The Tragedy of Southeast Asia
The late R.D. Patrick Mahoney (1926-1999) served his country in three wars: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. In the latter conflict, he served in Southeast Asia from 1966 to 1970 as an Air Force noncommissioned officer attached to the Army Special Forces in clandestine warfare outside of Vietnam. Robin Moore, author of the bestselling 1966 book The Green Berets (which was the basis for the popular 1968 John Wayne film of the same title), said the Sergeant Petersen character in the movie (played by actor Jim Hutton) was patterned after Patrick Mahoney, who was legendary for finding and “appropriating” badly needed ammunition and supplies for remote Special Forces teams.
In civilian life, Mahoney was a researcher on the staff of The John Birch Society (the parent organization of this magazine) and a congressional special assistant and military affairs advisor, first to Representative John G. Schmitz of California, and then to Representative Larry McDonald of Georgia. He was also a longtime active member of the Special Operations Association. He is interred in Arlington National Cemetery next to the grave of his good friend Colonel James “Nick” Rowe, one of the few American prisoners of war to escape captivity in Vietnam (after five years of harrowing imprisonment). Together with Col. Rowe, Master Sergeant Mahoney developed the modern SERE (Survival Evasion Resistance and Escape) program for the Special Forces.
This article originally appeared in our February 1, 1988 issue, 15 years after the Paris Peace Accords were signed. We are reprinting Patrick Mahoney’s article here, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, because his understanding and recollections of the war are as relevant as ever. The lessons of Vietnam should never be forgotten, including the folly of intervening in foreign military conflicts in which American soldiers are killed and maimed without being permitted to win. — The Editors
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