One of the Most Decorated Veterans of All Time: The Col. David Hackworth Story

On this episode of Our American Stories, General Mukoyama served as a company commander under Colonel David Hackworth in Vietnam. Hackworth was one of the most highly-decorated Infantry Officers in the history of the United States Army. Here’s the General with the story of the legendary Col. David Hackworth.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
Major General James Mukayama rose from his humble, blue collar
Chicago roots to become the first Asian American to command
the US Army Division. General Mook, as he's known amongst

(00:31):
friends and people who know him, is the author of Faith, Family,
and Flag Memoirs of an Unlikely American Samurai Crusader. General
Mukayama served as a company commander under Colonel David Hackworth
in Vietnam. Hackworth was one of the most highly decorated
infantry officers in the history of the United States Army.

(00:54):
Here's the General with the story of Colonel David Hackworth.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
When you're in the Army, when you leave an overseas assignment,
they give you what's called a dream sheet, and you
say where you liked your next assignment to be. Okay,
So here I am. I'm at Korea. So I put
in my dream sheet and I said, I want to
go to Fort Benning, Georgia. I want to go to
Fort Bragg, North Carolina. That's where all the airborne units

(01:22):
were located. Okay, And they sent me to Fort Lewis, Washington,
about as far away as you could and not in
an airborne unit. And I'm now at the training center
and we are training advanced individual infantry soldiers to go
to Vietnam. That was our mission. And I had met

(01:48):
a Colonel David Hackworth, one of the most highly decorated
and renowned infantry soldiers in the history of the United
States Army. Colonel Hanckworth had a battlefield commission at nineteen
years old in Korea and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross,

(02:09):
the second highest award for valor right below the metal bonner,
and four purple hearts. This is all on one tour
in Korea, right, So he comes back from Korea, he
gets his ged by the way, then he gets his
bachelor's degree, writes prolifically about infantry tactics, three tours in Vietnam,

(02:34):
commands two battalions, is awarded another Distinguished Service Cross, and
earn four more Purple hearts. This guy had eight purple hearts.
I told people he wasn't the smartest guy knew, but
he was the luckiest. And that's the guy you want
to be with in combat, frankly, But his knowledge was

(02:57):
just so so tremendous. And I had at him at
Fort Lewis and we had done some things together, and
then he volunteers again for Vietnam. So he goes to
Vietnam to command this infantry battalion. So I backed at
Fort Lewis, commanding the training company. And by the way,

(03:18):
he used to call me Mouke. He couldn't pronounce mukoyama,
and I used to call him sir. That's how I
got my nickname, which is stuck with me. I mean,
you know, people would call me General mouk. So anyway,
I get a letter from Hackworth and he said, mooke,
He said, what are you doing still at Fort Lewis?

(03:38):
We got a war going on. If you want a
company at yours, It's like I died and went to Evan.
I mean, you know, just to command the company in
combat under Colonel Hackworth. I mean, as an infantry officer,
it doesn't get any better than it. So I immediately
volunteered for Vietnam the second time. This time they to

(04:00):
me up by my offer and I got to Vietnam
with Colonel Hackworth. Our battalion was the fourth Battalion, thirty
ninth Infantry in the ninth Infantry Division in Vietnam. Vietnam
was separated into four geographic areas from north to south,
and they were called first Core, Second Core, third Core,

(04:22):
fourth Core. So we were in fourth Cores and in
the may Coong Delta. By the time I got to
the unit, Hackworth had already trained it up. It was
a tremendously effective combat fighting unit, and he nicknamed our
battalion the Hardcore. He had a knack of using different

(04:44):
things to motivate people. For example, our companies instead of
using the fanatic alphabet Alpha, Bravo, Charlie Delta, our companies
were Alert, Battle, Claymore, and Dagger. Those are our four companies.
And our platoons instead of first, second, third platoon were red,

(05:07):
white and blue. And he gave us all elite units
have a special sign, the call sign encountersign. And so
when an enlisted men would see an officer in our battalion,
they would salute and say hardcore recondo, sir. And the
response from from the officer was no effing slack. I'm

(05:31):
not saying the whole thing is, but that's what. And
I saw a wounded soldier on a stretcher and Hackworth
walks up to him, and the guy salutes and says
hardcore recondo, sir, that's how high the morale was in
our battalion. In fact, Hackworth got his eighth Purple Heart

(05:53):
in our battalion when he landed his Command and Control
helicopter in the middle of a firefight to pick up
guys who were wounded, seriously wounded. He never do that.
Command and Control helicopters are very small. There's not a
lot of room in it. Well, Hackworth puts these two
wounded guys in it. There's no room for him, so

(06:15):
he stands on the skids and they take off and
he gets hit in the lake. After he did that,
he could tell us I want you to walk through
a wall of fire and we just say where. I
was honored to have known him for many years after
that until he died. He died about well, he's died

(06:36):
about twenty years ago, but I was honored to be
at his funeral at Arlington National, which is where I
will have the honor of being buried when the Good
Lord takes me.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
And a terrific job on the production and editing by
our own Greg Hengler, and a special thanks to Major
General James Mukayama. General Mook and his storytelling and letting
us know a little bit more about Colonel David Hackworth.
And he was one of the most highly decorated infantry
officers in the history of the United States Army. Eight
Purple Hearts to distinguished Service Crosses, and a team builder,

(07:12):
a morale builder of unrivaled talents. The story of Colonel
David Hackworth told by Major General James Mukayama. Here on
Our American Stories. This is Lee Habib, host of our
American Stories, the show where America is the star and

(07:33):
the American people, and we do it all from the
heart of the South Oxford, Mississippi. But we truly can't
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(07:55):
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