MACV-SOG: RT Iowa and MSGT Dick Meadows
MACV-SOG’s critical recon work can be summarized in two objects, a camera and Soviet artillery aiming sight and one legendary Green Beret.
Olympus PEN-EE
In Vietnam, MACV-SOG teams like RT Iowa ran secret missions deep into denied areas to monitor and disrupt enemy supply lines. They were issued an early point-and-shoot camera, the Olympus PEN-EE, a half-frame camera that could take 72 photos on a single 36-exposure roll. This easy to use high capacity camera allowed operators to efficiently document enemy supply routes, bases and movements. This humble camera had a few drawbacks not least of which was its loud shutter combined with the fact that one had to be within ear shot of the enemy to use it.
On one mission, legendary MACV-SOG operator MSGT Dick Meadows of RT Iowa, photographed North Vietnamese troops moving south along Laotian Highway 101. Positioned less than 10 feet from the enemy, the loud shutter nearly gave away Meadows and his team. His photos were rushed to Washington D.C. and proved to Congress that North Vietnam was lying about their presence and involvement in South Vietnam.
Artillery Sight
A few months after his mission to Laotian Highway 101 Meadows discovered a cache of Soviet supplied NVA howitzers in Laos, west of Khe Sanh. He stole their aiming sights and presented one of the Soviet sights to Gen. Westmoreland as a souvenir and proof of material Soviet support for the NVA. This key information altered the way policy makers back in Washington viewed the war and led to changes in US State Department policy toward the DMZ.