Anthony Poshepny
From ArticleWorld
Anthony Poshepny known as Tony Poe to his friends was a heavily decorated CIA official who joined the force as a paramilitary officer in 1951 and was the leader of the United States Secret Army in Laos during the Second Indochina War. He has been conflictingly portrayed as a loud, intense, short-tempered patriot, who collected enemy ears, dropped decapitated human heads from the air onto communists and stuck heads on spikes. He successfully fought terror with terror. He strove to instill courage and respect in the tribal and indigenous forces that he recruited and trained – as well as fear in the enemy.
Biography
Anthony A. Poshepny was born on September 18, 1924 in Long Beach, California. In 1942, Mr. Poshepny joined the Marines, was wounded on Iwo Jima and received two Purple Hearts. He joined the CIA as a paramilitary officer in 1951 and ran sabotage teams behind enemy lines in Korea. At the end of the Korean War he was sent to Thailand. He remained there for five years, serving under Walt Kuzmak who ran the CIA cover company, Sea Supply. In 1958, Mr. Poshepny tried, but failed, to spark an uprising among dissident colonels against Indonesia's then-President Sukarno. His work in Laos, in 1961 included fighting America's failed "secret war" against communists of North Vietnam who carved a Ho Chi Minh Trail through Lao territory to attack U.S. forces in South Vietnam.
After retiring in 1975, Mr. Poshepny and his wife lived in northern Thailand until 1992. Then they moved to the United States. He remained close to the Lao community in the San Francisco Bay Area, advising their sons to join the Marines, financing Laotians in need and petitioning Washington for aid to Laotian veterans.
He died, aged 78, in the San Francisco Veterans Medical Center following a long illness. He is survived by his Lao-American wife Sheng Ly, and their children Usanee, Domrongsin, Maria and Catherine.
Decorations
- He received two Purple Hearts when he was with the Marines and wounded on Iwo Jima.
- He twice won a CIA Star -- the Central Intelligence Agency's highest award -- from directors Allen Dulles in 1959 and William Colby in 1975.