The Real Man Behind “I Love the Smell of Napalm in the Morning”

On this episode of Our American Stories, Colonel David Hackworth was a soldier’s soldier. He fought in Korea, commanded in Vietnam, and earned more than 90 awards for valor, making him one of the most decorated military figures in American history. However, his legacy extends beyond citations. In Vietnam, Hackworth became known for his bold leadership, unconventional tactics, and outspoken criticism of military bureaucracy. Years later, some of his real-life exploits would inspire characters and lines in Hollywood films (Apocalypse Now, for instance), but Hackworth’s war was no movie. Major General “Mook” Mukoyama shares the story of the man, the myth, and the legend himself.

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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 send 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 Bounder,
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 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, he used

(03:18):
to call me mouk. 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 Mook. So anyway, I get a
letter from Hackworth and he said, mooke, He said, what
are you doing still at Fort Lewis? We got a

(03:39):
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 took me up

(04:00):
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, fourth Core. So

(04:24):
we were in fourth Cores and in the may Cong 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 things to motivate people.

(04:46):
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, white and blue. And he gave

(05:09):
us all elite units have a special sign, the call
sign and countersign. 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 not saying the whole

(05:32):
thing as 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 in our battalion when

(05:54):
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 he stands on the skids and

(06:17):
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 about twenty years ago, but I

(06:38):
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
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