Dale Dye

Dale Dye was born Oct. 8, 1944, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He graduated as a cadet officer from Missouri Military Academy, but there was no money for college, so he enlisted in the U. S.

Marine Corps in January 1964.

He served in Vietnam in 1965 and 1967 through 1970, surviving 31 major combat operations. He emerged from Southeast Asia with numerous decorations, including a Bronze Star for valor and three Purple Heart medals for wounds suffered in combat. He spent 13 years as an enlisted Marine, rising to the rank of master sergeant.

Served as a combat correspondent with the 1st Marine Division in Vietnam in 1967-1968. A fellow combat correspondent in the same unit was the late Gustav Hasford. Hasford wrote "The Short-Timers," the Vietnam novel on which the movie Full Metal Jacket (1987) was based.

He was chosen to attend officer candidate school and was appointed a warrant officer in 1976.

He later converted his commission and was a captain when he was sent to Beirut with the multinational peacekeeping force in 1982-83. He served in a variety of assignments around the world and along the way managed to graduate with a BA degree in English from the University of Maryland.

Dye worked for a year at Soldier of Fortune magazine after his retirement in 1984.

His Alma Mater, Missouri Military Academy, has a long-standing football rivalry with another nearby military school, Kemper. Kemper Military School & College, in Boonville, Missouri was used as the filming location for Combat High (1986) & Child's Play 3 (1991).

Was considered for the title role in Robocop (1987).

As of 2018, he has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: Platoon (1986), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), JFK (1991) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). Of those, Platoon is a winner in the category.