Thanks to the reader who sent this in:
The North Vietnamese Army put a bounty of $30,000 on Hathcock’s life for killing so many of their men. Rewards put on U.S. snipers by the N.V.A. typically ranged from $8 to $2,000. Hathcock actually held the record bounty for highest bounty and killed every Vietnamese marksman who sought it.
The Viet Cong and N.V.A. called Hathcock Lông Trắng, translated as “White Feather,” because of the white feather he kept in a band on his bush hat. After a platoon of trained Vietnamese snipers were sent to hunt down “White Feather,” many Marines in the same area donned white feathers to deceive the enemy. These Marines were aware of the impact Hathcock’s death would have and took it upon themselves to make themselves targets in order to confuse the counter snipers.
One of Hathcock’s most famous accomplishments was shooting an enemy sniper through the enemy’s own scope, hitting him in the eye and killing him…
