Sam Ybarra

Sam Ybarra (1945–1982) was a United States Army soldier who served in the Tiger Force commando unit attached to the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War. He is notable for alleged involvement in war crimes alongside the Tiger Force unit.

Early life Ybarra was born and raised on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona to a Mexican father and an Apache mother. When he was five, his father died in a bar brawl, and after that he was raised by his mother. He attended Globe High School in Globe, Arizona, and was arrested four times as a teenager for disturbing the peace and underage drinking.

Once discharged, Ybarra could not be compelled to testify to the investigations against him, and declined three times. After years of using drugs and alcohol, he died of pneumonia in 1982, at age 36, living with his mother on the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona, reportedly contrite and depressed over his role in the war. He repeatedly confessed to murdering civilians, including children, to friends and family members.