A little late, I didn’t find out until today.

Charles “Chuck” Mawhinney, the deadliest sniper in Marine Corps history with 103 confirmed kills and 216 probable kills in 16 months during the Vietnam War, passed away on Monday, February 12, 2024, at the age of 75. Born in 1949 in Oregon, Mawhinney enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1967 and attended Scout Sniper School at Camp Pendleton.

He gained recognition for his exceptional marksmanship skills during the Vietnam War. Mawhinney was assigned to the 1st Marine Division and operated primarily in the northern portion of South Vietnam, including the infamous DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). He served with various units and achieved an extraordinary number of kills with his M40 sniper rifle.

“My rules of engagement were simple: If they had a weapon, they were going down. Except for an NVA paymaster I hit at 900 yards, everyone I killed had a weapon,” he said. His most impressive moment as a sniper came on Valentine’s Day 1969, when he encountered an NVA platoon advancing toward a U.S. base in Da Nang. He killed all 16 of them with 16 head shots in less than a minute.

According to Jim Lindsay, the author of “The Sniper: The Untold Story of the Marine Corps’ Greatest Marksman of All Time”: “Chuck squeezed off the first shot. Greenish blood blew out the back of the man’s skull, sinking him, exposing the one behind him. Chuck sank that one. The column stopped and ducked low in the water, giving Chuck perfect green head-size targets. He fired rounds moving from head to head. Pith helmets and bodies floated down the river.”

After completing his tour of duty in Vietnam, Mawhinney left the Marine Corps in 1970. He returned to civilian life and worked for the U.S. Forest Service until his retirement in the late 1990s. Despite his remarkable achievements as a sniper, Mawhinney remained humble and rarely spoke about his wartime experiences. For more than 20 years, his accomplishments were mostly unknown. In recent years, Mawhinney’s story has gained more attention, and he has been recognized for his contributions to military history.