View Full Version : Cold blast from the past: we lost 21 guys during the El Salvador conflict
https://consortiumnews.com/archive/lost1.html
Article is old but interesting. I was Googling to see just how many guys we lost (mostly SF) during the El Salvador conflict of the 1980's. Over the course of several years 21 American warriors met their maker in combat. This was during my time in the Army, and I was stationed in Panama; many of those SF guys were from 3/7 SFG based out of Ft. Davis. The 3/7th ran my jump school down there at Ft. Sherman. None of the "blackhats" spoke of anything that went on, but of course you wouldn't expect them to as they embodied the "quiet professional".
I do remember one photograph of an SF guy that some reporter took during a firefight that showed the troop (in blue jeans!) with an M16A1 in hand------made a HUGE stink at the time as they were supposed to be advisors only (so why would they need that mean old gun?).
I'm sure it's been done for decades and probably still happens with the sneaky-pete types in places where they technically aren't supposed to be, but here is a disturbing quote from the above article:
In 1984, the Reagan administration insisted that it had no knowledge about any casualties from secret fighting in Central America. But the Knight-Ridder story ended with a chilling quote from a former covert military specialist who explained the practice of "bodywashing."
"If a guy is killed on a mission," the former officer said, "and if it was sensitive politically, we'd ship the body back home and have a jeep roll over on him at Fort Huachuca," a remote Army intelligence base in Arizona. "Or we'd arrange a chopper crash, or wait until one happened and insert a body or two into the wreckage later. It's not that difficult."
https://consortiumnews.com/archive/lost1.html
Article is old but interesting. I was Googling to see just how many guys we lost (mostly SF) during the El Salvador conflict of the 1980's. Over the course of several years 21 American warriors met their maker in combat. This was during my time in the Army, and I was stationed in Panama; many of those SF guys were from 3/7 SFG based out of Ft. Davis. The 3/7th ran my jump school down there at Ft. Sherman. None of the "blackhats" spoke of anything that went on, but of course you wouldn't expect them to as they embodied the "quiet professional".
I do remember one photograph of an SF guy that some reporter took during a firefight that showed the troop (in blue jeans!) with an M16A1 in hand------made a HUGE stink at the time as they were supposed to be advisors only (so why would they need that mean old gun?).
I'm sure it's been done for decades and probably still happens with the sneaky-pete types in places where they technically aren't supposed to be, but here is a disturbing quote from the above article:
In 1984, the Reagan administration insisted that it had no knowledge about any casualties from secret fighting in Central America. But the Knight-Ridder story ended with a chilling quote from a former covert military specialist who explained the practice of "bodywashing."
"If a guy is killed on a mission," the former officer said, "and if it was sensitive politically, we'd ship the body back home and have a jeep roll over on him at Fort Huachuca," a remote Army intelligence base in Arizona. "Or we'd arrange a chopper crash, or wait until one happened and insert a body or two into the wreckage later. It's not that difficult."
My dad was a Marine, and he was involved somehow with the Bay of Pigs. There had been rumors abound that some of his colleagues died in training accidents, etc. (who actually died as a result of being killed while involved in the BoP). Hell, Gen. George Washington probably did the same thing.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/armythumbs-togetherweserved/342101.jpg
Death In El Salvador, Roots In Pennsylvania
April 02, 1987|By Russell E. Eshleman Jr., Inquirer Staff Writer
CONNELLSVILLE, Pa. — Looking back on it, Mary Asbury said, she always expected that it would be the third-born of her eight children who would make a mark in the world.
"I always said he'd be something different than the rest," she said, glancing at the television news in the next room. "He was red-headed and left-handed. I said he'd either be a bum or something important."
As it turned out, Asbury's son, Staff Sgt. Gregory Allen Fronius, a 27- year-old Green Beret who spent many of his early years in this Fayette County town, did become something important.
On Tuesday, Fronius, a U.S. military adviser in El Salvador, was killed by guerrilla mortar fire at a Salvadoran government garrison.
Pentagon officials said Fronius, who was married and the father of two young children, Gregory Jr., 6, and Francine, 1, was the first U.S. military adviser to die in combat in the Central American country's seven-year-old civil war.
Yesterday, as they recounted his life, Fronius' mother, brother, friends and former teachers portrayed a "gung-ho soldier" whose life revolved around - and prospered because of - his 10-year military career.
"He wanted that Green Beret," said Fronius' brother, Stephen. "He asked them for the toughest outfit. He just loved the service, and he didn't want to be in the rear echelon."
That Fronius would succeed in soldiering was no surprise. At 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, he was strong and agile enough to withstand the rigors of Green Beret training. His interests went from learning Spanish, the native tongue of his Panamanian wife, Celinda, to mastering rappelling and marksmanship with small weapons.
Although he dropped out of high school in Painesville, Ohio, at age 15, he had been a B student during his junior high school years here, as well as a tough lightweight wrestler and football player.
"He was the kind of kid who would fit in with the Green Berets," said Donald Lynn, Fronius' former wrestling coach. "He's the kind of kid who would take to that discipline. When he wrestled for you, he'd bust his rear."
Entering his second decade in the Army, Fronius never lost his boyish enthusiasm for soldiering. He would send cards from all over the world, and when he returned home, he'd show off his newfound skills. One time he demonstrated his rappelling technique, dangling more than 50 feet from a bridge over the Youghiogheny River.
The 7th Special Forces Group remembered one of its fallen soldiers during a rededication and award ceremony Dec. 12 at Fort Bragg.
The 7th SF Group Language Training Lab was renamed the Fronius Language Facility in honor of SFC Greg Fronius, who was killed in El Salvador in 1987.
Special Forces Staff Sgt. Gregory Fronius of Greensburg, Pa., had been in El Salvador only three months, one of 55 U.S. military advisers sent to train the Salvadoran Army in its fight against leftist guerrillas. The 27-year-old Green Beret intelligence specialist, assigned to Fourth Brigade headquarters at El Paraiso--a fortified garrison on a major rebel infiltration route 36 miles north of San Salvador--had mentally mapped possible escape routes against a time of need. When mortar and rifle fire erupted before dawn on March 31, El Salvadoran guerrillas penetrated the installation where Fronius was assigned and launched an intense offensive. Fronius immediately engaged the enemy with rifle fire and was seriously wounded. Despite his wounds, he continued to fight ...
Guerrillas raided a major army base before dawn yesterday, killing at least 43 soldiers and the first US military adviser to die in battle in seven years of civil war.
El Salvador's military commander said the American, identified as Staff Sgt. Gregory A. Fronius, 27, of Greensburg, Pa., was killed by mortar fire near a command post.
The military said 35 soldiers were wounded by leftist rebels who assaulted the base behind a barrage of cannon, mortar and grenade fire.
In 2007, DIA counterintelligence official Scott W. Carmichael alleged that it was Ana Montes, a DIA Agent who was spying for Cuba, who told Cuban intelligence officers about a clandestine U.S. Army camp in El Salvador. Carmichael alleged that Montes knew about the existence of the Special Forces camp because she visited it in only a few short weeks before the camp was attacked in 1987 by Cuban-supported guerrillas of the FMLN.
Carmichael, who led DIA's investigation of Montes, named Montes as being directly responsible for the death of Green Beret SSG Gregory A. Fronius who was killed at El Paraiso, El Salvador, on March 31, 1987 during the FMLN attack. Carmichael characterized the damage Montes caused to the DIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies as "exceptionally grave," and stated that she compromised a "special access program" that was kept even from him, the lead investigator on her case.
Montes is serving life in prison.
Comments/Citation
Staff Sergeant Gregory Allen Fronius, United States Army, was awarded the Silver Star (Posthumously) for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving with the 3d Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), in El Salvador, on 31 March 1987. On that date, pro-Cuban guerrillas of the Marxist group Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front launched a well-planned, early morning attack on the base camp at El Paraiso, El Salvador. Staff Sergeant Fronius, an advisor serving at that base camp, rallied the defense in action that resulted in many casualties among the attacking forces, before he was himself mortally wounded. His actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
Action Date: March 31, 1987
I don't know the full ins and outs but that was when they made the M14K and Tim LaFrance allegedly had a hit put on him.
I know some folks who were in at that time and no they'd don't say shit about it.
Lots of hardcore GI Joe gangster mess.
Everyone thought Reagan was pussillanimous over Beirut but from admittedly apocryphal accounts guys who were teenybopper new guys in 'Nam took 16-17 years to get mean and vicious and really stuck it to the Sandinistas. Looking back you'd think Iran Contra would've done Reagan in but nope. And I for one approve.
Anything that does in Communists.
It wasn't just El Salvador. Don't forget our activities in Honduras and Nicaragua. I was a young 1LT involved with that mess in 1984 and 1985. You run weapons into Nicaragua for anti-Sandinista tribal groups, and they use said weapons to commit atrocities against other tribal groups. Unintended consequences.
Moose-Knuckle
05-15-16, 03:17
In the Lone Survivor thread I mentioned a gentleman I know who was an 18 Echo on an ODA down in Central America during Mr. Reagan's dirty little wars, he stated that by the time he was 25 all his friends were KIA and their families were never told the truth about their loved ones.
Amazing that more is not known about all that went down. It wasn't until the late 90's that the CIA crack epidemic story broke by San Jose Mercury News reporter Gary Webb, he later shot himself in the head . . . twice. Death was ruled a suicide.
A year ago a film adaptation was made from the book by the same name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW4XO-52ubE
There is also a new documentary out entitled Shadows of Liberty that goes into this story a bit and a CIA op known as Operation Mockingbird where they "influence" the MSM. The crack story was buried and discredited by the gatekeepers in the MSM.
http://shadowsofliberty.org/
Sinister,
Odd that Fronius was listed as the FIRST American military guy KIA in El Salvador. That was in Spring of '87. Methinks that perhaps that statistic is a little misleading.....or an outright lie. Of course that article was from shortly after he died and I'll wager that in the ensuing three decades it has been ascertained openly that he was hardly the first one. Figure 21 were KIA and to read that article you would assume that 20 more died after that.
Cool link though to a tip-of-the-spear guy whose name is lost to history. Glad he was eventually recognized for his actions that night with the Silver Star. Thanks.
ETA: my avatar was taken several clicks from the Nicaraguan border in SW Honduras, Nov. 1984.
Averageman
05-15-16, 10:09
I talked to a guy several times who spoke to me about his time in El Salvador.
At first I thought he was FOS, but as time went on and I did some reading it would appear to me he may well have been legit. He certainly had his knowledge of small unit tactics, First Aid down and he knew his weapons. It was the early 90's and he would have had about 20 years in at the time.
Virulently anti NWO and suspicious of anything the .gov and .mil was involved in and smoked weed like it would all disappear tomorrow, I just sort of wrote him off and lost track.
Honduras was my first action getting in. Subsequently, El Salvador (really all over Central and South America) became the place I spent my time it seems. Until Desert Shield that is and then it was like we forgot all about that area of the world.
curious what year you were in Honduras :)
I lived in Honduras back in the early 90s
Honduras was my first action getting in. Subsequently, El Salvador (really all over Central and South America) became the place I spent my time it seems. Until Desert Shield that is and then it was like we forgot all about that area of the world.
curious what year you were in Honduras
I lived in Honduras back in the early 90s
88-89. I never got out of Tegucigalpa. I was on 141's bringing guys and stuff in and out of there.
On edit, I gotta remember that action for a crew chief is not the same as action for an 11B.
ahhh you were in the Goose !!!!!
flew through the goose a couple times :)
I lived in the bay islands on Utila and taught scuba :) did a lot of backpacking around to
my brother was a crew chief back in like early 80s ?
88-89. I never got out of Tegucigalpa. I was on 141's bringing guys and stuff in and out of there.
On edit, I gotta remember that action for a crew chief is not the same as action for an 11B.
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