Green Beret to Queen
Beret in 30 Years
© 1997 Mark E. Howerter

See a Slide Show of Larry Sep. 11 - Designs

Sgt. Barry Sadler helped wrote "The Ballad of the Green Berets" while recuperating from a leg wound suffered during his service as a medic in the Vietnam War. He later sang the tune on a record that became the nation's No. 1 hit for five weeks in 1966 and eventually sold 9 million singles and albums.

These are the words to the popular anthem of the Special Forces.

Fighting soldiers from the sky,
Fearless men who jump and die,
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret.

Silver wings upon their chests,
These are men, America's best,
One hundred men we'll test today,
But only three win the Green Beret.

Trained to live off nature's land,
Trained in combat, hand to hand,
Men who fight by night and day,
Courage take from the Green Beret.

Silver wings upon their chests,
These are men, America's best,
Men who mean just what they say,
The brave men of the Green Beret.

Back at home a young wife waits,
Her Green Beret has met his fate,
He has died for those oppressed,
Leaving her this last request:

Put silver wings on my son's chest,
Make him one of America's best,
He'll be a man they'll test one day,
Have him win the Green Beret.

Sgt. Barry Sadler's Ballad of the Green Beret was a number one hit in 1966 during the Vietnam War. It brought out a sense of patriotism that had a profound effect on people's thinking toward soldiers at the time. I remember. I had the album and used to play it over and over. I knew every word to that song and used to go around singing it all the time in my teenage years.