William Dawson Waugh

He fought on through wounds as his team battled at Bong Son.

William Dawson “Billy” Waugh (December 1, 1929–April 4, 2023) was a U.S. Army paratrooper and Special Forces sergeant major who served in the Korean and Vietnam wars before a later career in CIA operations. Born in Bastrop, Texas, he enlisted in the Army in 1948, at age 18, and served with airborne forces during the Korean War. He later joined the new Special Forces community, earning his Green Beret in 1954 as the Army’s unconventional-warfare units were taking shape.

Waugh became a team sergeant in the 5th Special Forces Group and served with the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), a classified organization that conducted reconnaissance and irregular-warfare missions in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. He helped train local partner forces and took part in operations far from conventional battle lines. His career included repeated deployments to Southeast Asia and service with units that helped define the early history of Army Special Forces.

On June 17–18, 1965, Waugh served as team sergeant under Captain Paris D. Davis during the fighting near Bong Son in Bình Định Province. Davis’s Special Forces team and South Vietnamese regional-force soldiers attacked an enemy base and then faced a much larger force during their return. In the ensuing 19-hour battle, the team fought through repeated attacks and close combat while supporting aircraft and artillery. Waugh was gravely wounded, nearly losing a leg; Davis and the surviving team members fought to recover the wounded and bring the force out. Waugh received the Silver Star for his actions. The Medal of Honor later awarded to Davis recognized Davis’s leadership and his rescue of Waugh and other American soldiers; it was Davis, rather than Waugh, who received that citation.

After about 24 years in the Army, Waugh began a second long career with the Central Intelligence Agency in 1977, serving until 2005. He continued working in counterterrorism and, after the September 11 attacks, deployed to Afghanistan at age 71. He later mentored generations of Special Forces soldiers. Waugh died in 2023, aged 93. His life linked the formative years of Army Special Forces, the dangerous work of MACV-SOG, and the post-9/11 generation of special operations.

Sources: “Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment: Sergeant Major William ‘Billy’ Waugh,” U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School; “The Legend of Billy Waugh: Special Forces Soldier, CIA Contractor,” Military Times / The Fayetteville Observer; “Colonel Paris D. Davis | Medal of Honor Recipient,” The United States Army.