Herbert, Anthony B.

Anthony Bernard Herbert, Lieutenant Colonel, author and psychologist, was born on April 17, 1930, in the coal mining town of Herminie, Pennsylvania as son of Charles Edward and Mary (Theibert) Herbert where he attended elementary and high school in Herminie. When the United States entered World War II in 1949, his two older brothers Charles and Jules Paul left home to serve their country, but eleven year old Anthony B. Herbert was too young to join the Army. Disappointed, he waved goodbye to his brothers from the family's front porch. Feeling an irresistible urge to become a soldier, Herbert ran away from home in 1944 to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Although the fourteen-year-old could easily pass for 18, the ruse failed only one day later and Herbert found himself back in Herminie. Not for long though: Three years later, at age 17, he quit high school in his junior year and joined the U.S. Army as a parachutist. After a year and half of basic training in Fort Dix, New Jersey, parachute training in Fort Benning, Georgia and some other special courses in Alaska and elsewhere, Herbert returned to Herminie in November 1948 to finish his high school education. With the help of his soon-to-be fiancée, Marygrace Natale (they got married in July 1952), he graduated from Sewickley Township High School in May 1949. In February 1950, after a couple of unsatisfying months as a craftsman and furnace master, Herbert reenlisted in the U.S. Army. After the Korean War broke out in June of 1950, he was sent to the peninsula in October of that year, where he distinguished himself as an infantry rifleman, squad leader, platoon sergeant, platoon leader and, finally, as a master sergeant. Several years later, in 1955, he published a book, titled Conquest to Nowhere, about his experiences in Korea. With his distinguished and brave conduct Herbert earned a number of medals and decorations, including four Bronze Stars, four Silver Stars, four Purple Hearts, the Syngman Rhee Citation, and the "Osminieh". Herbert thus became one of the Army's most decorated enlisted men of the Korean War. In October 1951, General Matthew B. Ridgway, commanding general of all United Nations forces in Korea, selected Herbert to represent the U.S. Army in a delegation of distinguished soldiers from all U.N. countries engaged in Korea. Herbert was flown back to the United States, where he met President Harry S. Truman, and then was sent on a tour of Europe. In November and December 1951 he visited London, Antwerp, Brussels, The Hague, and finally Paris. During this journey, Herbert met Eleanor Roosevelt. The former First Lady urged Herbert not to get carried away by his momentary fame, but to get a college degree in order to enhance his opportunities for professional advancement.

Following his graduation from UGA in July 1968, Anthony B. Herbert was scheduled to report to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he was supposed to attend the Command and General Staff School. Instead, he volunteered for service in Vietnam. By the end of August 1968, Herbert joined the 173rd Airborne Brigade, stationed in Phu Mhy province in the central highlands of Vietnam. Herbert, who by now held the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel, had hoped for a command, but was initially appointed the Brigade's Inspector General. On February 3, 1969 he was finally given command of the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Infantry. He reorganized his unit to improve its combat strength and performance and the 2nd Battalion soon surpassed all other battalions in the 173rd Airborne Brigade in regard to enemy contacts, body counts, prisoners of war, and captured weapons. At the same time, disciplinary issues decreased considerably. The men under his command in Vietnam regarded Herbert as a courageous and highly effective military leader who often personally engaged himself in ground combat, rather than directing operations from the air. Despite his aggressive engagement with enemy forces, he was known to take an unusually strong position regarding the appropriate treatment of civilians and prisoners. In a matter of only a few weeks, Herbert once again earned a number of decorations, including a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal, and an Army Commendation Medal. Herbert asserts that he witnessed several war crimes during his time in Vietnam, and that his insistence on investigating these events led to his eventual removal from command. The most serious of his allegations was an event at Cu Loi on February 14, 1969 in which South Vietnamese forces supervised by an American advisor engaged in the serial execution of detainees. Herbert also claims that he witnessed American Military Intelligence forces applying water torture during the interrogation of a prisoner. He met with General John W. Barnes, commanding General of 173rd Airborne Brigade, and his deputy Colonel Joseph Ross Franklin on April 3, 1969 to insist that these and six other atrocities be investigated and the responsible soldiers be held accountable. The next day, General Barnes relieved Anthony B. Herbert from his command and in a crushing efficiency report justified the sudden dismissal by accusing Herbert of being a perpetual liar, and unable to cooperate with the Brigade staff. Herbert contacted the Inspector General, U.S. Army Vietnam, and officially requested an investigation of his relief of command under provisions of Article 138 in the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Consequently, a board of officers headed by Major General Joseph Russ investigated the issue in April and May 1969, but recommended that no redress be granted concerning Herbert's loss of command. Anthony Herbert's quest to hold the U.S. Army responsible for war crimes continued, however. In July of 1972, Playboy published a lengthy interview with Herbert. In 1973 he published his memoirs, together with New York Times correspondent James T. Wooten, and titled it Soldier. To a large degree, this book dealt with his experiences in Vietnam. After the book was published, Colonel John J. Douglass and Colonel Joseph R. Franklin sued the publisher Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc. as well as Anthony B. Herbert and James T. Wooten for libel. Both cases, however, were eventually dismissed. While the majority of the media continued to support Herbert's view, it was at this time when Barry Lando and Mike Wallace from the CBS show 60 Minutes produced a segment titled The Selling of Colonel Herbert, in which they portrayed Herbert as a liar and exaggerator. Barry Lando also authored an article with the same tenor in The Atlantic Monthly. After the airing of the program in February and the publication of the article in May 1974, Herbert filed a defamation lawsuit against CBS, Barry Lando, Mike Wallace and the Atlantic Monthly Company. For the next decade the case sat pending before the District Court, Southern District of New York. When Herbert's attorneys Jonathan W. Lubell and Mary K. O'Melveny took the depositions of several CBS employees answers to their questions were frequently refused on grounds that the First Amendment prevented inquiries into the states of mind of those involved in the production, editing, and publishing of the segment. The District Court initially granted a motion by Herbert's lawyers to compel answers, thus ruling that the First Amendment afforded no such protection, but the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed the decision. In 1978 , the question came before the United States Supreme Court. In a landmark decision, the judges ruled that CBS had to allow Herbert and his lawyers to inquire into the editorial process in order to detect Lando's and Wallace's state of mind. Herbert v. Lando et al. remains a key precedent in regard to libel and the Media. The case, however, dragged on for several more years, and in 1984 the District Court dismissed nine of the eleven libel allegations. Two years later, in 1986, the Court of Appeals upheld this ruling and, in addition, dismissed the remaining two counts. Again Herbert appealed to the Supreme Court, but this time he was not successful and his case was consequently never argued before a jury. While his law suit was still pending, Anthony Herbert returned to the University of Georgia and, tying in with his graduate studies in the 1960s, pursued a doctoral degree in social and clinical psychology. He graduated in 1975. Herbert continued his qualification through an internship at the VA Hospital in Charleston, South Carolina and afterward worked as Faculty Coordinator at Webster College in Denver, Colorado. In addition, he did consulting work with the Raleigh Hills Alcoholic Rehabilitation Center in Denver. In November of 1977, the Board of Psychologist Examiner of the State of Colorado certified Herbert as a psychologist, whereupon he took up a private practice. In 1977/78, he also acted as administrative director for the Center of Legislative Improvement in Denver, Colorado, a non-profit consulting firm specializing in the improvement of administrative operations within state legislatures. In addition, Herbert wrote several other books, such as Herbert --The Making of a Soldier (1982), Complete Security Handbook (1983), and Military Manual of Self-Defense (1984).