Who is Bo Gritz?
On the latest episode of History of the 90s I touched on an interesting character who made news during the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge after he muscled his way into helping the FBI negotiate an end to the stand off with Randy Weaver.
Well Bo Gritz, a former Green Beret who survived six years of combat in Vietnam, was no stranger to the spotlight before and after Ruby Ridge.
Gritz made headlines after leaving the army in 1979 when he conducted several of his own commando-style missions to Burma to locate what he believed were prisoners of war forgotten by the US government.
The missions which were reportedly funded partially by William Shatner and Clint Eastwood, did not locate any POWs but they made Gritz a celebrity of sorts.
In addition to helping end the Ruby Ridge siege he attempted to negotiate with the anti government Montana Freemen in 1996 who were engaged in an 80-day standoff with federal agents.
In 1998 Gritz also conducted his own search for fugitive Eric Rudolph, the man responsible for the bombing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics who hid out in the Smoky Mountains for five years.
Gritz, who claims to be the most decorated Green Beret commander in US history says the Rambo character in the movie starring Sylvester Stallone was based on him.
But there is a darker side to Gritz as well. After leaving the army Gritz grew disillusioned with the government and became a believer in far-right conspiracies such as a Jewish-led New World Order.
His views and military demeanour attracted powerful friends on the far-right and he even ran as Presidential candidate for the Populist Party in 1992. Under the slogan God, Guns and Gritz he managed to garner 0.14% of the popular vote.
In 1994 Gritz founded a secluded colony in Idaho called “Almost Heaven” that attracted like-minded ‘patriots’ who wanted to live, free from excessive government control and safe from crime and other dangers.
He referred to it as a ‘constitutional covenant community’ — meaning residents must sign a ‘covenant; pledging to defend the constitutional rights of their neighbors. If authorities come for them, they will protect one another, even if they have to take up arms.
According to the Spokesman Review, the parcels of land in the community quickly sold out, and while some of the residents seemed to just want a peaceful, rural lifestyle, others were soon filing documents with the local county attempting to renounce their U.S. citizenship and declare themselves as “sovereign citizens." Another group of residents started a militia group that was later accused of plotting to kill a federal judge.
The community mostly faded into the background after Gritz attempted suicide in 1998 when his wife of 24 years left him.
Gritz was found on a gravel driveway 25 miles from ‘Almost Heaven’ in a military uniform bedecked with ribbons and medals with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his chest.
Remarkably Gritz survived and following his recovery moved to Nevada where he lives today. At the age of 83 he continues to host the ‘Freedom Call’ radio show on the American Voice Radio Network, and teaches survival skills.