He Survived the Night That Changed Special Forces Forever: MACV-SOG

He Survived the Deadliest Night in Special Forces History: MACV-SOG Green Beret Recounts Brutal Vietnam Sapper Attack

In this gripping firsthand interview, Green Beret Patrick Watkins shares his harrowing survival story from the Vietnam War's most secretive unit: MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam - Studies and Observations Group). On August 23, 1968, Forward Operating Base 4 (FOB-4) near Da Nang came under a massive North Vietnamese Army sapper assault – the single deadliest day in U.S. Army Special Forces history, claiming 17 Green Berets killed and many more wounded.

Watkins vividly describes the chaos: Elite NVA sappers, wearing blood-marked white headbands and determined to die, infiltrated the base with satchel charges, grenades, and close-quarters combat. Trapped in a collapsing building, Watkins fought back with a .45 pistol, engaging sappers at point-blank range, surviving multiple explosions and shrapnel wounds while evacuating critically injured comrades like medic Bob Scully.

This raw account highlights the unbreakable brotherhood, raw courage, and improvisation that defined MACV-SOG operators running covert cross-border missions into Laos and North Vietnam. For his extraordinary heroism that night, SSG Pat Watkins earned the Distinguished Service Cross.

Must-watch for military history buffs, Vietnam War veterans, Special Forces enthusiasts, and anyone seeking real stories of elite warriors facing overwhelming odds in America's secret war.

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