Carlos Hathcock

Hathcock slipped into depression when he was forced to quit the army due to his medical condition. He soon developed an interest in shark hunting, and that helped him get out of depression and back to normal life.

He liked shooting and loved hunting, but he did not enjoy killing humans. However, he felt it was his duty to kill the enemy on the battlefield.

He married Jo Winstead in November 1962. They had a son, whom they named Carlos Norman Hathcock III. His marriage went through a rough patch during Carlos’s depressive phase. However, his wife decided not to leave him until his last breath.

Carlos was born on May 20, 1942, in Little Rock, Arkansas, US, to Carlos and Agnes Hathcock. He was raised in Wynne, Arkansas, by his grandmother, after his parents divorced when he was 12 years old. He was fond of guns from a young age and started hunting with a .22-caliber ‘JC Higgins’ single-shot rifle. His grandparents were not financially sound, and what he shot supplemented their food.

His father worked in the railroads and later took up the job of a welder in Memphis. Carlos Jr had to drop out of high school and work for a Little Rock concrete construction company at the age of 15.

He wanted to be a ‘Marine’ since early childhood and played with his father’s old World War II ‘Mauser,’ pretending to be a ‘Marine’ killing Japanese soldiers. He enlisted in the ‘US Marine Corps’ in May 1959, at the age of 17, to fulfil his dream.

His childhood shooting skills paid rich dividends in his army career. He won a number of shooting competitions, including the prestigious ‘Wimbledon Cup’ for long-range shooting at Camp Perry in 1965.

He was deployed in Vietnam as part of the military police, in 1966. His sharpshooting skills were soon recognized by Captain Edward James Land, and he was selected as a sniper for his platoon.

According to his personal estimates, he had killed over 300 enemy personnel during his tenure in Vietnam, of which 93 kills were confirmed by a third party of officer rank. Many of his actions remain unrecorded due to the difficult battlefield conditions that prevailed at that time.

In one of his most spectacular encounters, he shot a North Vietnamese sniper who was known as “Cobra,” through his sniper scope. It was his presence of mind and reflexes that saved his life and killed his opponent.

In another commendable action, he killed the notorious female ‘Việt Cộng’ sniper-platoon commander and interrogator “Apache,” who was known for brutal methods of torture.

He created a record of the longest sniper kill by dropping a ‘Việt Cộng’ at a range of 2,500 yards, with an ‘M2’ .50-caliber ‘Browning’ machine gun, mounted with a telescopic sight, in 1967.

He received a number of awards, including the ‘Silver Star,’ the ‘Purple Heart,’ the ‘Navy Commendation Medal,’ the ‘Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal,’ the ‘Good Conduct Medal,’ the ‘National Defense Service Medal,’ the ‘Vietnam Service Medal,’ the ‘Gallantry Cross,’ and the ‘Vietnam Campaign Medal.’