Michael D. Healy

Michael D. Healy was born on June 13, 1926, in Chicago, Illinois., the first of four sons. His father, Daniel Healy, was a detective with the Chicago Police Department and Chief of Police for Stone Park, Illinois. In 1945, when Mike was 19 years old, he was attending Fenwick High School, a private Catholic Dominican college preparatory school in Oak Park, preparing for a life in the priesthood. Two months before the Hiroshima A-bomb, Mike joined some of his neighborhood friends, and enlisted in the United States Army at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. One year later, Healy graduated from Infantry OCS at Fort Benning, Georgia. Years later, he would be inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame.[1] Private Healy's first assignment, with the 1st Cavalry Division and the Army of Occupation in Japan, involved investigation of Russian-backed Communists in post-war Japan . While in Japan, Healy completed intense parachute training, which would later earn him a master parachutist badge. It was there, too, that he met his wife, Jacklyn, the daughter of a US prosecutor in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Healy served many troop assignments in Japan until 1946, when he returned to the United States and married Jackie. Healy then attended the United States Army Airborne School and Ranger School.

In 1951, then-Lieutenant Healy entered the Korean war as a company commander with the 4th Airborne Ranger Company. His leadership and courage were displayed on his first day of combat in March 1951, in Munsan-Ni, a tiny village in the South Korea. His company, the 3rd Platoon, was assigned to execute a parachute assault on the village. Because he was an extra officer on the mission, the senior officers loaded him down with extra map cases and spools of wire. The youthful Healy parachuted onto the roof of a hut and into a fire-fight. He lost his carbine to a grenade blast, and was stabbed in the groin by a North Korean soldier's bayonet. Healy said, "I held onto that little guy's trigger finger for dear life until a medic shot him dead." Nine of Healy's fellow soldiers were killed in the first three minutes of the attack. The 3rd Platoon was ordered to hold down the enemy at the base of a hill, while a regimental brigade attacked from above. When the platoon commander refused to proceed, Healy took charge. With his platoon under heavy fire, Healy and four others charged up the hill, at times with only the use of his ka-bar knife, managing to weave their way through the trenches. Healy and the four volunteers held the hill until the regiment finally arrived. For his actions in Munsan-Ni, Healy was awarded a Bronze Star Medal. It was his bravery there that established his nickname—Iron Mike.[2] Upon his return to the United States, Healy attended the Infantry Officers Career Course and was subsequently assigned to the Special Warfare Center, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. For the next few years, he attended several more Army schools, including the US Marine Corps School, the USMC Officers Advanced School, Quantico, Virginia, and finally the Command and General Staff College in 1960 where Healy began to earn his reputation as a foreign intelligence specialist, and soon the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence recruited him as Chief, Special Warfare Operations and Foreign Intelligence Branch.[1]

After Vietnam, BG Healy took command of the John F. Kennedy Institute for Special Warfare, Fort Bragg, and was promoted to major general. He remained in command of the Institute until October 1975, when he was sent on his last overseas assignment. General Healy was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, as the Chief of Staff of Combined Military Planning. For two years he oversaw the joint military maneuvers around oil fields in the Mideast for the now defunct Central Treaty Organization, CENTO. In 1977, Gen. Healy returned to the United States to command the Army Readiness Region V at Fort Sheridan, where, 35 years before, he had enlisted as a private. This was General Healy's last assignment. He retired from active duty on February 28, 1981, after 35 years, seven months and 29 days of military service.[3] He died on April 14, 2018, at the age of 91.[8]

Throughout his 35-year military career, Michael Healy received many medals and awards. His decorations include Combat Infantry Badge (two awards), Distinguished Service Medal (three awards), Silver Star (two awards), Legion of Merit (three awards), Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star with "V" (Valor) Device (six awards), Air Medal with "V" Device (four awards), Army Commendation Medal (two awards), Navy Commendation Medal with "V" Device, Purple Heart Medal (two awards), twelve Decorations of Republic of Vietnam. He received Parachute badges from Republic of Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea, Iran and Pakistan, as well as a Master Parachutist Badge from the U.S. Army.

General Healy has been the inspiration for two novels and also a feature film. In a 1975 interview the late-author Robin Moore told a Turkish newspaper that Healy was one of the few men from which he took inspiration to create his Col Kirby-character in his novel, "The Green Beret." Moore later repeated the same in a 1998 interview with Orlando Radio News Station WDBO. His book later became a movie with John Wayne as the lead character. In his book, "Viet Journal," the late author, James Jones wrote of Healy, "There was always one thing about Healy. You knew his aggressive physical courage was monumental and that his nerves were steel."[9]

Healy was a member of Special Forces Association Chapter 37 in Chicago which was named for him.[10]

In 2016, he was inducted as a Distinguished Member of the Special Forces Regiment. Mike had a special bond with the men he led and was a beloved hero of the Green Berets. He always credited his success to the men he led.(Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwmyX4SqKms ) On October 5, 2018, Iron Mike was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.(Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjEI624xGsk )

Healy was survived by his wife of 69 years, Jacklyn and 6 sons: Daniel F., Michael D. Jr, Timothy P., Sean C, F Kirk, Patrick A., ten grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren[11] .