Category: Real men
Ronald Reid-Daly was a Rhodesian military officer renowned as the founder and commander of the elite Selous Scouts special forces unit, noted for their unconventional counter-insurgency tactics during the Rhodesian Bush War.
Ronald Francis Reid-Daly was born on 22 September 1928 in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia.
Initially aspiring to become a farmer, he instead pursued a military path and joined the Southern Rhodesian contribution to the British Special Air Service (SAS) during the Malayan Emergency, serving with “C Squadron” in counter-insurgency operations against communist insurgents.His experiences in small-team jungle warfare and pseudo-operations there profoundly shaped his later approach.
Returning to Rhodesia, Reid-Daly helped form the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) in 1961, becoming its first Regimental Sergeant Major and later commissioned as a captain, earning recognition as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his early counter-insurgency successes.
In 1973, at the behest of the Rhodesian Army commander, Lieutenant General Peter Walls, he came out of near retirement to establish a new elite unit, the Selous Scouts, named after the famed African hunter Frederick Courtney Selous. Reid-Daly recruited highly skilled personnel and employed rigorous training to prepare teams for pseudo-operations; small squads would disguise themselves as guerrillas from ZANLA or ZIPRA, infiltrate insurgent groups, gather intelligence, and direct air or ground .
These operations made the Scouts extraordinarily effective, achieving a high operational impact despite a relatively small force, though they drew controversy for their morally ambiguous methods, including alleged poaching incidents and unorthodox psychological tactics.
The Selous Scouts under Reid-Daly became a highly feared counter-insurgency unit. Teams typically operated in pairs or trios across Rhodesia and cross-border into Mozambique, blending intelligence gathering, sabotage, and misinformation tactics.
The unit capitalized on Reid-Daly’s Malayan experience, particularly using turned insurgents for infiltration and applying aggressive, precise engagements to disrupt guerrilla . Despite their military effectiveness, this independence and the Scouts’ secretive operations created tensions with the Rhodesian command hierarchy, culminating in a court-martial for Reid-Daly following disputes with senior officers.
He resigned in August of that year and eventually moved to South Africa in 1982.
In South Africa, Reid-Daly commanded the Transkei Defence Force from 1981 until his expulsion in 1987 following political changes in Transkei. He later led a private security company and lived near Cape Town, focusing on writing about his military experiences.
His main publications include “Selous Scouts: Top Secret War” (1982) and “Pamwe Chete: The Legend of the Selous Scouts” (1999).
Reid-Daly was known as “Uncle Ron” among his troops for his approachable, yet determined leadership. His awards include the Legion of Merit (Commander – Civilian, CLM), Defence Forces’ Medal for Meritorious Service (DMM), and MBE. He passed away on 9 August 2010 in Simon’s Town, South Africa, after a prolonged illness.
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Some Red Hot Gospel there!
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Ludovicus M. M. Van Iersel
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Sergeant Ludovicus M. M. Van Iersel
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| Born | October 19, 1893 Dussen, Netherlands |
| Died | June 9, 1987 (aged 93) Sierra Madre, California, US |
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| Allegiance | United States |
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| Rank | Sergeant |
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Ludovicus Maria Matheus Van Iersel (19 October 1893 – 9 June 1987) was a Sergeant in United States Army, Company M, 9th Infantry, 2d Division during World War I. He earned the highest military decoration for valor in combat—the Medal of Honor—for having distinguished himself at Mouzon, France.
Born in Dussen the Netherlands, Van Iersel served on several merchant ships following the outbreak of the war. Van Iersel arrived in New Jersey in early 1917, enlisting in the army shortly afterwards. He learned English in his first few months of military service.
He became a naturalised American citizen in September 1919, six months after receiving the Medal of Honor, and changed his name to Louis Van Iersel. After acquiring citizenship he returned to his birth country and married Hendrika de Ronde (1899–1979) in August 1920. They returned to the United States later that month and settled in California a year later. In 1946 he and his wife settled in Sierra Madre, California.
During World War II, he joined the Marine Corps and served with the 3rd Marine Division in the Bougainville Campaign.
He and his wife Hendrika are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia.[1]
Medal of Honor citation
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- Rank and organization: Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company M, 9th Infantry, 2d Division.
- Place and date: At Mouzon, France, 9 November 1918.
- Entered service at: Glen Rock, New Jersey.
- Birth: the Netherlands.
- General Orders: War Department, General Orders No. 34 (March 7, 1919)
Citation:
While a member of the reconnaissance patrol, sent out at night to ascertain the condition of a damaged bridge, Sgt. Van Iersel volunteered to lead a party across the bridge in the face of heavy machinegun and rifle fire from a range of only 75 yards. Crawling alone along the debris of the ruined bridge he came upon a trap, which gave away and precipitated him into the water.
In spite of the swift current he succeeded in swimming across the stream and found a lodging place among the timbers on the opposite bank. Disregarding the enemy fire, he made a careful investigation of the hostile position by which the bridge was defended and then returned to the other bank of the river, reporting this valuable information to the battalion commander.
Military awards
van Iersel’s military decorations and awards include:[2][3]
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| 1st row | Medal of Honor | Purple Heart | |||||||
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| 2nd row | World War I Victory Medal w/ one silver service star to denote credit for the Aisne, Aisne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector battle clasps. | Army of Occupation of Germany Medal | Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal w/one bronze service star for the Consolidation of Northern Solomons campaign | ||||||
| 3nd row | World War II Victory Medal | Médaille militaire (French Republic) | Croix de guerre 1914–1918 w/two bronze palms and one silver star (French Republic) | ||||||
| 4th row | Croce al Merito di Guerra (Italy) | Medal for Military Bravery (Kingdom of Montenegro) | Sea Gallantry Medal.[4][5] (Great Britain) | ||||||
| Unit Award | French Fourragère – Authorized permanent wear based on three French Croix de Guerre with Palm unit citations awarded the 9th Infantry Regiment for Chateau-Thierry, Aisne-Marne and Meuse-Argonne | ||||||||
