4'9" tall
Richard James Flaherty (November 28, 1945 — May 9, 2015) was a Captain in the United States Army who served in the Vietnam War. Due to his small stature (he was just 4'9" tall), he was known as "The Giant Killer". He was the shortest US serviceman in history.
View: https://youtu.be/nvfrVG57Plo
After being discharged, Flaherty did private and military contract work in Rhodesia and Angola in Africa. The Central Intelligence Agency recruited him in the late 1970s due to his knowledge of Intelligence. The primary focus of his time in the CIA was supplying the Nicaraguan Contras in Nicaragua. His stint with the CIA came to an end when he was arrested for possessing silencers.
After being removed from the CIA, Flaherty helped catch a smuggling ring at Fort Bragg, North Carolina and worked undercover for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as an informant.
Flaherty was killed in 2015 in a hit and run.[5] Fifteen years before Flaherty's death, he was befriended by Miami Police officer David Yuzuk after Flaherty became homeless. Just 10 days before Flaherty's death, Flaherty told Yuzuk his story.[6] After Flaherty's death, Yuzuk went to look into his history and uncovered troves of information from Flaherty's storage unit, such as his passport with stamps from Cambodia, Venezuela, Iraq and Jordan.[7]
