# Born 86 Years Ago Today in New Mexico, the Green Beret Who Scored a No. 1 Hit With a Patriotic Anthem That Outsold the Beatles

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/born-86-years-ago-today-in-new-mexico-the-green-beret-who-scored-a-no-1-hit-with-a-patriotic-anthem-that-outsold-the-beatles/
- Published: 2026-11-01T14:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-01T15:15:01+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/born-86-years-ago-today-in-new-mexico-the-green-beret-who-scored-a-no-1-hit-with-a-patriotic-anthem-that-outsold-the-beatles/
- Topics: Americas, World

## Key points

- Barry Sadler’s anthem spent five weeks at number one.
- “The Ballad of the Green Berets” sold over nine million copies.
- Sadler later left music for acting and pulp-fiction writing.

## Summary

Barry Sadler, born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, on 1 November 1940, became famous after writing and recording “The Ballad of the Green Berets”. The song offered a positive portrayal of US Special Forces during the Vietnam War, reached number one in the US and became one of the era’s most successful singles.

Sadler served as a Green Beret medic and was evacuated to the Philippines after a serious leg infection caused by a punji stick injury. He wrote the song as a tribute to the Special Forces; it spent five weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and sold more than nine million copies, outselling each Beatles single released that year. After leaving the military, he had a smaller hit, pursued acting and writing, and was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter; he was shot in Guatemala City in 1988.

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.