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John Alan Coey

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John Alan Coey (12 November 1950 – 19 July 1975) was an American-born soldier who served in the Rhodesian Army as one of "the Crippled Eagles", a loosely-organised group of U.S. expatriates fighting for the unrecognised government of Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) during that country's Bush War. A devout Christian and fervent anti-communist—historian Gerald Horne described him as a white supremacist of the political ultra-right—he was the first American fatality of the war. He moved to Rhodesia to join its army in 1972, the day after graduating from college in his home town of Columbus, Ohio, and served until he was killed in action in 1975. He kept a journal throughout his service that was posthumously published as A Martyr Speaks.

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1950-11-12

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Kandeya Tribal Trust Lands, Mashonaland, Rhodesia

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John Alan Coey

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Coey as a Rhodesian Special Air Service trooper, 1972

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Columbus, Ohio, United States

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1975-07-19

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Dual U.S.–Rhodesianref|United States from birth, Rhodesian from June 1975|group="n"|name="rhodiecitizenship"

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Christian

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A studio photograph of a young, clean-shaven soldier, smartly turned out in his uniform. The flaming sword insignia of the Special Air Service is visible on each lapel of his jacket and prominently on his beret, above his left eye. He smiles into the camera with a look of assured confidence.

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Ideologically-motivated military service in Rhodesia and associated journal, which was posthumously published

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(Marxist historian Gerald Horne describes Coey) (Extract from a profile of Coey maintained by the RLI Regimental Association)

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He was a noble dedicated man with spiritual insight and political acumen with a keen perception of world affairs and the evils of communism ... he was a soldier of the Cross and a son of liberty. [Coey was] almost hysterical with anxiety about Chinese influence in the region ... by the spring of 1974 his worries had become almost delusional ... [his] anti-communism was mixed liberally with white supremacy, for the arrival of the communists meant the rule of Africans, the falling of 'standards' and the collapse of 'civilization'. To prevent this catastrophe, any amount of brutality could be rationalized ...

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John Alan Coey (12 November 1950 – 19 July 1975) was an American-born soldier who served in the Rhodesian Army as one of "the Crippled Eagles", a loosely-organised group of U.S. expatriates fighting for the unrecognised government of Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe) during that country's Bush War. A devout Christian and fervent anti-communist—historian Gerald Horne described him as a white supremacist of the political ultra-right—he was the first American fatality of the war. He moved to Rhodesia to join its army in 1972, the day after graduating from college in his home town of Columbus, Ohio, and served until he was killed in action in 1975. He kept a journal throughout his service that was posthumously published as A Martyr Speaks. Coey received United States Marine Corps officer training during his studies and was on track to receive a commission when he requested discharge and left for Rhodesia, believing that the U.S. government had been infiltrated by a "revolutionary conspiracy of internationalists, collectivists and communists" and that fighting for Rhodesia would allow him to better defend Western interests. He joined the Rhodesian Special Air Service (SAS) and passed out with the rank of trooper in November 1972, receiving recognition as one of the army's best recruits of the year. However, his political views led to an acrimonious fall from favour within the SAS, his expulsion from its officer training programme in October 1973 and ultimately to his leaving the unit four months later. He redeployed to the Rhodesian Army Medical Corps, from which he was posted to the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI) heliborne commando battalion in July 1974, concurrently with his promotion to corporal. He thereafter served a instructor and commando medic in the RLI. Though not an officer, Coey exerted some influence on tactical doctrine, making numerous suggestions to his superiors and pioneering the combat medic role in the Rhodesian Army, which caused him to be nicknamed "the Fighting Doc". He was killed in action in the Kandeya Tribal Trust Lands in the country's north on 19 July 1975, shot through the head while running into the open to treat two fallen comrades. His remains, originally buried in Que Que in central Rhodesia, were reinterred in Ohio in 1979. His journal and some of his letters home were compiled into A Martyr Speaks by his mother soon after he died, and published in 1988.