Anthony Herbert ( lieutenant colonel ) Anthony B . Herbert ( born 1930 ) is a retired United States Army officer , who served in both the Korean War and the Vietnam War . He is best known for his claims that he witnessed war crime s in Vietnam , which his commanding officer refused to investigate . He reached the rank of lieutenant colonel and is the author of several books about his experiences , including " Soldier " and " Making of A Soldier " . Military career . Herbert enlisted in the United States Army in May 1947 to be a paratrooper . He completed Basic Combat Training at Fort Dix , New Jersey , and Basic Airborne School at Ft . Benning , Georgia . After a few months of service in the peacetime Army at Ft . Lewis , Washington , he accepted a discharge in 1948 , returned home and graduated from high school . He then re - enlisted in the Army in February 1950 and became a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division . Korean War . Herbert deployed for Korea in October on the troopship " Walker " . It was here , in the Korean War , that he first built his reputation as a fighter , and was rapidly promoted to become one of the youngest Master Sergeant s in the Army , and one of the most decorated . Herbert was awarded four Silver Star s , three Bronze Star s with a V , six battle star s , four Purple Heart s and , for his bravery fighting alongside Turkish soldiers , the Republic of Turkey ' s Osminieh Order . He was wounded 14 times — 10 by bullets , 3 by bayonet , and once by white phosphorus . Herbert was selected by General Matthew Ridgway in 1951 to represent the American Soldier in Korea and returned to the U . S . , going to the White House to meet President Harry Truman , and traveling the country to promote the war . It was during this time that Herbert met former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and was persuaded by her to go to college and gain an education , for whatever he would do with the rest of his life . Herbert left the U . S . Army once again in 1952 to enter the University of Pittsburgh in order to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree , graduating in 1956 and re - entering the Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Pennsylvania National Guard . At the same time , Herbert accessioned for active duty and began the Infantry Officer ' s Basic Course ( then called Basic Infantry Officer ' s Course , or BIOC ) at Fort Benning , Georgia . After graduating that course with high marks , he was assigned as an Instructor to the Mountain Ranger Training Camp at Dahlonega , Georgia . He followed this with assignments of increasing responsibility and was promoted quickly . Vietnam War . He first deployed to the Vietnam War in 1968 with the Inspector General ' s Office assigned to the 173d Airborne Brigade , a unit with whom he would later make a dramatic mark , and one in which he would encounter many controversial roles later on . He commanded the 2nd Battalion ( Airborne ) , 503rd Infantry . In the wake of the controversy surrounding the My Lai Massacre , LTC Herbert claimed to have witnessed a number of war crimes in Vietnam , which he reported to his superiors but which they allegedly refused to curb or discipline . Herbert pressed charges against his commanding officers for their intransigence . Herbert had reported eight separate war crimes , including incidents of , looting , execution and murder . In one episode involving some Vietnamese girls Herbert stated , " The area was brilliantly lit by floodlights . . . Each of them [ the girls ] was seated with their hands on a table , palms down . " Herbert described the instruments used as a " long springy rod of bamboo split into dozens of tight , thin flails on one end . It was a murderous weapon , " he said . " I ' d seen it take the hide off a buffalo . When it was struck down hard , the flails splayed out like a fan , but an instant after impact they returned to their order , pinching whatever was beneath . " According to Herbert , " War crimes are infinitely easier to overlook than to explain to an investigating committee . Nor do they do much for promotion among the ' West Point Protection Society ' of the Army ' s upper - echelon career men . So when I kept bringing up the matter , I kept on making enemies and getting answers such as , " ' what the hell did you expect , Herbert ? Candy and flowers ? ' I reported these things and nothing happened . " Some commentators have opined that Herbert ' s allegations were exaggerated or unsubstantiated . Herbert was accused of exaggeration and outright lying in his filed reports . In April 1969 he was relieved of his command of the Second Battalion , despite its outstanding record under his leadership . " I know now it wasn ' t just the Army , " Herbert says . " It was General Westmoreland in particular . He did everything he possibly could to keep my case covered up because of the heat being placed on the Army from the My Lai case . " The U . S . Army ' s Criminal Investigation Division ( CID ) produced several reports on Herbert ' s claims . A report dated Aug . 23 , 1971 reviewing Herbert ' s allegations stated : " . . . technique employed included the transmission of electrical shock by means of a field telephone [ used to a Vietnamese girl ] a water rag treatment which impaired breathing , hitting with sticks and boards , and beating of detainees with fists . " A CID report marked FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY : " Herbert ' s S - 3 [ non - commissioned officer ] witnessed a field telephone in use during interrogation , but no objection was raised " Dozens of official CID documents substantiated Herbert ' s statements , despite this the Army , claimed that Herbert had " a propensity to lie or exaggerate . " On March 15 , 1971 , Herbert reported 14 separate charges to his superior J . Ross Franklin , including corpse mutilation and the electrical torture of a Vietnamese girl by Army intelligence . Herbert gave interviews to Life Magazine , the New York Times and on the Dick Cavett Show . He took voluntary polygraph tests and passed . " Army harassment increased until at last , my family began to show signs of stress from the ordeal . " , Herbert said . Retirement . Feeling pressured by the army , on November 7 , 1971 , Herbert set his own retirement in motion , retiring from the Army in February 1972 . A year later Herbert and New York Times correspondent James Wooten wrote the best selling book " Soldier " , an autobiographical book documenting his efforts to expose both the incompetence and the atrocities he ' d seen in Vietnam . Some years after his retirement from the Army , he was asked in an interview how he felt about leaving about the Army after all that had come to pass . He remarked , " If you stick by your guns , if you stand by the truth , you win . I feel good about my time in Vietnam and my time in the Army . As my friend Sgt . Maj . John Bittorie once said , ' There are two kinds of military reputations . One is official and on paper in Washington DC . The other is the one that goes from bar to bar from the mouths of those who served with you there . ' That is the only reputation I ever really cared about . " " The Selling of Colonel Herbert " . On Feb . 4 , 1973 , CBS ' s 60 Minutes aired a segment titled " The Selling of Colonel Herbert . " CBS correspondent Mike Wallace and producer Barry Lando challenged his credibility , implying that " Soldier " was fictitious and that Herbert himself was guilty of war crimes . Supporting the CBS allegations against Herbert on the show was Herbert ' s old nemesis , Colonel J . Ross Franklin who had been relieved of his command . Franklin had been relieved from his command for throwing a Vietnamese body out of a helicopter . ( In 1991 Franklin was convicted and sent to prison to serve a five - year sentence for his role in a securities scam . ) Herbert suspected that the Nixon administration put pressure on CBS , which led to the story . CBS president Frank Stanton was under subpoena for an earlier broadcast called The Selling of the Pentagon . About that time Stanton paid a visit to Nixon White House counsel Charles Colson , who later said in the New York Times that Stanton volunteered to help Nixon and was unusually accommodating . Herbert v . Lando . Herbert sued CBS over the " 60 Minutes " segment that painted him as a liar . The charge stemmed from an appearance he made on the show , when host Mike Wallace surprised him by bringing one of his Army colleagues into the interview , who proceeded to deny the veracity of much of Herbert ' s story . The case reached the United States Supreme Court ( Herbert v . Lando , 441 U . S . 153 ( 1979 ) ) . The Court ruled that defendants have no privilege under the First Amendment which would bar a plaintiff from inquiring into the editorial process or states of mind of those involved in the alleged libel , if the inquiry was tailored to the production of evidence considered material to plaintiff ' s necessary burden of proof . This ruling allowed Herbert to seek proof of the alleged libel . In 2005 the U . S . Court of Appeals in New York dismissed the libel suit . Judge Irving R . Kaufman , a member of the three - judge panel , ruled that Herbert had no grounds to take his case to trial in a 43 - page opinion . The opinion stated the CBS story was essentially accurate . To go to trial over some minor unresolved issues would be a " classic case of the tail wagging the dog . " Herbert was reported considering again appealing his case to the U . S . Supreme Court . It was Judge Kaufman who the Supreme Court reversed in the 1979 decision . Jonathan Lubell , Herbert ' s attorney , claimed that Kaufman has long been sympathetic to the press . Post - military life . During Herbert ' s military career , he earned a doctorate in psychology , and later become a police and clinical psychologist . He has since retired .