Never Fight Fair! by Orr Kelly

Author:Orr Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781497645684
Publisher: Open Road Media

CHAPTER

26

A Taste for Ears

From their earliest days in World War II, the navy’s frogmen have surrounded much of what they do—at times, even their very existence—with secrecy. This has led to constant tension between the press, intrigued by the mystery surrounding the SEALs and UDT, and the men themselves, whose very lives often depend on stealth.

Command Master Chief Hershel Davis, a veteran of Vietnam, where the conflict between the press and the SEALs was most pronounced, says: “The warrior caste and the journalist caste will never be soul mates. If you talk to a journalist, you have violated a sacred trust.”

Perhaps part of the tension came, too, from the fiendish sense of humor of men like Blackjack Macione, who tells of an elaborate sting he pulled on a reporter and of another humorous incident years earlier:

The press in Vietnam? They were dangerous. They would sensationalize things that didn’t need to be sensationalized.

There was this one New York smart-ass. Cocky. I don’t remember his name. He had given us the name “the assassins.”

He started bugging me, thought he was clever. What he wanted to see was our collection of Viet Cong ears.

I could tell you right now we didn’t collect ears. We were professional. It’s just a slight difference of fate that you’re not lying there and someone else is. We did not maim or mutilate any bodies. We didn’t cut anybody’s ears off.

But this guy wanted to see our ears. So I told everybody, “I’m going to get this son of a bitch.”

So for weeks, I would deny we ever had ’em. And then I’d give him a little clue. I’d say, “If I had ’em and showed ’em to you, you’d probably do a story.”

He’d say, “No, no.”

There’d be days or weeks I’d just taunt him some more.

So finally I let him convince me I should show him the ears. One night I set up a meeting and made him promise this was off the record.

Finally I meet him in the bar on the base. That day I had gone down and bought a big box of dried apricots. So I strung a bunch of them up on a piece of fish line. I took one big one and put it in my wallet.

So we meet in the bar and I taunt him for three hours until he’s salivating. I let the string of “ears” just peek out of my pocket. In the darkness you’re not sure what you’re seeing. I let him see them.

Then I said, “The big one, I’ve got right here in my wallet.”

It’s dark and it looks like an ear.

He says, “Ah hah! It took me three months but I’ve got you guys now. That’s awful! It is debasing!”

He’s going to expose us.

I says, “Awful? As a matter of fact, they’re pretty darn good.”

And I take the big one from my wallet and I start chewing on it.

I’m sure he tossed his cookies.

I’m sure he wrote about it but I never saw the story.

Macione recalls a much earlier incident:

During the Cuban crisis, we had this kiss-your-ass-good-bye mission.

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