SSgt. Barry Sadler

Sadler recorded his now-famous song, "The Ballad Of The Green Berets," a patriotic song in ballad style. The recording of his Vietnam songs was initiated by the urging of writer Robin Moore, author of the novel The Green Berets. The book became a 1968 movie, The Green Berets, starring John Wayne, with "The Ballad of the Green Berets" arranged in a choral version by Ken Darby as the title song of the film. Moore wrote an introduction to Sadlers autobiography, Im a Lucky One, which he dictated to Tom Mahoney and which Macmillan published in 1967. The books title is also that of another song that Sadler recorded. "The Ballad of the Green Berets" was picked up by the RCA Victor Records label in early 1966 and became a fast-selling single, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for five consecutive weeks from March 5 to April 2, 1966. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[1] The song was a big hit in many U.S. cities, including 5 weeks that it spent at #1 on the weekly Good Guys music survey at WMCA, which was the top pop music radio station in New York in 1966. He sang it on his television debut on The Jimmy Dean Show. Sadler recorded an album of similarly themed songs, which he titled Ballads of the Green Berets. It sold a million copies in the first five weeks of its release.[1] However, none of the other songs on the album, which generally tell the common tales of soldiers serving in a time of war, made an impact. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.