer and I rarely missed.

I tend to believe Hathcock when he quotes 300-400. No one would know better than him. There was a sniper from Finland who was better in WWII I believe. Simo Hayha with over 500 kills. He was nicknamed White Death by his enemies. My brother was a sniper in the 82nd Airborne. He doesn’t talk much about it.

Carlos is a marine legend, many look up to him.

Widely considered to be the most deadly sniper of all time is Simo Hayha in the Finnish Winter War. He only used iron sights and became such a high value target to the Russians that they would send out decoy groups for him to shoot at and then bombard the general area the shots came from with artillery.

White feather is WHY I joined the military and did what I did.

Hey bud, do an episode on your full kit in the royal marines. I'm interested to know what you guys do differently across the pond, and what personal items you found were good to bring along.

That’s why he did it, the feather. It was his way of wagging his finger at the enemy. Like most of us Southerners Carlos grew up hunting and fishing, learning to stalk game and move silently in the woods. Apache was known for skinning her victims alive within hearing and view of G.I.’s. Hathcock said he really enjoyed killing her.

In terms of confirmed kills Sgt Hathcock's 93 is second in Corps history. Chuck Mawhinney, who passed in February of this year, had 103 confirmed. They were both passed by Navy SEAL Chris Kyle's 160. In this case however the confirmed number does not tell the entire story. Sgt Hathcock had such a total skill set (marksmanship, tracking, land navigation, stealth, concealment) to do what he did, when he did it, that it is hard to comprehend. Chris Kyle acknowledged that while his total is greater Hathcock was in his opinion a superior sniper. The 2,500 yard shot was not made with a 30-06 Winchester rifle. That is more than double its range. That shot was made using an M2 Browning 50 caliber machine gun.

-Chris Kyle I believe is still known as the deadliest sniper in US history... (165 confirmed kills and 95 unconfirmed) -Also, you should check out Nicholas Irving, a special operations sniper in the Army Ranger know as "The Reaper" (33 confirmed kills in less than 4 months. His rifle was named "Dirty Diana". Would have probably had triple digit kills if others could be confirmed)

Dark docs is an awesome channel that has some crazy historical videos

Hey Marine Read "Marine Sniper:93 Confirmed Kills." Hathcock crawled through waist high grass to eliminate a NV General. Took a couple of days. Then he had to crawl back. This guy was inhuman. You do some good stuff Go Navy

I’m watching this while hunting turkeys here in Missouri. Hunting for my own food is something I grew up doing. I’m a Marine as well. Not a white feather but deadly enough.

Your right i myself was taught at the age of 5 years old and in return taught my children at 5 also I have been shooting for 55 years now my grandchildren are also in training ever since they turned 5 keeping the tradition going for generations to come

He had hundreds of kills that weren’t counted because the Vietnam would drag the bodies away. The Marine Corps has recently dropped sniper school

His book was one of my favorites as a kid. I was obsessed with vietnam history back then. I think Simo has him beat as the GOAT though.

He had 93 “confirmed” kills. But those numbers are much lower than what his units accounted for.

FYI - $30,000 back then is equivalent to approx. $280,000 today.

$30,000 in 1968 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $269,251.72 today

Marine Sniper : 93 confirmed kills is the book. As others have said you have to look into the elephant valley mission. On one ever talks about what I think was the most amazing thing he did was to use a Ma Due fitted with a scope to snipe. that was the weapon Carlos was using when he set the distance record, not his rifle.

Wow, this guy insinuating that everyone that fought in the Vietnam War was doing drugs is a slap in the face of all Vietnam Veterans. Apparently, he doesn't know anything about the Vietnam War, only what Hollywood showed him. Typical snarky Britt.

Carlos Hathcock got 93 confirmed kills. Hundreds unconfirmed.

Simo Häyhä is often considered the deadliest sniper in history, with 505 confirmed kills during the 105-day Winter War. Thats more 4 KIA per day

Learning to hunt as a child in the US is just a common as going to school it's really a National Heritage

the book is called marine sniper its very good i picked up a copy back in 92 from orlando airport once i started to read it i couldnt put it down

Got say I had the privilege to meet Carlos in 1990 or 1991 at Naval Weapons station Virginia at our Marine Corps Ball. Had a picture with him which i I have lost. But it was a Honor to meet a legend. It was sad to see how his injuries and illness effected him. I true marine legend. Semper Fi Mr. Hathcock.

Not anymore, a Canadian sniper now has the longest kill of 3500 meters

You should read One shot one kill, and 93 confirmed kills. They give a lot more details.

The 2000 yard shot was not his Winchester rifle it was made with a browning m2 50 cal machine gun

in 1965 a new corvette was $2400 and an average house in 1969 was $10000

Hello, no it doesn't mean more about his wife, Hathcock was keeping his "brothers in arms" from being wounded/killed! That's the mentality and job of a good sniper!!! Just say'n...🧐 If ya don't have that ya shouldn't be in that position!!! Be safe and take care, "God Bless", sincerely, Randy. 😇🙏👊 P.S.: Ya need to check out the personal interview by either a reporter or 20/20 or 60 Minutes...

93 confirmed kills. Also, they did make a movie about him.

l met him in 94. "Calm, Normal" man. Talked about the Model 700 and Model 70. ( l was in the gun business then.) ( Not albout the war )

I met Gunny Hatchcock (and Gunner Henderson) at my Marine Corps League in NY in the late 80's. Being in a USMC Reserve Scout/Sniper (STA) platoon at the time, it was awestruck. He signed his book, "93 Confirmed Kills" and a few of us talked (listened) the night away (he only drank ginger ale). He was in NY for a shark fishing trip we had planned for him. 93 "confirmed" kills, but untold amount of actual kills. Marine Chuck Mawhinney actually had 103 confirmed kills in Vietnam. In Army doctrine at the time, 'snipers' were often used more like a Designated Marksman, operating closer to the front line and had more targets/kills. Marine snipers often worked alone (2-man teams) and called in artillery, only shooting when appropriate. There's a great YT video of SeAL sniper Chris Kyle on Conan O'Brian. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IiVDtNjORbY.html (2:25 mark) When asked about his 160 confirmed kills and being the best US sniper of all-time, he said Carlos Hatchcock was, citing the Gunny Hathcock didn't have nearly the targets of opportunity in Vietnam that he did in Iraq. THESE people should be our millionaires, before entertainers get their money. /rant

The 2500 yard kill was made with the M2 .50 cal. machine gun, that Hathcock had mounted a scope on, and had trained to fire it single shot.

Gunny Hathcock was an amazing man. We loved him and love him still. He would go through anything you threw at him for his country. He'd go through infinitely more hell for his Marine brothers and sisters. YES, Gunny got between 300 and 400 enemies. He and his spotter took out an entire NVA Company in one engagement. He tried to disassociate the enemy by calling them "Hamburgers" and "Hot Dogs". Every single engagement pained him.

One of my favorite Hathcock missions, which the video didn't revisit-was hathcock belly crawl into the middle of a vietcong camp at night to "eliminate" a General and somehow, in the ensuing caos manage to get away. What a legend!

my first job was at 8. We lived adjacent to a cattle ranch. The rancher paid me $1 for each varmint I shot on his land. Coyotes, prairie dogs and other things. Used a .22 rifle.

They left out the biggest story as mentioned down in other comments about the mission to take out an army General. I can't believe this story was not included.

yeah, they should make a movie, you did

On RU-vid, there is a old two part interview with the original Carlos Hathcock.

I’ll recommend the biography of Carlos Hathcock it is one of the best biographies I’ve read. It’s awesome.

Its approx 320k now. Also, if a tree saved my life by tripping me, id plant a whole orchard of whatever tree it was when i got home. Or maybe a kids book, the Tripping Tree.

NOPE, the 2,500 yard shot was taken with an M2 .50 Caliber MACHINE GUN, with MACHINE GUN ammo.

Hey guy. I bought a hoodie from The Fat Electrician. The one that says, It's never a war crime the first time, with an American flag on the right arm and a WWII style nuke on the left arm. $55 for one of those hoodies

Vietnam was brutal both physically and mentally. Most don't know that it was never declared as a war, it was a "Police Action" so many things were never used so that it might have actually been won. Many of us who were there referred to it as the "South East Asian War Games" and even now, most of us suffer the aftereffects of having been participants.

I believe a Canadian currently holds the record for the longest shot

Generally the most successful sniper in the world was Simo Häyhä, a Finnish sniper who achieved over 500 kills in less than 100 days service in the Winter War, before he was wounded by a Russian tank round. His weapon of choice was a Finnish Mosin Nagant rifle, using only iron sights as the cold weather often fogged up optic glass.

93 confirmed kills.... The book is Marine Sniper...

$30,000 in 1960 would convert to about $316,500 in 2024. Basically 1 US Dollar from 1960 equates to 10.55 US dollars in 2024

Author Stephen Hunter based his character, Bob Lee Swagger, on Carlos Hathcock. The book " Time To Hunt" is loosely based on the story in the above video. It's good readin' !

One of the most deadly Snipers in History wasLyudmila Pavlichenko is considered the most successful female sniper in history, with 309 recorded kills during World War II. She was a Soviet sniper in the Red Army during the sieges of Odessa and Sevastopol, and was known as "Lady Death" by her enemies. Pavlichenko was born in 1916 in Belaya Tserkov, Ukraine, and died in Moscow in 1974. She was the only female sniper in the Red Army to receive the Hero of the Soviet Union award while still alive.  The National WWII Museum “Lady Death” of the Red Army: Lyudmila Pavlichenko | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans Mar 22, 2021  en.wikipedia.org Lyudmila Pavlichenko - Wikipedia Lyudmila Mikhailovna Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper in the Red Army during World War II. She is credited with killing 309 enemy combatants. She served in the Red Army during the siege of Odessa and the siege of Sevastopol, during the early stages of the fighting on the Eastern Front. Her score of 309 kills likely ...  National Park Service "Lady Death" and The First Lady - National Park Service Feb 23, 2022 - Lyudmila Pavlichenko passed away in 1974. She was one of 2,000 female snipers in the Red Army and one of 500 who survived. She was also the only one of these women who received the Hero of the Soviet Union award, the highest award in the Soviet military, while she was still alive.  amazon.com.au Lady Death: The Memoirs of Stalin's Sniper : Pavlichenko, Lyudmila Lyudmila Pavlichenko was one of the top scoring snipers of World War II with 309 recorded kills. She died on October 10th 1974.  simple.wikipedia.org Lyudmila Pavlichenko - Simple English Wikipedia, the free ... Lyudimila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko (12 July 1916 - 10 October 1974 was a Soviet sniper. She shot German soldiers in World War 2. She was one of the top military snipers of all time, and is credited with 309 kills. She was the most successful female sniper in history.

Check out Chuck Mawinny. Hathcock was there for 8 years. Chuck was there less than a year. I've got #32 of 103 rifles. He was over there for less than a year 103 confirmed and 265 probables. M40 is a remarkable rifle.

A true legendary American

There is a book about Gunny Hathcock. " Marine Sniper: 93 Confirmed Kills " by Charles W. Henderson. Great read, standard novel length. Gunny Hathcocks exploits are legendary. His battle with Apache and Cobra aren't even the most tense, hair raising either. (imo) His task to take out an NVA General who was using the ROE against the US by having his compound in Laos just across the Laotian and Vietnam border, was THE stalker mission of all stalker missions !!!

The book is called the Marine sniper 93 confirmer kills and they didn't even tell the best story about how him and his spotter held down an entire company for 6 days in elephant valley and the time he took down an NBA general by worm crawling across 1,000+ yards of open ground over 3 days you really need to read the book

There's a movie called sniper, with Tom Beringer. Loosely follows this

I made this comment on the previous video. The story of him shooting through the scope like that is unlikely. Mythbusters tested this and was unable to replicate it until they used an AP round. So, unless he was shooting AP, it probably didn't happen.

You need to see the actual Carlos Hathcock interviews, if you really want to see and understand what he thought. He seemed like someone who understood exactly why he was there and he also seemed to be quite ok with what he had done.