Anthony Poshepny

Anthony Alexander Poshepny (September 18, 1924 – June 27, 2003), known as Tony Poe, was an American CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer in what became the Special Activities Division (renamed Special Activities Center in 2016). He was known for controversial actions during his service in Laos with Special Guerilla Units (SGUs) under the command of General Vang Pao, a U.S.-funded secret army in Laos during the Vietnam War, and may be one of the individuals who inspired the character Colonel Kurtz in the movie Apocalypse Now.

Early life and career

Poshepny was born September 18, 1924, in Long Beach, California, to John Charles and Isabel M. ( Veriziano) Poshepny. His father was a United States Navy officer whose parents were immigrants from Bohemia. His mother was born in Guam. When he was eight years old, his nine-year-old brother John accidentally shot him in the stomach with the family rifle, and he nearly bled to death.

Shortly after turning 18, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, serving in the 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion and fighting in the 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima.

He received the Purple Heart twice and was a sergeant by the time he was honorably discharged. Returning to civilian life, he enrolled at Saint Mary's College, before transferring to what is now San Jose State University. He contemplated going to work for the FBI. Graduating in 1950, he instead joined the CIA, where he was part of the first recruit class to receive all of its training at the new Camp Peary. for anti-government operations inside China. Carole McGranahan quotes Poe from an interview that the Tibetans he trained "... were the best I ever worked with."

Laos

The CIA awarded Poshepny the Intelligence Star in 1959. Two years later, working under James William Lair, he was assigned with J. Vinton Lawrence to train Hmong hill tribes in Laos to fight against the North Vietnamese forces and the Pathet Lao. Poshepny's practices were described as barbaric when they later came to light. He paid Hmong fighters to bring him the ears of dead enemy soldiers, and on at least one occasion mailed a bag of ears to the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane to verify his body counts. He dropped severed heads onto enemy locations twice in a grisly psy-op. though director Francis Ford Coppola has denied this, citing Robert B. Rheault as the actual inspiration.

Notes

References

Declassified reading

CIA and the Generals , Covert Support to Military Government in South Vietnam
CIA and the House of Ngo, Covert Action in South Vietnam, 1954–63
CIA and Rural Pacification
Good Questions, Wrong Answers CIA's Estimates of Arms Traffic through Sihanoukville, Cambodia, During the Vietnam War.
The Way We Do Things , Black Entry Operations into Northern Vietnam
Undercover Armies, CIA and Surrogate Warfare in Laos