John Alan Coey

Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), highlighted in red on a map of Africa

Coey was on track to receive an officer's commission into the Marines as soon as he graduated from college, but he became severely disillusioned by the course of the Vietnam War. Puzzled by America's failure to win the war, he developed a theory that the United States government had been infiltrated by a "revolutionary conspiracy of internationalists, collectivists and communists",[5] which he claimed was deliberately bringing about defeat in Vietnam to demoralise Americans as a precursor to bringing the United States under a totalitarian world government.[5] His attention was caught by the situation in Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe), where a war pitted the unrecognised government, made up predominantly of the country's minority whites, against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups.[6][7] Coey interpreted this as Rhodesia "holding the line" on the behalf of Christendom against communism,[8] and surmised that he would better serve the United States and the Western world if he fought in the Rhodesian Army rather than the US Marine Corps. He successfully requested a discharge from the Marines just before he would have received his commission,[5] and flew to southern Africa the day after he graduated from Ohio State in late March 1972 to join the Rhodesian Army.[2]

Foreigners like Coey who volunteered for the Rhodesian Army received the same pay and conditions of service as local regulars.[9] Ideologically and religiously motivated, Coey viewed himself as a kind of latter-day crusader. He kept a thorough journal of his thoughts and experiences throughout his army service.[2] "I believe God intended me to come here for some purpose," he wrote soon after enlisting.[10] "This action has cost me an Officer's Commission, and ... my citizenship may be revoked, [but] this is the most I can do for my country under the circumstances."[5] He told the historian Gerald Horne that he believed communists had already compromised top levels of the US government, and that by serving in Rhodesia he was helping to unify "his people" against a foreign conspiracy.[2] His religious views also affected his views on Zionism: he believed that the State of Israel's existence prior to the Second Coming of Christ was contrary to scriptural prophecies and that it should therefore be destroyed.[2]

Mount Inyangani, Rhodesia's highest peak. Coey climbed the mountain on 29 May 1972 as part of his SAS training. When he reached the top, he crudely tied a US flag to a stick, planted it on the summit and posed beside it. The resulting photograph appears on the front cover of his book A Martyr Speaks.[11]

Though foreign soldiers in the Rhodesian Army were only required to immediately commit to three years' service, Coey volunteered on arrival for at least five.[12] He joined the Special Air Service (SAS), an elite commando unit. He was one of several foreigners in his barrack room, and they decorated their quarters with the flags of their home countries. Coey performed well during his initial training, and was recognised as one of the Rhodesian Army's top recruits of 1972; after passing out in November that year with the rank of trooper, he was picked out in January 1973 for instruction as an officer. While training for this new role, he contributed articles to various Rhodesian and South African publications, sending work to the latter under the Afrikaans pseudonym "Johann Coetzee".[2] The political and religious views reflected in his journal continued: on 18 September 1973, he expressed profound joy at the overthrow of Chile's Marxist President Salvador Allende, and painted the incident as a victory for Christianity and the West.[13]

In October 1973, Coey submitted an inflammatory article detailing his views on America's foreign policy to the army magazine, Assegai; the firmly anti-establishment piece, "The Myth of American Anti-communism", was deemed "subversive" by the army, which blocked its publication. Coey was removed from the officer training programme soon after, officially because of his "temperament". Though disappointed by his expulsion, and suspicious about the true reasoning behind it, Coey did not complain, writing that as an ordinary trooper he would be free to broadcast his views to the public unhindered.[8]

Coey first saw combat action in November 1973, in a covert external operation in Portuguese Mozambique's north-western Tete Province.[8] He enjoyed it, comparing the experience to the American Indian Wars of the 19th century.[2] The following month, however, he was informed by his commanding officer that he would be not be used as a paratrooper, and would not be going on patrol again, as he was, in the commander's words, "not worth it".[14] Coey felt so humiliated that he considered leaving, but resolved to stay and fight on. Despite his commander's order to remain on base, he joined a patrol into Mozambique and crossed the border on 7 January 1974. The commanding officer flew into a rage when he discovered Coey's insubordination two weeks later, and immediately had him brought back.[15] Meanwhile, Coey persevered with "The Myth of American Anti-communism", and secured its publication in the conservative, nationally distributed journal Property and Finance on 7 February 1974. Five days later, he was barred from taking part in a parachute exercise with his unit, and on 14 February he was instructed to choose another army corps or regiment by the 18th; the SAS no longer wanted him.[16]

Coey's request to transfer to the Rhodesian Army Medical Corps was granted, and he was accordingly placed in a three-month medical course in Bulawayo, starting in April 1974. On its completion in July, he was promoted to corporal and posted to the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) heliborne commando battalion, where he was installed as an instructor.[17] He expressed pride in teaching "as we did at Quantico—the Marine way!"[18] He was pleased to meet other Americans in the RLI, particularly when they were fellow US Marines.[2] The American expatriates in the Rhodesian forces tended to try to stay together and associate with each other. They were later informally dubbed "the Crippled Eagles" by the American author Robin Moore, who moved to Salisbury in August 1976 and became their unofficial patron.[19] Coey liked and respected his fellow soldiers, who in turn regarded him as strong, capable and brave,[20] but there was mutual animosity concerning their respective lifestyles while off-duty. "They live for pleasure mostly," Coey wrote in his journal, "drinking and whoring. The Christian soldier is sometimes despised and ridiculed."[21]

Coey acquitted himself well in the eyes of his superiors following his move to the RLI, and soon after joining the unit mustered into Support Group as a specialist in tracking, mortars and armoured vehicle driving, while also working as a medic.[2] He took part in over 60 Fireforce missions in this capacity and became nicknamed "the Fighting Doc" because of his vehement insistence on joining such combat excursions.[1] Although his political views had prevented him from becoming an officer, he continued to make tactical suggestions to his superiors, some of which were adopted; for example, combat medics were introduced to RLI patrols at his suggestion, and following his example. However, other ideas of Coey's—such as his proposed use of psychochemical weapons and the "weapon of starvation" against Mozambicans and Zambians—were less well received.[2][22]

On recovering his journal, Coey's family discovered that portions of it which discussed army operations in too much detail—sometimes brief passages, but occasionally whole months at a time—had been censored by the army, and in some cases removed entirely.[23] Apart from an entry on 26 December 1974, in which Coey wrote about his loneliness at Christmas and desire to get married,[24] not a word remained after 11 November 1974.[23] Having become engaged to a young Rhodesian woman,[12] Coey successfully filed for Rhodesian citizenship while on leave in June 1975,[25] then renewed his US passport in South Africa.[2] "What a chuckle," he wrote to a friend, "filling out those papers under a portrait of Henry Kissinger!"[26]

The rough location of where Coey was killed is highlighted in red on this map.

On 19 July 1975, a unit from the Rhodesian Territorial Force (TF) contacted a group of guerrillas near a river in the Kandeya Tribal Trust Lands, north-east of Mount Darwin in the area covered by Operation Hurricane. After the Territorials killed two of the insurgents without loss, the cadres fell back and set up an ambush position underneath the roots of some overhanging trees on the riverbank. The TF patrol summoned a Fireforce made up of 7 and 10 Troops, 2 Commando, RLI from Mount Darwin, which arrived soon after. Coey, who was attached to 2 Commando at the time, accompanied 7 Troop as the patrol's combat medic.[27]

The Territorals and 10 Troop made a sweep of the river line, but on rounding a bend in the stream were suddenly fired upon by the hidden guerrillas. A sergeant from the TF was killed, as well as Rifleman Hennie Potgeiter of the RLI. RLI Rifleman Ken Lucas suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. The insurgents now held their fire to prevent giving their position away. Incorrectly believing from the inactivity that the cadres had fled, and thinking that the two fallen soldiers were still alive, Major Hank Meyer ordered the leader of 7 Troop, Lieutenant Joe du Plooy, to sweep around the river and send Coey out to treat the men.[27]

Lieutenant du Plooy led his men around the bend, carefully keeping them behind cover, then sent Coey out into the open riverbed to give treatment.[27] With his Red Cross flag clearly visible,[2] Coey came out from cover and made for the bodies on the ground. The concealed cadres immediately opened fire and fatally shot him through the head. His lifeless body fell at du Plooy's feet. Coey was the first American fatality of the Rhodesian Bush War. The contact in which he died eventually ended with du Plooy and two other Rhodesians being wounded and a further Rhodesian soldier, Corporal Jannie de Beer, being killed. The insurgents escaped without any further loss to their number.[27]