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LTC Ray Oden
to remember
Meadows, Richard (Dick), MAJ.
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Major Richard J. "Dick" Meadows' exploits were legendary. Joining the Army at the age of 15 in 1947, he was assigned to the 456th Field Artillery Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division. Volunteering for Korea, he subsequently deployed with the 674th Field Artillery Battalion, 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. He returned, age 20, as the youngest master sergeant in the Korean War.
Following service in Korea, he volunteered for duty with Special Forces in 1953, and spent the rest of his career in Special Forces or Ranger units, helping to establish and develop many of the organizations and programs we know today. During his remarkable career in Special Operations, he would contribute to the creation of Army Special Forces, Military Free Fall Parachuting, the Son Tay raid, the establishment of SFOD-Delta, and the attempted rescue of hostages in Iran, to name just a few.
In 1960, he was selected as the first NCO to participate in an exchange program between the 7th Special Forces Group and the British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment. While there, he completed the SAS selection course, performed for 12 months as a Troop Commander (a position normally filled by a Captain), and participated in numerous training exercises and an actual operation in Oman against terrorists and gun-smugglers. So impressive was his performance, he became one of the first two foreigners ever to receive the British SAS wings.
During the Vietnam era, he teamed with Colonel "Bull" Simons on Operation WHITE STAR in Laos, and served with the Military Assistance Command Vietnam-Studies and Observation Group, better known as MACV-SOG, in Vietnam. During two combat tours, he led more than two dozen clandestine missions behind enemy lines into North Vietnam and Laos, calling in air strikes on the Ho Chi Minh trail, capturing North Vietnamese soldiers for interrogation, and engaging in close quarter combat during commando raids. And throughout it all he never lost a man. Because of his extraordinary combat record, he was awarded a battlefield commission directly to Captain.
Later, again teamed with "Bull" Simons, he subsequently helped organize and lead the attempt to rescue U.S. POWs from the Son Tay prison camp near Hanoi. Commanding the ground assault force, he deliberately crash-landing his helicopter-borne assault forces inside the camp compound, only to find that the flawlessly executed mission was too late to rescue the prisoners.
He retired from the Army in 1977 as the Training Officer/Deputy Commander, Jungle Phase, U.S. Army Ranger School, Camp Rudder, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. However, his career in Special Operations was far from over. As a civilian he was an advisor in the formation of the Delta Force, and his most daring exploit probably came while working as a consultant to the Iran hostage crisis of 1980. Working undercover in Iran to scout the American embassy where the hostages were being held, and arrange transportation for the rescue force within Tehran, he was stranded when the mission was aborted. Alone, and with little more than his wits and courage to draw on, he was forced to make a harrowing escape from Iran.
Continuing in later years to selflessly serve his country, he spent much of the remainder of his life working against the illegal drug trade. At a ceremony posthumously awarding him the Presidential Citizen's Medal for Distinguished Service, it was said of him that he "quite literally established standards by which we measure all special operators -- now and in the future."
His military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star (w/oak leaf cluster), Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (with V device for valor), Air Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Commendation Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal (w/two oak leaf clusters). He was also the recipient of the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Master Parachutist Badge, Glider Badge, Ranger and Special Forces Tabs, and SCUBA badge.
Dick Meadows was a professional who dedicated his life to a service of God, country and home; devoted himself to his duty, his comrades and his family; and established a standard of professional excellence by which all who follow in his footsteps shall be measured. He was, and in memory will forever remain..,
Richard J. Meadows,
Special Forces Soldier!
Other Comments:
Military Figure. A career U.S. Army Ranger, Green Beret, and Studies and Observations Group (SOG) commander, Major Richard J. 'Dick' Meadows achieved legendary fame with his worldwide covert operations and military service. His record spans the globe from Asia to the Middle East and even South America. Born in Covington Virginia, Dick Meadows enlisted in the U.S. Army at 15 years old. Advancing quickly in rank, he made Master Sergeant by age 20 and was assigned to the 187th Regimental Combat Team in Korea. By the time the Vietnam War heated up, he was an experienced and well seasoned combat veteran. General William Westmoreland awarded him the first battlefield commission of the Vietnam War. Meadows led more than two dozen missions behind enemy lines, four into North Vietnam and the rest in Laos. He captured many North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers and gathered valuable information for U.S. Intelligence. In 1970, he was a central figure, planner and key participant in an attempt to free American POW’s with the famous "Son Tay Raid". After retiring from the military in 1977, he was again called on to assist with the 1980 rescue attempt of U.S. hostages in Iran. Meadows infiltrated into Tehran posing as an Irish businessman. His mission was to reconnoiter the captured American Embassy (where the hostages were being held) and forward tactical information to the U.S. rescue force. When the rescue operation unexpectedly collapsed in the desert, he narrowly evaded capture and escaped out of Iran. Dick Meadows was, and still is, considered the “soldier’s soldier” in most military circles. His career garnished a multitude of decorations including the Presidential Citizens Medal awarded posthumously by President Clinton. An 8 foot bronze statue of Major Meadows now stands on the Meadows Memorial Parade Field located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Presonal Note: When I was a 2LT in Ranger Student (March1977), MAJ Meadows was the Commander of Camp Rudder (FL Phase). He took my platoon on the "Cadre-Led Patrol" and explained a different organization for the patrol from what we had been using and it streamlined the the effectiness of the operation. When we got back from the patrol and he finished our debriefing, he announced, as I remember: "Well guys, that's it! That was my last official act as an Army Officer--I'm retiring at Benning day after tomorrow!" The next time I heard about him (other than the legion of "war stories" from guys who had served with him in SOG, 1/10 SFG an 8th SFG (where he was instrumental n starting MFF training) "Mr." Meadows was on covert guy in Teheran during the Attempt to rescue the Prisoners in Iran (1980).
Vietnam War/Tet Counteroffensive Campaign (1968)
From Month/Year
January / 1968
To Month/Year
April / 1968
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.