When the Green Berets Come Home

Annotation

Captain Ty Herrington returned from Vietnam in 1968 and released the plight of the soldier / patriotic track "When the Green Berets Come Home" (Monument Records # 1115). Wounded three time in 18 months in Vietnam, Herrington killed himself just a year after the release of the record, during the 1969 Christmas season, possibly suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the track the narrator asked for understanding for the soldiers, returning home from Vietnam, because of the bloody battles and the loss of friends from the army who had died defending America's honour: Herrington married Chris Noel, a Hollywood actress and radio show host, as reported in her home town paper, the Palm Beach Daily News (4 January 1969).1 Noel became a DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Network in 1965, with a show called "A Date with Chris", recorded in the US on 33rpm LPs, and then sent onto US Vietnam radio stations. Some people viewed the show as America's answer to Hanoi Hannah, the North Vietnamese radio DJ (of which there are several songs about, including on the 1973 album Roger McGuinn).2 North Vietnam actually put a $10,000 bounty on her head. In December 1966 she joined Bob Hope on his tour in Vietnam (see the album On the Road to Vietnam), and performed there on several other occasions. It was at Camp Goodman, in South Vietnam (near Saigon) that Noel met Herrington: "then a lieutenant who was there, Ty Herrington, said, 'Miss Noel, would you like to see our camp?' Shortly after that day he became my escort officer. After a couple of more tours we were in love and we got married".3 However, the marriage ended badly: "things started happening right before we got married, things that scared me....He used to put a gun to my head, and a knife to my throat, and he used to strangle me until I passed out....We moved to Nash­ville because he had a contract with Monument Records. They recorded him singing "When the Green Berets Come Home" and "A Gun Don't Make a Man"—isn't that something? I was able to get him to go see a psychiatrist once. The psychiatrist told me that he was a paranoid-schizophrenic manic-depressive, and that he was very dangerous. Then one day he put a gun to his head and he was gone". (4)Sources1Palm Beach Daily News, 4 January 1969↩2Daily News, 4 January 1969↩3historynet.com: The vietnam interview a date with chris noel↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Bless the day when all this bloody battle shall cease... / When there will be no more dreaded jungle trail... / When the green berets come home to stay / There will be sons and dads and brothers flying in / There will be lovers joining lovers once again / There will be songs to sing and prayers to pray / When the green berets come home to stay / Let your heart stand at attention to these men / Who have fought to save your honour and your skin / They won't ask for thanks for thank them anyway / Help these boys forget the bloody days they've seen / Help remind them that your love is ever green / And when they think of friends who only fought to die / Leave them quietly while they cry Things started happening right before we got married, things that scared me....He used to put a gun to my head, and a knife to my throat, and he used to strangle me until I passed out....We moved to Nash­ville because he had a contract with Monument Records. They recorded him singing "When the Green Berets Come Home" and "A Gun Don't Make a Man"—isn't that something? I was able to get him to go see a psychiatrist once. The psychiatrist told me that he was a paranoid-schizophrenic manic-depressive, and that he was very dangerous. Then one day he put a gun to his head and he was gone". (4)

Notes

Monument Mn45-1115 (G9W-2400); "When the Green Berets Come Home" (Boudleaux Bryant), 2:42, House of Bryant (BMI); Capt. Ty Herrington, "U.S. Special Forces—Green Berets"; "Prod. by Fred Foster & Steve Poncio"; "Monument Record Corp., Nashville, Tenn. and Hollywood, Calif."; The picture sleeve (45-1115) shows a photograph of Captain Ty Herrington in Green Beret and dress uniform with ribbons, titled "When the Green Berets Come Home" b/w "A Gun Don't Make a Man". [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Captain in the U.S. Special Forces (Green Berets), as credited on the 1968 Monument single and picture sleeve. [Source: record sleeve and labels]

Themes

Patriotic · Military · In Country

In collections

US 'Patriotic' / Pro-Government / Anti-Protest Songs [War Years] · US Military & Veteran Songs