Sergeant Watson

Sergeant Watson is a U.S. Army soldier who served during the Vietnam War as a member of the Green Berets Special Forces.

Sgt. Watson is a member of Colonel Mike Kirby's A-Detachment formed and deployed in Vietnam. Watson held the rank of Sergeant (E-5) and therefore took orders from the higher-grade sergeants and officers including Capt. MacDaniel and Col. Kirby.

Action
Watson served in the battle at Camp 2-9er Savoy. He was a member of the mortar crew designated as Pit 1, working with Sgt. Petersen and Sgt. Sooby, with Petersen as crew chief. George Beckworth joined their crew at the last minute when the fighting first broke out. He helped relay ammunition from Sooby to Watson to load into the mortar tube to be fired under Petersen's orders. Watson assumed command of the crew when Petersen left to search for a missing Hamchunk whose safety bunker Petersen made earlier, had been struck by a mortar.

During the battle, Capt. MacDaniel ordered Pit 1 to abandon its post and fall back. Watson relayed the fall-back order to Sgt. Sooby and Beckworth before destroying their mortar tube. Only Watson and Beckworth survived as Sgt. Sooby was shot in the retreat.

Watson was later part of the mission to capture a North Vietnamese General named Phan Son Ti. Watson joined the mission to the General's vacation manor as a replacement for an injured Lt. Moore who Watson reported to Col. Kirby, had sprained his ankle badly during the parachute drop.

Watson aided in the successful capture of the enemy General and went on to survive the entire mission. During this mission, Watson joined Col. Kirby, Col. Cai, the mistress Lin and Sgt. Petersen in the car used to transfer the sedated General in. During the escape from General's plantation retreat, only these individuals in the first escape vehicle survived as the other half of the team were gunned down while attempting to board an army truck.

Watson was also one of several remaining soldiers on the mission who while moving to the extraction point, witnessed the death of Sgt. Petersen who was caught in a trap and dragged into the path of a hidden bed of Punji sticks. This prompted Watson to immediately exclaim and call the enemy "bastards!"

He was last seen leaving the helicopter returning with the small number of mission survivors, passing by Col. Kirby who was hesitant to inform Hamchunk of the fate of the missing Sgt. Petersen. Watson's last words to the Colonel in regard to that situation was "This is one job I don't envy you, Colonel."

Trivia

 * Sgt. Watson was portrayed by the late actor/stuntman Eddy Donno.


 * Sgt. Watson was one of a small handful of men to serve in both missions Col. Kirby's teams were assigned to. The others include Sergeant McGee (WIA during Mission #2), Sergeant Kowalski (KIA during Mission #2), Sergeant Muldoon and Sergeant Petersen (KIA during Mission #2).


 * Watson is also one of only three known sergeants on Kirby's team to survive both missions. The others include Sergeants McGee and Muldoon.