Tales of the Green Beret

    (Dell, 1967-1968)
™ and ©1967 The Chicago Tribune

During the mid-1960s, at the height of the Vietnam War, the Special Forces division of the army gained a bit of notoriety. A Vietnam veteran, Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler wrote and recorded ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets” which was No.1 on the pop charts for 5 weeks in 1966. The distinctive green beret headgear was the shorthand description for the Special Forces division.

The comics industry is always willing to capitalize on the popular vagaries of society, so soon after, this war comic appeared. It highlighted the Green Berets with fictional accounts of their achievements in Vietnam. Aside from the generic characters, newsman and Green Beret, Chris Tower was a reoccurring character whose reports became the settings of many stories.

Believing themselves to be above the controversy, Dell Comics did not submit its titles to the Comics Code Authority. Nevertheless, this war comic is as sanitized as any other comic of its time.
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#1

January, 1967
Cover Price: $0.12
2 copies available from $3.50 		 Sam Glanzman