Ol'Harry

ONE BRAVE MAN OF THE GREEN BERETS

Born in Oklahoma as the son of a soldier, 71-year old Mike Linnane grew up in Massachusetts and Colorado.  In 1982, he moved to Greensboro.  He has a cache of interesting stories about construction, building, gardening, travel, veteran advocacies and grandchildren.

MIKE LINNANE WEARING HIS MOST HIGHLY ESTEEMED
AWARD -- THE GREEN BERET

As a former enlisted man who retired as a Special Forces Major, he has a few Army stories as well.  Some of these, he shares – others, he maintains -- are best left untold.

One of his stories, I found on his plaque at the Special Forces Hall of Fame at Fort Bragg, into which he was inducted in 2013. 

MIKE LINNANE'S PLAQUE AT SPECIAL
FORCES HALL OF FAME

Reading from the plaque, “Linnane successfully led a small force of Special Forces, indigenous soldiers, and a U.S. tank platoon in a continuous 10-day battle against a North Vietnamese Army Battalion, which was reinforced with 10 Soviet tanks.”

For future reference, that battle was at Ben Het, and the indigenous soldiers were Montagnards.

Linnane was combat wounded in Vietnam.  He was hospitalized and convalesced for five months, “while in the hospital, they mailed me a bronze star, purple heart and combat infantryman’s badge.”  At his request, he returned to duty with Special Forces in Vietnam.

Nearly 11 years of Linnane’s 20-year Special Forces/Army career were spent overseas.  That included over nine years in Europe and behind the Iron Curtain, where he was recognized for his involvement in the Cold War.  It also included service in Belgium, England, Spain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Austria, France, and “other locations,” as Linnane prefers.

A LINNANE DAUGHTER CORRALLED MANY OF
HER DAD'S PERSONAL AWARDS AND MADE
THIS SHADOW BOX FOR HIS OFFICE

Special Forces personnel are recognized by their distinctive Green Beret.  Per Linnane, “I may have been the only slick-sleeved private to earn a Green Beret in 1962 – it remains my favorite award.  I was promoted to PFC the day after graduation.”  

After my first three years on an A Team overseas, I completed Officer Candidate School and became an instructor at Jump School, and subsequently qualified as a Master Parachutist, Pathfinder, and HALO.”  He explained, “HALO is an acronym for High Altitude, Low Opening – I made a number of jumps of that sort.

The HALO tactic was used typically for night infiltration from 25-30,000 feet -- today, even higher.”

Linnane has five balloon jumps to his credit, as well as dives from submarines with SEAL Team II.  He made jumps at Fort Benning as a private and as a lieutenant, “I asked why enlisted men got $55 per month jump pay, while officers were paid $110.  I should have known the answer.  Officers get twice as scared!”

When Linnane leads the discussion, he talks mostly about his family, “A brother-in-law, niece and three nephews graduated from service academies.  Several cousins served in Viet Nam.  My father and my wife’s father, and several of our uncles served in World War II or Korea.

Two of my sisters, Barbara Ryan Guest and Jeanne Love, are Gold Star Wives, having lost their husbands from Vietnam War service.  The husband of my third sister, Joan, served with the Seabees in Vietnam.  The son of my fourth sister, Carol, is a West Point graduate and has served in Iraq.  One of my brother’s daughters served as a Marine Corps sergeant in the liberation of Kuwait.”

As for 30 years of owning and operating a construction company, “I spent 20 years blowing things up and 30 years putting things together.  I probably bought, sold, built, or fixed over 300 properties in Greensboro.”

Not that Mike Linnane needed re-energizing, but the events of September 11, 2001, did just that, “I shut down the project we were on, paid the workers and told them to go home to their families.  I wrote tons of emails to my children, preparing them for survival mode.”  

Later, they suggested Linnane compile the emails into book form, which he titled, HOW I PREPARED MY FAMILY TO SURVIVE  A TERRORIST ATTACK.

Thousands of copies were printed, enough for all the Linnanes and his Special Forces buddies.  The IOSSS (Inter Operational Security Support Staff) purchased all remaining copies.

Mentioned at the outset was Linnane’s battle at Ben Het, which was supported by Montagnard volunteers.  Here is the rest of that story, “We had 400 Montagnard warriors at our small base.  They went out when we went out – we could have hardly done without them – and they needed us too.”  

In return, Linnane helped found the Save The Montagnard People Organization.  Since 1986, he has personally sponsored 13 families and 30 single warriors from Ben Het, all of whom have resettled in North Carolina.

For years, Linnane’s desk held a, “The Army Is Behind You” desk plate.  “I never knew such a simple saying could have so many meanings,” he says.

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