Colonel Herbert v. the Army

Lieut. Colonel Anthony B. Herbert wanted to be a soldier so badly that he ran away at age 14 to enlist. He was caught and sent home, but except for time out to finish high school and earn a college degree, he has been a soldier ever since. And no ordinary soldier. The most decorated enlisted man of the Korean War, he toured the U.S. and Allied capitals as the Army's symbol of the Perfect Fighting Man. A picture of Herbert --face smudged with camouflage greasepaint, rifle gripped menacingly--illustrated a manual for elite Ranger trainees. His way through the Army was the fighter's way--training in mountaineering, as a parachutist, a Green Beret. With the rows of ribbons, the close-cropped haircut, the polished gleam of his uniform's brass, he was a five percenter, the top rank of officers promoted more quickly than their colleagues.

Herbert was assigned to Viet Nam in September 1968, first in a staff position, then as a battalion commander in the field. The following July he was back in the U.S., relieved of his combat command after just 58 days, his exemplary 19-year service record marred by an efficiency report so adverse that his career was ruined. He immediately began appealing the Army's action against him, and 18 months later made a serious public charge; the reason for his disgrace, he said, was that he had accused two superior officers of covering up war crimes. In a formal complaint filed with the Army in September 1970. Herbert accused Major General John W. Barnes and Colonel Joseph Ross Franklin, the commander and deputy commander of his Viet Nam unit, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, with failing to investigate or report incidents of murder, torture and mistreatment of prisoners. Colonel Herbert then became a quite different symbol to the Army. The battle that followed has resulted in one of the most bitter internal disputes in recent Army history.

No Restraint. During the year since Herbert filed the complaint, the Army has maintained an official silence on the whole case, a correct procedure while the charges against Barnes and Franklin were being investigated. Herbert was under no such restraint. He pressed his case against the Army's handling of the war-crimes allegations, appearing on network television and granting interviews to reporters. The Army retaliated in petty ways. A dispute developed over Army permission procedure for him to make a second appearance on the Dick Cavett Show. The next morning Herbert was upbraided by a superior for saluting improperly. In the meantime, Herbert, who kept up appeals to reverse his unfavorable report, finally won exoneration from Secretary of the Army Robert F. Froehlke last month, four months before he would have been forced into involuntary retirement. Although he was promoted after his record had been cleared and could have remained in the Army, Herbert claimed that the Army had attempted to muzzle and harass him. Citing stress on his wife and daughter, Herbert announced he would voluntarily retire in February after 20 years. At 41, he was on his way out, passing his final months in the Army initialing papers at Fort McPherson near Atlanta. His dead-end job was once shared by Captain Ernest L. Medina.

The Army broke its silence; the charges against Barnes and Franklin had finally been dismissed for insufficient evidence to warrant courts-martial. The dispute spilled into the open. A five-page summary of L'Affaire Herbert was released by Pentagon officials. The report notes that Herbert did not bring up his war-crime allegations until a year and a half after he had been relieved of his command, and only after his third review to reverse the bad efficiency rating had been turned down. Nowhere in the written record of hearings held in Viet Nam after losing his command nor in the appeals that followed, the Army said, did Herbert raise the issue of war crimes. Herbert's reply: he had been prevented from attending four of the five days of hearings; he had been unable to cross-examine witnesses about the alleged atrocities and had been prohibited from entering the charges in his testimony. After returning to the U.S., Herbert claimed he had been advised by Army lawyers to keep the war-crime allegations and his efficiency-rating appeal separate. Thus he had not included the charges in his requests for a review of his case. It was only after he became concerned that the statute of limitations would expire that he filed formal charges.

Clearly the Worst. With the investigation over, officers who had served with him made their first critical statements since the case began. Major General Barnes said that he had given Herbert a command position despite advice against the assignment. Said Barnes; "Fifty-eight days later, I had had Herbert up to here. I have commanded 20 battalion commanders in my time, and Herbert was clearly the worst. He also is the only one I ever relieved."

Former Captain Mike Plantz, Herbert's helicopter pilot in Viet Nam, told the Arizona Republic that Herbert had once beaten and kicked an unarmed Vietnamese woodcutter, then stood by while his men beat five or six other civilians. An Army chaplain reported a conversation with Herbert: "He made a very imprudent public statement that 'I'll lie about anything to get what I want.'" Three lieutenant colonels requested an appearance on the Dick Cavett Show to refute Herbert's allegations of unfair treatment, and were turned down. One of them, Lieut. Colonel Ken Accousti, former operations officer of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, questioned Herbert's truthfulness: "I got so that I couldn't believe anything Herbert reported from the field. I finally started following him around physically. I never heard anything about war crimes, and they would have filtered up to me."

Regardless of the outcome of the charges and countercharges last week, the battle between Herbert and the Army is certain to damage both. Officers have become pitted against each other in bitter debate over war crimes at a time when the Army is struggling to retain what public confidence is left in the shadow of My Lai.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.