TIL in 1982 William Shatner paid $10,000-15,000 to an ex-Green Beret named Bo Gritz leading a mercenary force on a raid into Laos

Shatner said he was buying “the rights to Gritz’s life story”. But by paying before the “POW rescue” raid happened, while Gritz was actively & openly fund-raising for the raid, was he basically helping to fund the raid?

Perhaps less surprisingly, Clint Eastwood also chipped in $30,000.

And even less surprisingly, the raid was a complete failure and Gritz was never able to provide any evidence whatsoever of US POWs in South East Asia after the end of the US-Vietnam War.

Gritz was supposedly an inspiration for fictional characters including John Rambo and Hannibal Smith of The A-Team… and later became involved in various far-right activities (including becoming the “unwitting” presidential running mate of KKK leader David Duke), more conspiracy fantasies & setting up his own religious/military commune.

• https://theoutline.com/post/7984/rambo-last-blood-vietnam-bo-gritz-sylvester-stallone

• Via https://www.metafilter.com/212803/The-Vietnam-myth-that-gave-us-all-those-Rambo-movies

More info:

• Wikipedia - Bo Gritz
• Time - Colonel Gritz’s Dubious Mission (Apr. 04, 1983)