toledoblade.com -- Hearsay account triggered the probe

After 41/2 years of investigating Tiger Force, the only soldier disciplined in the case was the one who brought it to the Army's attention.

To Sgt. Gary Coy, it was an ironic end to an investigation that began when he first talked to Army officials on Feb. 3, 1971.

By the time the investigation ended in 1975, a letter of reprimand was in his file.

Glossary

101st Airborne - An Army division of paratroopers sent to Vietnam in 1965.

Battalion - A military unit that, for Vietnam infantry soldiers, commonly had four line companies, a headquarters company, and a support company, totaling about 900 men. The Tiger Force platoon was formed out of the headquarters company of the 1st Battalion/327th Infantry.

Carbine-15 - A short-barreled, lightweight version of the M-16 rifle.

Captain (Capt.) - A military rank of an officer who usually leads a company of soldiers.

Central Highlands - An area of river valleys, mountains, and jungles in Vietnam, much of it bordering Laos. It is made up of several provinces - including Quang Nam and Quang Ngai - where Tiger Force operated in 1967.

Company - A military unit that, for Vietnam infantry soldiers, commonly had three platoons and administrative staff totaling 150 to 200 men. Tiger Force was not attached to a company, instead answering directly to its battalion commanders.

Court-martial - The military's version of a criminal trial.

Criminal Investigation Command - An Army unit headquartered in Virginia that investigates war crimes and criminal activities involving Army personnel. It is also known by its former name, Criminal Investigation Division.

Geneva Conventions - Internationally recognized code of conduct during war.

Lieutenant (Lt.) - A military rank of an officer who usually leads a platoon.

Lieutenant colonel (Lt. Col.) - A military rank of an officer who usually leads a battalion.

M-16 - The standard rifle for most U.S. troops in Vietnam.

Major (Maj.) - An officer's rank directly above captain.

National Archives - A U.S. government agency that's the repository of government records, including military documents.

NVA - The North Vietnamese Army, which fought U.S. troops.

Operation Wheeler - A 75-day operation from September to November, 1967, near Chu Lai in the Central Highlands in which numerous Army units, including Tiger Force, carried out search-and-destroy missions to secure the region.

Platoon - A military unit consisting of about 36 to 45 soldiers. Tiger Force was a platoon that operated in small teams.

Private (Pvt.) - The lowest rank of a soldier.

Radio logs - The reports by platoons of their movement and activities radioed to battalion headquarters. Five former Tiger Force soldiers now say the unit's logs were faked to cover up war crimes.

Sergeant (Sgt.) - The military rank of a soldier who commonly leads a squad or team. It is the highest rank of an enlisted soldier.

Specialist (Spec.) - The military rank above private denoting that a soldier has specialized skill. During the Vietnam conflict, there were four categories within the rank. The lowest category was the equivalent to a corporal, with higher-ranking specialists converted to sergeants if given command roles.

Uniform Code of Military Justice - The military's own law that applies to service members.

Viet Cong - Communist militia fighters based in South Vietnam, who fought along side the NVA.

The reason: He told investigators he saw a Tiger Force soldier decapitate a baby during a sweep of a village in November, 1967.

He later admitted he didn't actually see the atrocity - but only heard about it.

Still, his story to investigators about the infant's death led to an investigation that would be known as the "Coy Allegation" - or the Tiger Force case.

It was in 1971 when Army agents first visited Sergeant Coy at Fort Campbell, Ky., to interview him about an unrelated war-crime investigation.

Agents wanted to know about accusations against the 101st Airborne in Vietnam, but Sergeant Coy told them about a smaller unit within the airborne division, Tiger Force.

He said a soldier whose first name was Sam severed a baby's head inside a hut. Investigators later identified the suspect as Sam Ybarra.

Mr. Coy told investigators he lied about witnessing the atrocity because he thought they would take the case more seriously, according to an Army investigator's report. He said he knew they would find other soldiers who saw the killing.

He went on to tell agents that he and a fellow soldier promised each other that whoever survived the war would bring the incident to the Army's attention. The other soldier, John Aherne, died in battle the next year.

Investigators later interviewed several witnesses who said Private Ybarra bragged about severing the baby's head to get the infant's necklace.

One former soldier, Harold Fischer, told The Blade in a recent interview that he witnessed Ybarra leaving the hut with a bloody necklace on his wrist and looked inside to find the decapitated baby.

Mr. Coy, 56, who now lives in Missouri, said he didn't feel he was treated fairly by Army investigators.

"All the hassle I went through, with the war being over ... it wasn't worth it."

(Story was published on Oct. 20, 2003)

Permanent Link