Ballad of the Green Beret

Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler's short life constitutes one of the strangest, saddest, and least known stories of the Vietnam War. Rocketing to fame as the author of "The Ballad of the Green Berets," this high school dropout turned Special Forces medic fell to earth just as suddenly, unable to handle his newfound celebrity. Later in life he would commit murder and support himself as a pulp writer before being murdered under mysterious circumstances in Guatemala. Marc Leepson does full justice to this bizarre and riveting tale.

Marc Leepson has written a biography worthy of his subject, full of shoot-outs, murder, mayhem, and the human foibles of a lost soul. Barry Sadler; soldier, musician, pop idol, womanizer, teller-of-tales (on and off the page). This book, like Sadler's life, is never boring, a volatile yarn about fame, fortune, comedy, and as such tales often go, tragedy. The meteoric rise and self-destructive fall of a momentary American icon.

Marc Leepson's in-depth plunge into the turbulent life and times of soldier/singer/novelist Barry Sadler is a treat; especially for those of us who were inspired—for good or ill—by his "Ballad of the Green Berets." It takes a writer and Vietnam veteran like Leepson to really dig beneath the surface of Sadler's roller-coaster life and trace the turbulent 60s events that so influenced a larger-than-life personality who was arguably the nation's most well-known veteran of that war. This is much more than an engrossing biography. It's a cautionary tale for generations that raise pop culture figures to iconic status. Nice work, Marc.

Marc Leepson, a noted historian and accomplished biographer, has written the definitive biography of the only Vietnam vet who became a famous musical performer. Barry Sadler's tragic life is recounted in intimate detail, especially his military service, for the first time. In doing so, Leepson masterfully captures the essence of a short-lived cultural icon who was a genuine casualty of his own fleeting fame. This is a timely book that all my fellow Vietnam veterans, as well as any American fascinated by the tumultuous Sixties, will find captivating.

In this fascinating and thoroughly researched biography, Marc Leepson has delved deeply into the story of Sgt. Barry Sadler, the singing soldier who wrote and performed the "Ballad of the Green Berets" that rocketed up the charts in 1966. Sadler handled soldiering in Vietnam well, but he could not handle the success, money, civilian life, women, and booze that followed. Sadler's one-hit wonder song was perfectly timed for a nation that still supported the war in Vietnam then, but none of the adulation and hero-worship felt right to him.