Most experts say what he accomplished should have been impossible. Richard J. Flarity, due to complications that his birth only grew to 4 foot, 9 inches tall, 97 pounds. Coming from a family of military heroes, Richard also wanted to do his part in service.
Country. Most people laughed at the idea of a man is size in the military and all the branches turned him down. But that didn’t deter Richard. He spent the next three years writing letters until he finally received a medical waiver. With the waiver, the army allowed him to join, but no one ever believed he would make it through basic training. His uniforms didn’t fit. The equipment was too big, and he was required to carry a backpack during long marches that was almost the same weight as he was because of his leg length marching in step with the rest of his company was incredibly difficult. But Richard kept up. All the obstacle courses were built for average size men, but Richard conquered them all. No rules were ever changed for Richard. Either he would sink or swim.
Richard flared. He didn’t just make it through basic training. He volunteered and become an elite pair, a trooper with 1/101 Airborne. When he would jump out of planes, the instructors would have to strap machine gun parts to his body to help his descent so he wouldn’t float away. He graduated Officer Candidate School in 1968 as a second lieutenant and deployed to Vietnam. Within weeks, he would lead his platoon in some of the bloodiest battles during that Ted offensive. And that week, he was wounded twice by grenade fragmentation and a grazing bullet wound to the head. But as soon as he was matched up, he jumped right back into the battle. After several months of fighting on the frontlines, many officers would accept assignments in the rear, away from the action, but not Richard. He would request to be transferred to Echo Company to be a platoon leader in a recon unit which engaged in dangerous search and destroy missions deep into enemy territory. By the time his first tour in Vietnam was finished, Richard would receive the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with Valor and two Purple Hearts. If you think that’s where Richard’s story ends, think again. Richard would return to the US and become an elite Green Beret with the 3rd Special Forces Group. He was then promoted to the rank of captain and served with a 46th company based in Thailand where some of their clandestine missions across the fence fighting Malaysian and Verme’s gorillas. As incredible as all his accomplishments seem, that’s just the first half of his life story. As his next chapters of undercover operations around the world seem closer to something out of it by book. Richard had one last surprise when it came to his final wishes in his will, he acknowledged that even though he knew he was qualified for the highest military burial in Arlington National Cemetery, he instead had chose to be buried in a small anonymous cemetery in West Virginia so he could be next to the women he loved for eternity. To learn more about the unbelievable life of America’s smallest war hero, please check out the Giant Killer book, audiobook and documentary available worldwide.