David Hackworth Dies; Esteemed Army Colonel Defied Military Brass

One of my heros has died. Army retired Col David Hackworth served honorably in Viet Nam, then spoke out against the war. Disgusted with America he emigrated to Australia where he was a successful businessman. In 1989 he wrote "About Face", a very personal account of his life and times, and why we lost the Viet Nam War. Recently he has worked hard for the troops in Iraq, telling their story, speaking out against the lack of armor and the ill preparation of Pentagon civilian planners. He has a web site for the soldiers: Soldiers for the Truth.
David Hackworth Dies; Esteemed Army Colonel Defied Military Brass: "Retired Army Col. David H. Hackworth, 74, a highly decorated soldier's soldier who as a writer often went to war with 'the perfumed princes' of the Pentagon and with a military establishment he considered obtuse and ineffective, died May 4 in Tijuana, Mexico, where he was receiving treatment for bladder cancer.

Outspoken and opinionated, never one to run from a fight, Col. Hackworth joined the Army as a 15-year-old at the tail end of World War II. He fought alongside postwar occupation forces in Italy. For the rest of his life, he often found himself embattled, not only as a soldier in Korea and Vietnam but also on the home front, where the foes were Pentagon brass and politicians, particularly those he said 'who have never sweated it out on a battlefield.' The disdain was mutual."