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Robert C. McKenzie
In 1965 at the age of seventeen, American Robert Mackenzie joined the US Army, completing the Airborne and Jungle Warfare courses before going to Vietnam where he was hit by a bullet storming Motherﾒs Day Hill. After a year in hospital he was medically retired, 70% disabled. All his life Robert had wanted to be a soldier so undeterred, in 1970 he travelled to Rhodesia and passed selection for the Rhodesian SAS. During the next ten years he rose from the rank of Trooper to Captain winning the Bronze Cross for ﾓgallantry and determination in actionﾔ and the Silver Cross for ﾓconspicuous gallantry and leadership in action.ﾔ With the end of the war there Robert joined the South African Defence Force where he was appointed second-in-command of the Transkei Special Forces regiment. In 1985 he returned to the United States and became involved with the magazine Soldier of Fortune, producing some forty articles from countless trouble spots around the world. In Mozambique he worked with RENAMO, securing the release of seven western hostages and trained and fought in Central America. In 1992 Robert joined the HVO as part of a training team sponsored by the Soldier of Fortune magazine. They only stayed a short time; Robert however returned to continue training and advising the King Tomislav Brigade HVO in central Bosnia where the unexpected sight of his sandy coloured SAS beret turned the head of many an International Volunteer. In February 1995 Robert was contracted to command a training team of 60 Gurkha mercenaries in the war in Sierra Leone. On the 24th he was shot and killed leading an assault on the Malal Hills, the highest ranking International Volunteer to be lost in action. His career was hallmarked by causes that he deemed good and always resisted the term ﾓmercenary,ﾔ never fighting for money alone. He always led from the front, was calm and capable under stress and exceptionally brave under fire. He was a mature, intelligent and extremely popular individual who shaped the modern ideal of international soldiering as a legitimate profession. Soldier of Fortune magazine had this to say about him: ﾓA man of exceptional ability who fought only for causes he deemed good and just, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert C. MacKenzie was a soldierﾒs soldier, a consummate professional whose skills were in demand all over the world.ﾔ He left behind a wife, Sibyl and a son, Ian.
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