Marine Sniper

 
Today, I would like to take a moment to talk about this man.

Mark has let me know that sniper in the photo above is in fact not Carlos Hathcock but Dalton B Gunderson. Thanks, Mark for bringing this to my attention. I was thinking about taking down the picture but in truth it's an amazing photo and - with Mark's permission, of course - I'd like to keep it up here.

Below is a photo of Carlos Hathcock.

Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock II , United States Marine Corps. Hathcock holds the record for the longest confirmed sniping kill of the 20th Century. Unlike modern military snipers in Iraq and Vietnam who use vastly superior weapons and technology when engaging the enemy, Hathcock relied on a 30 year-old rifle, the Winchester Model 70 and stalking skills.

This is from a USMC site:

After his training was completed Carlos began his new assignment. Operating from Hill 55, a position 35 miles South-West of Da Nang, Hathcock and his fellow Marine snipers renewed a Marine tactic which had been born in the islands of the Pacific in World War II. Within a short period of time the effects of the Marine snipers could be felt around Hill 55. Carlos rapidly ran up a toll on the enemy that would eventually lead to a bounty being placed on his head by the NVA.

As a result of his skill Sergeant Hathcock was twice recruited for covert assignments. One of the them was to kill a Frenchman who was working for the North Vietnamese as an interrogator. This individual was torturing American airmen who had been shot down and captured. One round from Carlos' modified Winchester Model 70 ended the Frenchman's career. On another occasion Sergeant Hathcock accepted an assignment for which he was plainly told that his odds for survival were slim. A North Vietnamese general was the target, and the man died when a bullet fired by Carlos struck him from a range of 800 yards. Hathcock returned to Hill 55 unscathed. In one incredible incident an enemy sniper was killed after a prolonged game of "cat and mouse" between Carlos, with his spotter, and the NVA sniper. The fatal round, fired at 500 yards by Hathcock, passed directly through the NVA sniper's rifle scope, striking him in the eye.

Hathcock would eventually be credited with 93 enemy confirmed killed, including one Viet Cong shot dead by a round fired from a scope-mounted Browning M-2 .50 caliber machine gun at the unbelievable range of 2500 yards. (I see Wikipedia puts the distance at 2347 yards or 2146 meters. The .50's cyclic rate was slow enough to adjust it to fire single rounds.)

     
The M2 .50 Caliber Browning






I have Hathcock's biography  Marine Sniper written by Charles Henderson. It's well worth the read!