Mike Kirby

**Michael "Mike" Kirby** is a U.S. Army soldier who served during the Vietnam War as a member of the Green Berets Special Forces. He is good friends with Colonel Frank Morgan.

## History

Kirby holds the rank of Colonel (O-6) in the U.S. Army during the course of his service in the Vietnam War. He was first seen attending a briefing in Fort Bragg regarding the Army's progress in its operations overseas in Vietnam. After the meeting he learned from a General (named never mentioned) that he was to replace Col. Morgan as soon as possible. He then went on to form two A-Teams for deployment in Vietnam. He chose officers Captain MacDaniel and Lieutenant Sachs along with various elite enlistees including Master Sergeant Muldoon, Sergeant McGee, Sergeant Kowalski, Sergeant Parks, Sergeant Provo, Sergeant Watson and Sergeant Petersen.

Also while at Fort Bragg, Colonel Kirby and his second, Captain MacDaniel attended a demonstration presented by Sgt. Muldoon and Sgt. McGee. There he and Captain MacDaniel met the skeptical journalist George Beckworth after the demonstration, Mr. Beckworth approached Col. Kirby, expressing he and his newspaper believed the United States had no legitimate reason for involving itself in another country's cival war, namely in Southeast Asia. Kirby dismissed the criticism after he learned from Beckworth that he had not even been in southeast Asia to know what truly was going on.

While still at Fort Bragg, Colonel Kirby was established as being a well-known and popular officer. He was on first name basis with the drill instructor at Fort Bragg and recognizing several other soldiers and officers throughout the base including the honor guard that was assembled to greet his arrival to Da Nang with Col. Morgan.

## Action

The first of Colonel Kirby's missions was to take senior command of one of the strike bases in northern Vietnam. The first of two discussed between Kirby and his base counterpart Colonel Cai was called Camp 2-9er Savoy. There, Kirby and his team replaced a previous detachment who were closing in on the end of their tour of duty in 10 days.

Kirby met with Captain Coleman who was due to return home in two days. He also met with Captain Nim the following day at camp. Kirby also approved the request by reporter George Beckworth to accompany the team to Camp 2-9er Savoy. While at Camp, Colonel Kirby learned all about the camp's defenses and its current progress in its construction efforts. The Colonel had requested US Naval Seabees for the task of clearing more forestry to provide a more effective killing zone for the camp's defenses.

Colonel Kirby also presided over an interrogation of a Viet Cong spy discovered in the camp, who caused the death of Captain during a previous night mortar hit. Col. Kirby left the prisoner in Capt. Nim's hands to deal with while he and his own men quickly departed. George Beckworth witnessed the whole event and argued with Kirby about the justification of the brutality. Kirby explained the policy for prisoners and spies discovered during war times and justified the punishment as only being right, after what caused the death of Captain Coleman.

Colonel Kirby was later seen attending a dinner event in Da Nang with Colonels Cai and Morgan. There, he first saw the lovely Lin who according to Cai was a valuable asset in extracting information from double agents planted in the Viet Cong. Although Colonel Kirby had misgivings about this, he did not fully know the reason being this explanation as he was soon called back to Camp 2-9er Savoy to take command of a situation that was strongly suggested to be a battle. Colonel Kirby quickly returned to camp just as the battle broke out. He was in a helicopter with Sgt. Muldoon, relaying information to Sgt. Kowalski and Captain MacDaniel when the chopper was suddenly struck by a enemy fire. Kirby and Muldoon survived the crash, finding a wounded pilot while the co-pilot escaped, writhing in flames before dying. Captain MacDaniel directed help to Kirby and Muldoon in the form of hailing Savoy 8 on the radio, led by Lieutenant Moore.

Kirby and Muldoon helped the injured pilot away from the crash, unknowingly heading towards the direction of pursuing Viet Cong. Lt. Moore and his company shot down the enemy before they reached Kirby and Muldoon. Sgt. Parks and Lt. Moore both reported the status of the landing zones for helicopter support. Lt. Moore reported that the Viet Cong had seized control of all the Army landing zones. Col. Kirby stated they only had to secure one for the Mike Force that was due to land soon. With this, he led the company on towards the camp, after radioing to Capt. MacDaniel that he and the reinforcements would try to reach the camp before sunrise.

After the entire Mike Force successfully landed, Col. Kirby radioed to the camp that they would resume their entry. Capt. MacDaniel had just previously instructed two Air Force pilots to drop their payloads along the camp's north wall and instructed the Colonel to stand by for two minutes. With the successful clearance of the north wall, Col. Kirby led the Mike Force back into camp. Rejoining Captain Nim and MacDaniel in the watch tower, Col. Kirby learned that the defenses were failing and the camp was doomed to be overrun despite that recent air strike. As he saw Sgt. Provo passing by the .50 caliber machine gun tower, Col. Kirby ordered Provo dig in his .30 caliber machine gun and support the gun tower. However, Kirby, MacDaniel and Nim unfortunately witnessed the gun tower betraying Provo and company as they turned their gun down and shot Provo and another Montagnard soldier. Kirby and MacDaniel watched on and Capt. Nim activated his contingency plan: hidden explosives in the gun tower.

The watch tower was soon struck with mortars, knocking out one of the support legs, causing the tower to topple over. Col. Kirby and Capt. MacDaniel escaped, unknowingly leaving behind Capt. Nim who was hell-bent on destroying more of the Viet Cong. While spreading orders to retreat, Col. Kirby passed by a mortar pit and instructed the crew to fire four rounds of H.E. at maximum elevation before destroying the mortar tube and retreat. Kirby successfully evacuated his surviving soldiers and civilians to the landing zone for helicopters to transport to safety.

In the aftermath of the retreat, the Viet Cong stormed the camp and raised their flag in victory. Col. Kirby later learned from Sgt. Parks, that Capt. Nim had been killed, "but took a lot of 'em with him." A radio operator soon relayed to Col. Kirby that an American flying gunship codenamed "Puff the Magic Dragon" was on the line. The colonel then ordered the plane to fire on the camp as the enemy took control of it. The gunship successfully shot down a severe number of the enemy, causing the remaining VC forces to retreat. Col. Kirby was later seen returning to the camp with his men and stated that they would start all over again. He later spoke with Mr. Beckworth about how he felt about the war now that he had experienced it first hand. Beckworth had a change of heart and stated he would likely be out of a job if he voiced his new belief in the United States staying involved with the war effort. Kirby, pleased to hear this, gave a friendly offer stating that the Army would always give Beckworth a job and place in the service. Beckworth respectfully declined, stating he would do Kirby and the Army more good telling their true story to the people back home.

In the wake of the battle, Col. Kirby spoke with Lieutenant Jamison about checking the Seabees' equipment left in the camp. He was also told by Jamison that Sgt. Provo had requested his presence. The Colonel shared Provo's final moments over a drink and then hearing Provo's name request for his memorial sign.

Colonel Kirby was later seen talking with Col. Morgan and Col. Cai after he saw Provo's request fulfilled. He learned about General Phan Son Ti, a prisoner he had previously held, was located in a territory more accessible to the Army. Kirby stated he had to release General Ti because of political influence. This time, accourding to Cai, there was a better opportunity. This involved Lin as she would "give" General Ti to the Col. Cai and Col. Kirby, by setting the General up for capture at a plantation used as a vacation retreat.

Col. Kirby and his team successfully apprehended the General with Lin's help. Col. Kirby's team endured several losses during this mission, losing Sergeants Kowalski and Petersen and nearly losing Sergeant McGee. When the team returned to Da Nang, Col. Kirby was left with the uneasy task of delivering the news of Sgt. Petersen's death to the waiting orphan boy Hamchunk. He comforted the boy, telling him "his Peter-San" was very brave and asked if Hamchunk would also be brave and carry one no matter what. Hamchunk asked Kirby what would happen to him now that Petersen was no longer around to take care of him. Col. Kirby smiled and cheerfully replied "let me worry about that, Green Beret", after giving Hamchunk Petersen's beret to wear. Then the two walked along a beach into a sunset facing together an unknown future with renewed hope.

## Trivia

* Colonel Kirby was portrayed by the late American Westerns film icon John Wayne.
* Colonel Kirby was one of three main characters who held an O-6 (Colonel) grade, the other two include Colonel Morgan and Colonel Cai.
* It was originally written for Colonel Kirby to have a wife, however the scenes shot between Mr. and Mrs. Kirby were deleted during the final film cut.
* It was mentioned by Sgt. Petersen that Kirby and his men were part of the 5th Group in the Special Forces.