A Tiger Among Us: A Story of Valor in Vietnam’s a Shau Valley

Foreword by Chuck Hagel, former Secretary of Defense and Senator from Nebraska

Adaptable. Cunning. Ferocious. Fearless. The Indochinese tiger is just one of the formidable predators roaming Vietnam’s jungle. In 1966 a small band of US Special Forces soldiers--most especially Bennie Adkins--spent four grueling days facing down the ＂tiger＂ among them.

While the rain and mist of an early March moved over the valley, then-Sergeant First Class Bennie Adkins and sixteen other Green Berets found themselves holed up in an undermanned and unfortified position at Camp A Shau, a small training and reconnaissance camp located right next to the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail, North Vietnam’s major supply route. And with the rain came the North Vietnamese Army in force.

Surrounded 10-to-1, the Green Berets endured constant mortar and rifle fire, direct assaults, treasonous allies, and volatile jungle weather. But there was one among them who battled ferociously, like a tiger, and when they finally evacuated, he carried the wounded to safety. Forty-eight years later, Command Sergeant Major Bennie Adkins’s valor was recognized when he received this nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor.

Filled with the sights, smells, and sounds of a raging battle fought in the middle of a tropical forest, A Tiger among Us is a riveting tale of bravery, valor, skill, and resilience.

Bennie G. Adkins is a highly decorated retired US Army Command Sergeant Major and recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in March 1966 during the Vietnam War. He deployed to Vietnam for three tours. Upon retiring from the service he ran his own accounting business. He and his wife live in Opelika, Alabama.

Katie Lamar Jackson is a writer, editor, and photographer with more than thirty years of experience as a journalist, author, communicator, public relations expert, and marketing specialist. Jackson lives in Opelika, Alabama.