Dale Dye | |
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![]() Dye in 2008 | |
Born | Dale Adam Dye Jr. October 8, 1944 Cape Girardeau, Missouri, U.S. |
Education | Missouri Military Academy |
Alma mater | University of Maryland University College (BA) |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1986–present |
Parents |
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Awards | Order of Saint Maurice |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/ | ![]() |
Years of service | 1964–84 |
Rank | ![]() |
Unit | |
Battles/wars | Vietnam War Lebanese Civil War |
Awards | |
Website | daledye |
Dale Adam Dye Jr. (born October 8, 1944) is an American actor, technical advisor, radio personality and writer. A decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, Dye is the founder and head of Warriors, Inc., a technical advisory company specializing in portraying realistic military action in Hollywood films. Dye has also offered his expertise to television, such as the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and The Pacific , the Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air , and video games, including the Medal of Honor series.
Dye was born on October 8, 1944, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Dale Adam and Della Grace (née Koehler) Dye. [1] His father was a liquor salesman in and around St. Louis and took Dale with him as he visited working-class taverns. There he heard war stories from World War II veterans. One particular story about man-to-man fighting told by a Marine who said he had fought in the Pacific Theater piqued Dale's attention. He looked up the Battle of Iwo Jima that night and made up his mind to join the U.S. Marines. Dye was educated at St. Joseph's Military Academy in Chicago and the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Missouri. [2]
Dye had hoped to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, but after failing the entrance exam three times and having exhausted his family's meager funds getting through military academy, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines in January 1964. [2] His unit was among the first to deploy to Vietnam in 1965. Officers in the unit noticed his keen observational skills and literary interest, and encouraged him to reclassify as a combat correspondent. He became one of a very few Marine combat correspondents. He sent stories to military publications and to the hometown newspapers of fellow Marines. [3] As a correspondent, he saw more battles than many low-ranking infantrymen. Dye developed an immense respect for the "grunts" who took the brunt of any action. [2]
Dye was wounded during the Tet Offensive in 1968 and had to recuperate in a rear area. During this time, the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines — the unit he had traveled with — was preparing for Operation Ford. Dye persuaded the battalion commander to let him accompany the battalion as a war correspondent. During the next week, the battalion engaged in a number of firefights with units of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN). On March 18, 1968, Dye replaced an assistant machine gunner who had been killed. The machine gun position was isolated forward of the remainder of the battalion. Although he was wounded, Dye exposed himself to intense enemy fire to retrieve ammunition for the machine gun to help hold off PAVN soldiers during an all-night firefight. During other engagements, he exposed himself to enemy fire to rescue several wounded Marines and a Navy corpsman. As a result of his actions, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat "V" for heroism. [4]
"Dye's heart is with the grunts", said Bob Rea, who worked with Dye as a combat correspondent during the worst of Tet. "He feels like he owes something to those people. He is a grunt wannabe." During three tours of duty in South Vietnam, he participated in 31 combat operations. During his 1967-to-1968 and 1969-to-1970 tours of duty, he was attached to two different battalions of the 1st Marine Division. Dye spent a total of 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of Master Sergeant before being appointed a warrant officer in 1976. Afterward, he entered into the Limited Duty Program and became commissioned as a captain. He is considered a "mustang", an enlisted man who receives a commission as an officer. While he was a captain, he was deployed to Beirut for duty with the Multinational Force in Lebanon in 1982 and 1983. Shortly after his return, the Marine barracks were attacked, resulting in the deaths of 241 Americans, most of whom had been stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.[ citation needed ]
Fellow Marine correspondent Gustav Hasford dubbed him "Daddy D.A." (as he was among the oldest of the correspondents) and included him as a character in his first semi-autobiographical Vietnam novel The Short-Timers , and more extensively in his second, The Phantom Blooper . The movie based on Hasford's first novel Full Metal Jacket included the "Daddy D.A." character (played by Keith Hodiak), though neither the character nor Dye's name is explicitly mentioned in the dialogue. [3]
In his book Dispatches , journalist Michael Herr provides a vivid picture of Dye during the chaos of the Tet Offensive and the Battle of Huế: [5]
And there was a Marine correspondent, Sergeant Dale Dye, who sat with a tall yellow flower sticking out of his helmet cover, a really outstanding target. He was rolling his eyes around and saying, 'Oh yes, oh yes, Charlie's got his shit together here, this will be bad," and smiling happily. It was the same smile I saw a week later when a sniper's bullet tore up a wall two inches above his head, odd cause for amusement in anyone but a grunt.
Dye retired from the Marine Corps in 1984 and founded Warriors, Inc. The company specializes in training actors in war films to portray their roles realistically, and provides research, planning, staging and on-set consultation for directors and other film-production personnel. His company is the top military consultant to Hollywood. [3] While on active duty, Dye was a combat correspondent and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Maryland University College. After retiring, Dye became a correspondent for the Soldier of Fortune magazine. He worked for the magazine for one year, during which he worked in Central America, providing guerrilla warfare training to troops in El Salvador and Nicaragua while reporting on conflicts in the region. [6]
Dye was determined to make Hollywood's depictions of battle more realistic. After unsuccessfully offering his services to a number of directors, he pitched fellow Vietnam War veteran Oliver Stone a plan to put actors through a mock boot camp before production of the movie Platoon . Dye put the principal actors—including Charlie Sheen, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, and Forest Whitaker—through an immersive 30-day military-style training regimen. He limited how much food and water they received; when the actors slept, he fired blanks to keep the tired actors awake. [3] Dye, who had a small role in the movie as Captain Harris, also wrote the novelization based on Stone's screenplay.
Dye also worked as a military technical adviser and personal trainer on the 1992 film Last of the Mohicans , and after working in the same capacity on the acclaimed HBO series Band of Brothers (2001), producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg called upon his expertise again for their follow-up series The Pacific (2010) and Apple TV+ series Masters of the Air (2024). In 2017 Dye was recognised as an Honorary Member of the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment (the regiment under the command of General Robert Sink, whom Dye played in Band of Brothers) for his work in bringing a high degree of quality and realism to cinematic portrayals of combat.[ citation needed ]
After Platoon's critical success, Dye played a role in another Vietnam War movie, Casualties of War , and also prominently appeared as Colonel Robert Sink in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers , on which his company also worked.
Dye appeared in Outbreak portraying Lieutenant Colonel Briggs, a U.S. Army officer. He played Theodore Roosevelt's superior officer Colonel Leonard Wood in the TNT miniseries Rough Riders . He appeared in Saving Private Ryan as an aide to General George Marshall; in Under Siege and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory as Captain Garza, an admiral's aide; in Spy Game as Commander Wiley during the rescue sequence; in Mission: Impossible as Frank Barnes of the CIA; in JFK as General Y; and in Starship Troopers as a high-ranking officer in the aftermath of the Brain Bug capture.
Dye played himself in Entourage , teaching fictional character Vincent Chase to scuba-dive in preparation for his role in Aquaman. He appeared in the 2010 film Knight and Day with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and in Larry Crowne with Tom Hanks the following year. He was the technical adviser for the 1994 Oliver Stone movie Natural Born Killers , making a brief appearance as a fictionalized, police-lieutenant version of himself. Dye played Col. Porter in the TNT science fiction series Falling Skies from 2011 to 2013. As of 2015 [update] he was preparing to direct two films, No Better Place to Die, which he wrote, and Citizen Soldiers. [3] He had a cameo appearance as New Founding Father Donald Talbott in the 2014 film The Purge: Anarchy .
Dye has written several novels, including Run Between the Raindrops in 1985 (also published as Citadel) and Conduct Unbecoming (1992), and the novelization of the film Platoon. Along with wife Julia and comic-book artist Gerry Kissell, Dye created the critically acclaimed and best-selling graphic novel Code Word: Geronimo (IDW Publishing, 2011), which tells the story of the Navy SEAL raid on Osama bin Laden's compound.[ citation needed ]
During the Iraq War, Dye was hired as a military commentator by radio station KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles and given a two-hour radio show. He hosted the History Channel's documentary series The Conquerors . Dye consulted during development of the Medal of Honor video games series, and lent his voice and likeness to the character Gunnery Sergeant Jack Lauton in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. He was featured in two tracks on Hoobastank's CD Every Man for Himself . [7] Dye reprised his role as Colonel Robert Sink in the Brothers in Arms video game series, for which he also provided his likeness.
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1986 | Platoon | Captain Harris | |
1986 | Invaders from Mars | Squad Leader | |
1988 | The Beast | Helicopter Crew Chief | |
1989 | Always | Don | |
1989 | Born on the Fourth of July | Infantry Colonel | |
1989 | Casualties of War | Captain Hill | |
1989 | The Favorite | French Officer | |
1990 | Kid | Garvey | |
1990 | Fire Birds | Colonel A.K. McNeil | |
1990 | The Fourth War | Sergeant Major | |
1990 | Spontaneous Combustion | General | |
1991 | JFK | General Y | |
1991 | Servants of Twilight | Police Officer | |
1992 | Under Siege | Captain Nick Garza | |
1993 | Heaven & Earth | Larry | |
1993 | Cover Story | Jack | |
1994 | Endangered | Ricky | |
1994 | Guarding Tess | CIA Agent Charles Ivy | |
1994 | Natural Born Killers | Officer Dale Wrigley | |
1994 | Blue Sky | Colonel Mike Anwalt | |
1994 | The Puppet Masters | Brande | |
1995 | Outbreak | Lieutenant Colonel Briggs | |
1995 | Under Siege 2: Dark Territory | Captain Nick Garza | |
1996 | Sgt. Bilko | First Engineer | |
1996 | Mission: Impossible | IMF Agent Frank Barnes | |
1997 | Trial and Error | Dr. Stone | |
1997 | Starship Troopers | Mobile Infantry General | |
1998 | Saving Private Ryan | War Department Colonel | |
1999 | A Table for One | Vernon Harpwood | |
2000 | Rules of Engagement | General Perry | |
2001 | Spy Game | Commander Wiley | |
2003 | Missing Brendan | General Temekin | |
2005 | The Great Raid | General Krueger | |
2007 | Music Within | Captain Ruzicka | |
2010 | Knight and Day | Frank Jenkins | |
2011 | Naked Run | Harry | |
2011 | Larry Crowne | Cox | |
2014 | Planes: Fire & Rescue | Cabbie (voice) | |
2014 | The Purge: Anarchy | Donald Talbott, New Founding Father | |
2016 | Sniper: Special Ops | Lieutenant Colonel Jackson | |
2016 | Range 15 | President Mattis | |
2019 | The Last Full Measure | Holt | |
2021 | Green Ghost and the Masters of the Stone | General Moorland | |
2023 | The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial | Vice Admiral R.T. Dewey |
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1987 | Billionaire Boys Club | Defense Attorney | Uncredited |
1988 | Supercarrier | Captain Henry K. 'Hank' Madigan | |
1988 | Tales from the Hollywood Hills: Closed Set | Assistant director | TV movie |
1989 | The Neon Empire | Chief Bates | TV movie |
1990 | The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson | Unknown | TV movie |
1991 | Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis | Major Green | TV movie |
1991 | L.A. Law | President Colonel Kenners | Episode: "Rest in Pieces" |
1992 | Raven | Colonel Paul David Mackay | Episode: "Is Someone Crazy in Here or Is It Me" |
1992 | Dead On: Relentless II | Captain Rivers | |
1995–1998 | JAG | Sergeant Major Hollis / Colonel Bill Cobb | 2 episodes |
1996 | Space: Above and Beyond | Major Jack Colquitt | Episode: "Who Monitors the Birds?" |
1996 | Within the Rock | General Hurst | TV movie |
1997 | Rough Riders | Colonel Leonard Wood | TV miniseries |
1998 | Seven Days | General Cole | Episode: "Doppleganger: Part 1" |
1998 | Operation Delta Force 2: Mayday | Captain Halsey Lang | TV movie |
1999 | Air America | Captain Gage | Episode: "The Court-Martial of Rio Arnett" |
1999–2004 | Rocket Power | Lieutenant Tice Ryan (voice) | Recurring cast |
1999 | Mutiny | Unknown | TV movie |
2000 | The Others | Captain Ken Radley | Episode: "Souls on Board" |
2001 | Band of Brothers | Colonel Robert Sink | 7 episodes |
2003 | 44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out | SWAT Lieutenant | TV movie |
2005–2010 | Entourage | Firearms Instructor / Scuba Instructor / Himself | 3 episodes |
2006 | Las Vegas | Sergeant Burn | Episode: "And Here's Mike with the Weather" |
2006 | Commander in Chief | General Peter Allyson | 3 episodes |
2007 | The Loop | Ralph Somkin | Episode: "The Stranger" |
2007 | Chuck | General Stanfield | Episode: "Chuck Versus the Intersect" |
2010 | Cold Case | Al Wasserlauf | Episode: "Free Love" |
2011–2013 | Falling Skies | General Porter | 11 episodes |
Year | Film | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1995 | Platoon (American Laser Games) (Unreleased) | Captain Harris | |
1999 | Medal of Honor | Opening Movie Narrator (voice) | |
2002 | Medal of Honor: Allied Assault | Narration in Training (voice) | |
2003 | Medal of Honor: Rising Sun | Gunnery Sergeant Jack 'Gunny' Lauton (voice) | |
2005 | Medal of Honor: European Assault | OSS Handler / Multiplayer Narrator | |
2005 | Battlefield 2: Modern Combat | Lieutenant Colonel Bob Scott (voice) | |
2007 | Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway | Colonel Robert Sink (voice) |
Dye's military decorations and awards include: [8]
Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone, starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen, Keith David, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Forest Whitaker, and Johnny Depp. It is the first film of a trilogy of Vietnam War films directed by Stone, followed by Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Heaven & Earth (1993). The film, based on Stone's experience from the war, follows a new U.S. Army volunteer (Sheen) serving in Vietnam while his Platoon Sergeant and his Squad Leader argue over the morality in the platoon and of the war itself.
Ronald Lawrence Kovic is an American anti-war activist, author, and United States Marine Corps sergeant who was wounded and paralyzed in the Vietnam War. His 1976 memoir Born on the Fourth of July was made into the film of the same name which starred actor Tom Cruise as Kovic, and was co-written by Kovic and directed by Oliver Stone.
Colonel David Haskell Hackworth was a United States Army officer and journalist, who was decorated in both the Korean War and Vietnam War. Hackworth is known for his role in the formation and command of Tiger Force, a military unit from the 101st Airborne Division that used guerrilla warfare tactics against Viet Cong in South Vietnam.
The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted in the Khe Sanh area of northwestern Quảng Trị Province, Republic of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. The main US forces defending Khe Sanh Combat Base (KSCB) were two regiments of the United States Marine Corps supported by elements from the United States Army and the United States Air Force (USAF), as well as a small number of Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) troops. These were pitted against two to three divisional-size elements of the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
Eric M. Hammel was a military historian, with a focus on the military campaigns of the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific War, and other military action in World War II as well as military conflicts including the Vietnam War and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Hammel wrote a series of books about World War II Flying Aces but his most influential book was The Root : The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984 on the subject of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings.
The Short-Timers is a 1979 semi-autobiographical novel by U.S. Marine Corps veteran Gustav Hasford, about his experience in the Vietnam War. Hasford served as a combat correspondent with the 1st Marine Division during the Tet Offensive of 1968. As a military journalist, he wrote stories for Leatherneck Magazine, Pacific Stars and Stripes, and Sea Tiger. The novel was adapted into the film Full Metal Jacket (1987), co-scripted by Hasford, Michael Herr, and Stanley Kubrick.
Robert Frederick Sink was a senior United States Army officer who fought during World War II and the Korean War, though he was most famous for his command of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division, throughout most of World War II, in France, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Radio Battalions are tactical signals intelligence units of Marine Corps Intelligence. There are currently three operational Radio Battalions in the Marine Corps organization: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In fleet operations, teams from Radio Battalions are most often attached to the command element of Marine Expeditionary Units.
The 1st Battalion, 7th Marines (1/7) is an infantry battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps. It is currently based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms. Consisting of approximately 1,000 Marines, it is part of the 1st Marine Division.
The 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion conducts amphibious and ground reconnaissance in support of the 3rd Marine Division and Marine Forces Pacific (MarForPac), operating in the commander's areas of influence. The battalion is based out of Camp Schwab, a satellite base of Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler. It is geographically located on the Okinawa Prefecture in Japan.
1st Battalion, 4th Marines (1/4) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California consisting of approximately 800 Marines and sailors. They fall under the command of the 1st Marine Regiment and the 1st Marine Division.
The 9th Marine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War II, it served until 1994, when it was deactivated during the post Cold War drawdown. Battalions of the Ninth Marine Regiment, but not the regiment itself, were reactivated from 2007 to 2014 as part of the Marine Corps' growth during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The battalions have subsequently been deactivated again.
Joseph Lee Galloway was an American newspaper correspondent and columnist. During the Vietnam War, he often worked alongside the American troops he covered and was awarded a Bronze Star Medal in 1998 for having carried a badly wounded man to safety while he was under very heavy enemy fire in 1965. From 2013 until his death, he worked as a special consultant for the Vietnam War 50th anniversary Commemoration project run out of the Office of the Secretary of Defense and has also served as consultant to Ken Burns' production of a documentary history of the Vietnam War broadcast in the fall of 2017 by PBS. He was also the former Military Affairs consultant for the Knight-Ridder chain of newspapers and was a columnist with McClatchy Newspapers.
Vincent Robert Capodanno Jr., M.M. was a Catholic priest and Maryknoll Missioner killed in action while serving as a Navy chaplain with a Marine Corps infantry unit during the Vietnam War. He was a posthumous recipient of America's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for heroic actions above and beyond the call of duty. The Catholic Church has declared him a Servant of God, the first of the four stages toward possible sainthood.
If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home is an autobiographical account of Tim O'Brien's tour of duty in the Vietnam War. It was published in 1973 in the United States by Delacorte and in Great Britain by Calder and Boyars Ltd. It has subsequently been reprinted by multiple publishers under both titles.
Halls of Montezuma is a 1951 American World War II war film directed by Academy Award-winner Lewis Milestone and starring Richard Widmark. It also stars Robert Wagner in his first credited screen role and features Richard Boone in his feature-film debut. The story is about U.S. Marines fighting on a Japanese-held island, and the title is a reference to the opening line from the Marines' Hymn.
3rd Combat Engineer Battalion was a combat engineer battalion of the United States Marine Corps, most recently activated from 7 October 2007 to 5 August 2014. 3rd CEB is having a reunion in Neihart, Montana May 19-22 2023 being hosted by Warrior Reunion Foundation.
Hill 55 is a hill 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) southwest of Da Nang, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam. The hill is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) northeast of the confluence of the Yen, Ai Nghia, and La Tho Rivers and was a United States Marine Corps base during the Vietnam War.
The Battle of the Slopes was the site of an engagement between elements of the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate), nicknamed "Westmoreland's Fire Brigade" and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) units, as part of Operation Greeley.
Dave Elliott Severance was a United States Marine Corps colonel. During World War II, he served as the commanding officer of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 28th Marines and led his company in the battle of Iwo Jima. During the battle, Severance ordered his 3rd Platoon to scale Mount Suribachi and raise the flag at the summit.