Green beret
When visiting the Special Forces at Fort Bragg on 12 October 1961, President John F. Kennedy asked Brigadier General William P. Yarborough to make sure that the men under his command wore green berets for the visit. Later that day, Kennedy sent a memorandum which included the line: "I am sure that the green beret will be a mark of distinction in the trying times ahead". By America's entry into the Vietnam War, the green beret had become a symbol of excellence throughout the US Army. On April 11, 1962 in a White House memorandum to the United States Army, President Kennedy reiterated his view: "The green beret is a symbol of excellence, a badge of courage, a mark of distinction in the fight for freedom". To no avail, both Yarborough and Edson Raff had previously petitioned the Pentagon to allow wearing of the green beret. The President, however, did not fail them.
The Green Berets (film)
Shortly after this attack, while supervising a group of United States Navy Seabees clearing part of the jungle around the base camp and evacuating the civilians in preparation for a potential Viet Cong attack, Sergeant Muldoon notices an ARVN soldier pacing out distances in the camp and knocks him out. When Captain Nghiem interrogates him, he discovers a silver Zippo lighter in the ARVN soldier's possession. The lighter belonged to a Green Beret medical specialist, a friend of Kirby's, recently murdered by the Viet Cong. After Beckworth sees Nghiem torture the Viet Cong suspect to get a confession from him, he confronts Kirby about it. The Colonel justifies the interrogation by telling Beckworth about the cigarette lighter, and says the Viet Cong are ruthless killers who deserve no legal protections of any sort in this new kind of war.