A US Marine Corps sniper during the Vietnam War, one of his most famous accomplishments was shooting an enemy sniper through the enemy's own rifle scope, hitting him in the eye and killing him. Hathcock and John Roland Burke, his spotter, were stalking the enemy sniper in the jungle near Hill 55, the firebase from which Hathcock was operating, southwest of Da Nang. The sniper, known only as the "Cobra," had already killed several Marines and was believed to have been sent specifically to kill Hathcock. When Hathcock saw a glint (light reflecting off the enemy sniper's scope) in the bushes, he fired at it, shooting through the scope and killing the sniper. Hathcock took possession of the dead sniper's rifle, hoping to bring it home as a trophy, but after he turned it in and tagged it, it was stolen from the armory. The incident was depicted in
Il faut sauver le soldat Ryan (1998), in which Pvt. Jackson (
Barry Pepper) kills a German sniper the same way.
