Soldier, singer, songwriter and author, Barry Allen Sadler led a brief but colorful life that brought him to national prominence in 1966 with the release of his Vietnam-era hit The Ballad of the Green Berets. A native of Carlsbad, New Mexico, Barry joined the Air Force in 1958 and spent a year in Japan. After returning to the States he traveled throughout the West and worked a variety of jobs, developing his aptitude for music along the way, and teaching himself to play the guitar.
When his prospects seemed limited, Barry enlisted in the Army, volunteered for the airborne paratroopers, and earned his silver wings at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was ordered to Saigon and served until being wounded in May of 1965. The Ballad of the Green Berets was recorded in December of 1965 and released in January, 1966. It sold two million copies in five weeks, catapulting Barry to national celebrity, and eventually sold over eleven million copies.
Although he was never to recapture the fame and attention The Ballad had brought him, Barry conceived the idea of Casca, the Eternal Mercenary and became a bestselling author with sales of over two million copies of the popular series. Barry Sadler was struck down by what some believe was an assassin’s bullet on September 8, 1989 in Guatemala City where he was living and writing. For those who respect and admire this heroic young American, the Casca stories may be as close as many of us will ever come to knowing the man.
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