With deep sorrow, we share the news of the loss of a true legend 💔 Once you learn who he was, it will touch your heart profoundly. (Check In First comment👇)

Gritz later chose a military path of his own, enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1957 and quickly distinguishing himself as a soldier and leader.

He entered Officer Candidate School and demonstrated exceptional skill, earning his commission and ultimately completing the demanding qualification courses required to become a member of the Army Special Forces — the elite “Green Berets.”

Vietnam War Service and Special Forces Command

Gritz’s military service is most closely associated with his tours in the Vietnam War, where he commanded Detachment B‑36 of the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) — a unit that combined American soldiers with Cambodian‑Vietnamese troops known as MIKE Force.

These units conducted unconventional warfare and counterinsurgency operations in the volatile III Corps Tactical Zone, near the Cambodian border.

His tenure in Vietnam was marked by both tactical ingenuity and extreme personal risk. Among his noteworthy missions was the retrieval of the “black box” from a downed Lockheed U‑2 reconnaissance aircraft deep inside enemy territory in Cambodia in December 1966.

This operation, conducted under hostile conditions, became one of the more dramatic episodes of his wartime service.

Gritz earned a reputation for courage and initiative, and over the course of his military career he received multiple commendations, including three Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, multiple Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, and numerous Air Medals for flight operations — marks of recognition shared by only a small fraction of U.S. servicemembers.