Major Sario Caravalho and the Siege at Duc Co

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes

My buddy Sario Caravalho is a fascinating guy. Born and raised in Hawaii, he was one of the US Army’s first Green Berets. Sario entered the Army in 1955 and went straight into Special Forces from basic training. Back then experienced senior NCOs taught SF tactics via OJT in the absence of a formal school. Sario subsequently left the Army in 1976 after three combat tours in Vietnam. His remarkable career spanned the entire evolution of modern American special operations.

Covert Op into Iran

Sario’s first operation downrange was a mission into Iran to recover the bodies of the aircrew of a downed American spy plane in 1962. CPT Larry Thorne commanded his part of that remarkable op. CPT Thorne fought for Finland and then Germany against the Russians during WW2 before smuggling himself into the US and joining the US Army. He was later killed in action in Vietnam. 

CPT Thorne is the only member of the Waffen SS buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Here’s his incredible story. CPT Thorne drafted Sario’s letter of recommendation to Officer Candidate School. In 1964, Sario found himself a young SF lieutenant in one of the first contingents deployed to Vietnam with the 5^th Special Forces Group.

Welcome to the Jungle Sario

Those first Southeast Asian operations were TDY—temporary duty- by the Green Berets of the 1st SF Group based in Okinawa. Nobody expected that we would be there for ten years and lose 58,000 great Americans along the way. Like the rest of the Army, SF figured Vietnam out as they went along.

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Sario’s first trip downrange in Vietnam had him serving on one of nine A-teams operating as the advanced contingent of the 5^th SF Group. While operating out of the An Khe SF camp, Sario and his indigenous troops captured a handful of SKS and AK-47 rifles after defeating an NVA (North Vietnamese Army) unit in battle. General Westmoreland personally flew in afterward with his entourage to inspect these radical new weapons. 

The Kalashnikov assault rifle is the most-produced firearm in human history and is ubiquitous today. Back in the early sixties, however, these captured examples were both exotic and unfamiliar. When General Westmoreland climbed back into his helicopter, his staff pogues took the captured guns with them. Sario still seems a wee bit bitter about that.

Turning Up the Heat

Sario worked out of the SF camp at An Khe before the 1^st Cav showed up and blew the neighborhood to hell. He was then posted to Tan Linh east of Saigon and kept occupied humping the boonies alongside ARVN and Montagnard forces. Given the remote nature of the place, resupply was via Air Force C-123 aircraft. F-4 Phantoms flying close air support would roll in so low over their camp to drop Snakeye bombs and napalm outside the perimeter that their jet wash frequently blew the tents down.

With nine months of his one-year combat tour in the bag, Sario began to imagine the sweet smell of home. A mere three more months, and he would be on that freedom bird headed back to the World. Then LTC Hale, the C-Team commander, broke the news that the SF XO at an obscure little outpost called Duc Co had been KIA (Killed In Action). The beleaguered SF contingent there was surrounded and cut off. For his sins and with three months left in-country, Sario climbed aboard a Huey headed for Duc Co.

The Lay of the Land

A typical SF contingent for a place like Duc Co would be two officers and maybe ten enlisted soldiers along with a small Vietnamese SF team. The proper muscle came from between 100 and 200 indigenous Montagnards, a few crew-served weapons, and a whole lot of air support. Sario said that during his first tour, they had access to most any imaginable personal weapons, but that the M-16 had not yet been fielded in theater. He said they had M1s, M2 carbines, M14s, Grease Guns, BARs, and M1919A4 and A6 belt-fed machineguns in abundance. 

For serious work, the camp was equipped with a single 4.2-inch mortar as well as a brace of the smaller 81mm sort. They also had a 57mm recoilless rifle and a WW2-vintage 3.5-inch bazooka. When it was time to make his grand entrance at his new posting, the Army delivered Sario in style.

The One Man Air Assault

Sario Caravalho made his way to Duc Co as the sole passenger in a UH-1 Huey Slick escorted by a pair of armed Huey gunships. The gunships slathered the surrounding area with rocket and minigun fire to ensure that the Slick could get in without undue mischief. When the Slick touched down, out stepped Sario all by his lonesome. He was greeted by the SF Team Sergeant as mortar rounds fell liberally all around. It was obvious this was going to be a long three months.

Sario’s three air assault aircraft were in and out immediately. However, not everyone was so fortunate. A few days later, a Huey attempting to bring in ammo and supplies went down close enough to the camp to salvage. Sario harvested both M-60 door guns and repurposed them for perimeter defense. At the time, the M60 was brand new and difficult to acquire in Vietnam. Compared to their WW2-vintage M1919A4 Brownings, the new Sixties were both more portable and more versatile. Sario put the two liberated pigs to good use until some passing aviator laid claim to them again and ran off with the weapons.

Duc Co was only a couple of clicks from the Cambodian border. Extra supplies arrived solely by air. While there, Sario and his team leader worked with Major Stormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf. Schwarzkopf was the US advisor to a South Vietnamese airborne brigade. The Vietnamese paratroopers had the mission to relieve the pressure around Duc Co. Schwarzkopf eventually went on to become the supreme commander of Allied forces during Operation Desert Storm. 

Now Things Get Real For Sario

The siege of Duc Co took place immediately before the infamous battle of the Ia Drang Valley that was memorialized in the Hal Moore book We Were Soldiers Once, and Young. Mel Gibson made a fine movie out of it. At some point, the NVA decided that they simply must have Duc Co. Then it was game on.

Relentless NVA pressure had closed the unimproved dirt strip that was used by the C-123s to resupply Duc Co. In desperation, an SF officer named MAJ Curt Terry went looking for Air Force pilots crazy enough to fly supplies and ammunition into the beleaguered SF camp. The two pilots he found agreed on the condition that MAJ Terry tag along to prove he had skin in the game. Terry climbed aboard the big twin-engine cargo plane packing an Uzi submachine gun.

When Sario Caravalho first met MAJ Terry it was to be castigated for walking on some precious and holy Army grass someplace. However, the two eventually became close while serving together downrange. MAJ Terry was a pretty remarkable man.

Uzi Versus .51-cal

When the lumbering C-123 touched down, the surrounding NVA opened up with everything they had. This included at least one 12.7mm DShK heavy machine gun as well as several mortars. With the C-123 on the ground getting shot up worse by the minute, MAJ Terry stepped out onto the runway to try to make sense of the chaos. 

The details have been muddied by the passage of time. Apparently, MAJ Terry unlimbered his Uzi and, alongside the accumulated Montagnards, ultimately charged through and neutralized the big NVA gun. The C-123 ultimately made it off the ground and safely back to Saigon despite being badly perforated. In the process, they also managed to evacuate some of the wounded from the airborne brigade. Thanks to Terry and these brass-balled wingnuts, the SF camp at Duc Co also got enough beans and bullets to continue the fight.

Improvise, Adapt, Overcome…

Relief of the surrounded SF came in the form of ARVN airborne forces and then, later, South Vietnamese Marines. The Marines brought along an M48 tank that was ultimately knocked out and had to be abandoned. Sario and his buddies eventually dragged the enormous armored vehicle into the camp using Deuce and a Half trucks and set it up as a stationary pillbox. In this capacity, the liberated tank helped keep the relentless NVA at bay for the rest of Sario’s time at Duc Co.

When his three months were up, LT Sario Caravalho duly headed home to reacquaint himself with his family. Back then, Special Forces, like Aviation, was not yet its own Army branch. Commissioned officers serving as either Green Berets or aviators would rotate back through their assigned branches as needed for career development. On paper at least, Sario was still a grunt.

Take 2

Sario’s second tour downrange was as company commander of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion of the 20th Infantry (11th Infantry Brigade) of the Americal Division. After a successful company command in combat, Sario rotated home once more to catch his breath. He later did a third combat tour, again with SF. This time he was assigned to MACV (Military Assistance Command—Vietnam). Sario returned home from his MACV posting when the war ended.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Military service in the combat arms, particularly during wartime, is a young man’s game. Sario ultimately left the Army with 65 parachute jumps. On his first night jump, he landed backward in the dark underneath a T10 parachute. Relative to the newer canopies in use today, the T10 was fairly primitive. Sario dislocated his shoulder and wrenched his back, injuries that would nag him to this day.

Sario is 86 years old today, though he appears twenty years younger. He is active, sharp, and opinionated, as one might expect from a seasoned special operator. Despite having left the Army in 1976, Sario still carries himself like a soldier. He explained to me that, by 1970, the ARVNs were good. He was certain that the South could have won the war had the politicians left them alone to do so. 

Mining for Heroes

I met Sario Caravalho when I attended a monthly veteran’s breakfast at Harmon’s restaurant in Paris, Mississippi. Sario, retired Army 1SG Justin Hill, and Mack Thweatt, the owner of Harmon’s, host the free vets’ event on the first Saturday of every month just because they are great Americans. I got to know Sario because I happened to sit down beside him one Saturday over grits, hashbrowns, and some GI-style scrambled eggs.

READ MORE: Mad Jack’s WWII Weapons of Choice -Broadsword & Longbow

America was once awash in legit heroes. Though he would push back against the characterization, my friend Major Sario Caravalho is counted among them. They can be a bit tougher to find these days, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. Sometimes it is just a matter of sitting down at the right table.

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