Stefan Mazak on weekend pass, Ft. Bragg, NC 1955 — Photo by: Jim Reece, Tom Reece and Rosa King of NC

Sergeant First Class (SFC) Stefan Mazak or “Pappy,” as he was named by those who served with him, was killed in action on April 18, 1968 in Vietnam. He was 42.

The citation that accompanied Mazak’s posthumous award of the Silver Star reports that he died from wounds he received while leading a small contingent of special and indigenous forces during an evening recon patrol in Long Khanh Province. While placing explosive ‘Claymore’ charges to protect their forward position in “known enemy territory,” Mazak’s patrol encountered enemy forces and engaged them in close quarters combat. After being wounded and refusing treatment, Mazak led his team in a counterattack that forced the enemy to temporarily withdraw. Then, reads the citation, , “SFC Mazak directed [his teammates] to take cover and attacked the enemy alone”.

Stefan Mazak was mortally wounded during his solo charge at the enemy. His surviving team members responded with a ferocious assault that repelled the enemy sufficiently to retrieve Mazak’s body and withdraw to safety. The battle scene is vividly recalled in Eric Blehm’s book “Legend: A Harrowing Story from the Vietnam War of One Green Beret’s Heroic Mission to Rescue a Special Forces Team Caught Behind Enemy Lines..” (2015).

While the heroic actions that preceded his death may seem remarkable — a 42 year-old wounded special forces soldier charging the enemy alone — they are not surprising when viewed in the greater context of SFC Mazak’s military career.

As a young adult, Stefan Mazak fled his home in communist Czechoslovakia to join the Maquis resistance fighters in occupied France during World War II. After the war, he served with the French Foreign Legion before being enticed by US officials to move to America and help with the development of a new military special operations unit, the 10th Special Forces Group (10th SFG), based in Fort Carson, Colorado.

It’s important to note that a 9th SFG, 8th SFG or any other SFG, did not exist in the US during the early 1950s. Our nation’s first special forces unit was named the “10th” SFG as a propaganda ploy to fool the Russians into believing that nine other units were already deployed. The 10th was the first US Special Forces Group, and Stefan Mazak would be recruited in 1960 to join the first covert US special forces mission; the rescue of American missionaries who faced imminent danger from murderous rebels in remote areas of the Belgian Congo jungle.

The team leader of the secret mission to the Congo was 1st Lt. Sully Fontaine, a Belgian member of the 10th SFG who was recently inducted into the Special Forces Hall of Fame. In his book, Slaver’s Wheel: A Green Beret’s True Story of His CLASSIFIED MISSION in the Congo, Fontaine recounts his tense standoff with a Congolese rebel unit during the evacuation of missionaries in a remote village they accessed from a dirt airstrip in the jungle region near Gwendje.

When 1st Lt Fontaine reached the village, he discovered that the evacuees had been brutally beaten and were in desperate need of medical attention. He radioed Mazak, who remained at the airstrip to secure the plane, and directed him to call in Belgian Paratroopers for assistance. Soon thereafter, 1st Lt. Fontaine was surrounded by 50 or more of the gun toting rebels who had overrun the village.

As they approached him, Fontaine identified the rebel leader and demanded to speak with him. When they faced each other, Fontaine grabbed a grenade from his vest, pulled its pin, and gripped the grenade’s lever tightly in one hand while using his free hand to clutch the rebel leader. His decisive action froze the rebel group where they stood and a protracted stalemate ensued.

When Mazak was alerted of Fontaine’s predicament, he knew he could not wait for help to arrive. He had to act. To speed his arrival to the village, he directed the pilot to take-off and make an emergency bush landing out of sight of the rebels so he could launch a surprise assault — by himself.

After landing in the plane a safe distance away, Mazak slogged a few hundred meters through the dense jungle foliage before emerging from the bush covered in grime, holding submachine guns in each hand. He screamed profanities in French while firing bursts of ammo in the air as he charged the rebel group surrounding Fontaine.

As Fontaine recalled, the rebels were so startled and frightened by the sight of Mazak that they immediately fled the scene without firing a shot. After Belgian support forces arrived, they were able to evacuate the severely injured missionaries and villagers to awaiting medical teams.

During their 9 days in the Congo, Fontaine, Mazak and the other team members evacuated 239 men, women and children from hostile territory without a single casualty. With their mission shrouded in secrecy, there could be no awards ceremonies or commendations to memorialize their heroics in Gwendje. From my research on Stefan Mazak, I suspect that would have been his preference anyway.

By all accounts, Stefan Mazak was a very humble and serious man. Although he was fluent in four languages, he spoke very few words. And when he did speak, everyone payed attention. Medal of Honor recipient, Roy P. Benavidez, in his book titled “Medal of Honor: One Man’s Journey from Poverty and Prejudice” recalled his first exposure to “Pappy” during a training session at Fort Bragg. Benavidez’s instructor, who after reciting a brief summary of Stefan Mazak’s military history and accomplishments, extended “the greatest compliment he could muster” as Pappy humbly rose from his chair; “Detail face Sergeant Mazak. Present arms! Order arms!”

The instructor then asked Mazak “if he would honor the group with some comments or reflections”. Benavidez remarked that it was extremely difficult to coax Pappy to speak and that he only agreed after the other soldiers in the room pleaded with him. After apologizing for his poor English, Pappy offered the following words to the group, for which Benavidez asserts he “shall never forget”;

“We in this room are all men who believe that actions speak louder than words. If I can impart anything from my life as a soldier it is this: There are only two types of warrior in this world. Those that serve tyrants and those that serve free men. I have chosen to serve free men, and if we as warriors serve free men, we must love freedom more than we love our own lives. It is a simple philosophy but one that has served me well in life.” — Sergeant First Class Stefan Mazak

Stefan Mazak on weekend pass, Ft. Bragg, NC 1955 — Photo by: Jim Reece, Tom Reece and Rosa King of NC

SFC Stefan Mazak

Birth: Mar. 23, 1926, Dolbe-Sanie, Czech Republic

Death: Apr. 18, 1968, Vietnam

Residence: Washington, DC, and Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Wife: Mrs Hilde C. Mazak, Deceased (1923–1993)

Service at Time of Death: Detachment B-56 (Project SIGMA), Military Assistance Command, Vietnam — Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG), Special Operations Group, 5th Special Forces Group, USARV.

Awards:

The Silver Star, Posthumously

The Bronze Star Medal with “V” Device with One Oak Leaf Cluster

The Combat Infantryman’s Badge(CIB 2nd Award)

The Purple Heart Medal for combat wounds

The Army Commendation Medal -‘V’ Device for Valor- One Oak Leaf Cluster

The Army Good Conduct Medal with Six Devices

The Army of Occupation Medal

The Korean Service Medal

The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with One Device

The Vietnam Service Medal with One Device

The Vietnam Campaign Medal

The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross Unit Citation

The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross Individual Citation

Korean Presidential Unit Citation

Vietnamese Military Merit Medal

French Croix De Guerre WW2

United Nations Medal

Vietnam Technical Service 2nd Class Award

Republic of Vietnam War Service Medal

Republic Of Korea War Service Medal

French National Defense Medal Bronze

French National Defense Medal Silver

Master Parachutist Wings

France Jump Wings.