Robert Duvall, who died on Sunday aged 95, modelled his iconic portrayal of Lt Col Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam war epic Apocalypse Now on a real-life officer, Lt Col John B Stockton. Duvall's performance as the swaggering air cavalry commander, complete with Stetson and memorable lines about napalm, earned him Bafta and Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination.
Stockton commanded the 1st Squadron, 9th Air Cavalry Regiment during the early years of the Vietnam conflict. Like Kilgore, he wore a black Stetson and cavalry spurs, carried documents in leather saddlebags, and had his unit's mule, Maggie, smuggled into Vietnam despite a 'no pets' policy. He also played Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries from speakers mounted on his helicopter when flying into action.
Military historian JD Coleman, in his book Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam, described Stockton as 'balding, rawhide-lean, just under six feet tall' with a 'handlebar moustache of the old time cavalryman'. Stockton was fixated on the word 'cavalry', seeing helicopter troops as a modern embodiment of 19th-century US horse soldiers.
Stockton, who died in 1997 aged 74, was later known for defying orders during the battle of Ia Drang in November 1965 by sending reinforcements to a besieged infantry company. This action was credited with saving 100 US and allied lives but led to his removal from command. He never publicly commented on Kilgore, though army colleagues said the portrayal amused him.
