Roll Me Over: An Infantryman's World War II

Book Description

OVER THERE

When Raymond Gantter arrived in Normandy in the fall of 1944, bodies were still washing up from the invasion. Sobered by that sight, Gantter and his fellow infantrymen moved across northern France and Belgium, taking part in the historic and bloody Battle of the Bulge, before slowly penetrating into and across Germany, fighting all the way to the Czechoslovakian border.

With depth, clarity, and remarkable compassion, Gantter--an enlisted man and college graduate who spoke German--portrays the extraordinary life of the American soldier as he and his comrades lived it while helping to destroy Hitler's Third Reich. From dueling with unseen snipers in ruined villages to fierce battles in which the lightly armed American infantry skirmished against Hitler's panzers, Gantter skillfully captures one infantryman's progress across a continent where guns, fear, and death lay in wait around every bend in the road.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful History - man in nursing home.......2007-07-13

I was asked to purchase this book for a gentleman in our nursing home. He requested this book because he was the character in the book named Shorty and he was there in 1944 and knows the author.
He is thrilled to have this book.
Thank you.

A truly accurate account.......2007-07-07

I know the villages of Waimes and Faymonville very well as my mother's family came from that area. Gantter obviously took notice of what he saw and experienced there. He mentions people by name who actually existed and tells the readers exactly what these people did at the time. A well written and accurate account.

Real War.......2006-11-14

Mr. Gantter really brings out what the war was like in the European theater of operations. This is the best I have ever read. I highly
recommend it and it should be required reading in all US history classes

One of a Kind.......2006-07-19

Possibly the finest combat memoir ever written, "Roll Me Over" easily ranks alongside the works of veterans who went on to become professional writers, such as William Manchester's "Goodbye, Darkness", or David Kenyon Webster's "Parachute Infantry." Mr. Gantter's work has a remarkable day-by-day continuity to its narrative that is not found in other works, most memoirs are as confused and disjointed as only a battlefield can be. Sometimes an absolute gem awaits discovery in the bargain bin!

Best War Memoir Ever........2006-05-15

Roll Me Over: An Infantryman's World War II, is among the best and certainly among the most unusual combat memoirs to emerge from the Second World War. Its value lies in Gantter's unique and honest perspective; its peculiarity in his eclectic style.
Raymond Gantter's story is his own. He makes no claim to typicality and does not fit the profile of the average American soldier. When he was drafted he was thirty years old, married with two children, the college educated programming director of a radio station in Syracuse, New York. He was considered for officer training but passed over because of his eyeglasses. He writes as an educated, mature, and intellectually active man.
For the junior officer, the most important distinction of Gantter's experience is that he went into combat as a private and ended the war as a lieutenant. This is not to say that the book is a guide to early promotion. Instead it illustrates, better than could a book that only told one side of the story, some of the things that officers may forget about enlisted men, most importantly that they are men, no less than an officer and not particularly different, and how little enlisted often know about the demands placed on an officer from above. In recounting the self-inflicted wounding of a long-serving veteran as a result of battle fatigue, Gantter rails bitterly against his platoon leader for not knowing or caring enough about his condition to send him to the rear before he broke. He then reexamines the incident from a later perspective and concludes from his own hard experience as a platoon leader that the officer may very well have known and cared deeply about him but, due to a surplus of missions and a shortage of replacements, had no choice but to keep him in the line. He devotes his last chapter to a scathing discussion of the Army caste system as it operated in Europe during and immediately after the war, illustrating his points with outrageous and sometimes hilarious examples from his own experience.
Gantter discusses many subjects in the course of Roll Me Over, jumping from music to politics, religion, the Big Picture or whatever comes to mind in lengthy digressions that can at first be disorienting. Another quirk of his style is that, as the book is an amalgam of journal entries, letters home, narrative written after the war, and even a short story, he may at any given point write in the first, second (in all of his letters and many of his journal entries he seems to be addressing is wife), or third person. This is not from lack of skill; his writing is excellent. It seems instead to have been part of the mid-century fad for breaking the rules, like Gertrude Stein never using punctuation. Again, this can at first be disorienting but quickly becomes an enjoyable and engaging way of bringing the reader into Gantter's frame of mind at the time of writing (which, depending on the passage, may be at the front or in the rear, during or after the war). This engagement is important, as one of Gantter's favorite topics is the great physical discomfort and strain of combat. His accounts of days without sleep, dysentery, digging foxholes at night in the pouring rain, scavenging food, killing and being shot at are among the most vivid I have read.

Cleared Hot!: A Marine Combat Pilot's Vietnam Diary (Special Warfare Series)

Average customer rating:

Cleared Hot
bravo
5 STARS
EXCELLENT!!!
Cleared Hot is a clear winner

Cleared Hot!: A Marine Combat Pilot's Vietnam Diary (Special Warfare Series)
Col. Bob Stoffey
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312929412

Book Description

Daring missions. Dangerous rescues. Deadly accuracy.Many pilots never made it out of 'Nam. This one did. Highly decorated Col. Bob Stoffey-- a Marine Corps pilot for over twenty-five years, who served multiple tours in Vietnam-- has seen and done it all. Cleared Hot! is his story-- a fast-paced, high-casualty flight into heart-stopping danger.Full of vivid detail, this combat diary uncovers the real heroes of the Vietnam War, the behind-the-scenes Marine Corps pilots who helped our boys return home....then went back for more.Includes eight pages of heroic photographs!

Customer Reviews:

Cleared Hot.......2007-01-10

A riveting "in the cockpit" presentation of the dangers, personal frustrations, and day to day life or death of combat support helicopter pilots and, perhaps lesser known to the public, the unsung role of Forward Air Controllers (FAC) in low and slow lightly armed observation aircraft, themselves receiving ground fire, guiding high flying jets to target enemies only a few hundred feet in front of friendly ground troops.

Col. Stoffey's ability to recreate in print the radio conversations between FAC and ground or air units gives the reader a feel of "you are there".

bravo.......2006-08-26

great account from the helicoptors point of view. Little difficult getting into as in the beginning there were just too many numbers of different squadrons too absorb. Once I got throught this the read was thoroughly enjoyable.

5 STARS.......2005-08-22

One of the better Vietnam War books. Well-written, interesting, enjoyable, and never self-promoting. Comes across as the Real Deal.

EXCELLENT!!!.......2003-02-27

This is one of the best books on Vietnam EVER. Im only in 8th grade but I've been in the helos he flies and sat in an OV-10 and he couldn't be more descriptive about the birds he flies. I would reccomend this book to any war buff, historian, know it all, or just plain reader!

Cleared Hot is a clear winner.......2003-02-20

Cleared Hot!: A Marine Combat Pilot's Vietnam Diary by Col. Bob Stoffey is an accurate account of a Vietnam pilot during his terms of service in the Vietnam Conflict. Stoffey writes an account of his ordinary missions and his not so ordinary experiences. The book is laced with heroic stories of Stoffey flying his OV-10 forward air support plane and "Dog" helicopter against the "Gooners." In the OH-10 he organizes strikes and marks targets as well as gets in the action with his centerline gattling gun and rockets, which he's deadly accurate with. In the "Dog" Stoffey delivers much needed supplies to Marine "Grunts" under heavy fire. He gets in fast while his .50 cal. gunners clear the way, drop their cargo, and get out. The action just isn't in the air. There are accounts of rocket attacks and gunfire on the base, (near every night) as well as raids by Gooners with satchel bombs.
If you're interested in war books, this is one for you. Stoffey's style is technical and precise, using a lot of military abbreviations and terms, which adds to its authenticity. Cleared Hot!: A Marine Combat Pilot's Vietnam Diary is written as you would expect a pilot of the time to speak. He has that edge about him that defines a great pilot and a hero. This book is worth buying. As well as a good read, it gives you a history lesson with a real sense of the danger involved.

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: the Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty

Average customer rating:

A look at life in 1968 from the eyes of a 16 year old
A Good Read
Just ok
The Vietnam War through the eyes of the sister of a soldier
One of the best Dear America diary's I've read!

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: the Diary of Molly MacKenzie Flaherty
Ellen Emerson White
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0439148898

Book Description

An agonzing dilemma plagues these brother-sister diarists.He is a Marine stationed in Vietnam. She is at home in America, far away from her brother's war zone, fighting for peace. As the marine writes in his journal about his experiences as a soldier, fighting an enemy he can't see, his sister seeks peace. In these gripping installments of DEAR AMERICA and MY NAME IS AMERICA, Ellen Emerson White captures the unique time period when america was at war both in a far-off place, and at home where adults and children alike marched in the streets for peace and freedom. Poignant and complex, these two characters will give readers a glimpse into perhaps the most tumultuous time in modern American history.

Customer Reviews:

A look at life in 1968 from the eyes of a 16 year old.......2006-06-22

This is quite an interesting book written in journal form about a sixteen-year-old girl living in Boston during the Vietnam War. She writes about her brother, who is a soldier, the peace marches, hippies, helping out at a local veteran's hospital, the woman's movement, and many more historical events that took place in 1968, including the murder of Martin Luther King Jr., and Robert Kennedy.

~~~Kat

A Good Read.......2006-05-25

This was a book I was supposed to read in school for a long-term assignment. I thought it was going to be another boring week trying to read it, but I found that it was very entertaining. I got into the character's thoughts and I could feel what she was going through. I was so impressed with it that I read her brother's journal(Patrick Seamus Flaherty). I had a great time reading it. I suggest young readers to read it also because you can learn a lot about how life was then.

Just ok.......2006-05-03

I started reading this book and after awhile i put it down for awhile...because there were some boring spots. but once i finished it i was glad i read it.

The Vietnam War through the eyes of the sister of a soldier.......2006-02-21

The Vietnam War comes down tough on fifteen year old Molly Mackenzie Flaherty. All the pain and death the war is causing is too much for her to handle-especially since her own brother, Patrick, has gone to fight himself. She misses him more every day-especially when she is informed that he is injured. Molly's world is falling apart-no one is happy, nothing is good.
She decides to get a job at a near by army hospital-where her eyes are opened to the facts of life, and what war is really all about.
Everything is tangled up in her emotions. What can she do? Will she ever find happiness?
A good book about what it's like to be the sister of a soldier.

One of the best Dear America diary's I've read!.......2005-05-24

Fifteen-year old Molly Mackenzie Flaherty is lost in the 60's and the Vietnam War. In the book there are so many feelings around her. She faced with racial prejudice, women's discrimination, pro and anti-war feelings, and the absence of her father who's a firefighter. On top of all that she's just trying to figure out how to grow up. Molly is unsure about what to believe-is the war good, or bad? What I like about her, is she weighs everything carefully, examines it, thinks about it, and never just "goes with the flow."
Molly's a unique character. I had the feeling while I was reading the book that she was a real person, not just another Dear America heroine who did great things, but wasn't a real girl. She never saved someone's life, made it into the papers, or changed the course of a war, like some girls in the Dear America books. But you have a feeling that she did do something.
The main thing that is dominant in the book is her love and worry for her brother, Patrick, fighting over in Vietnam. She's not sure she agrees with the war, but she doesn't want to "betray" Patrick by wearing peace symbols, or being in protests with the "beautiful people", as the hippies called themselves.
You can tell towards the middle of the book that she becomes more confused. She faces the weary hatred in the VA hospital that she volunteers at, against her parent's wishes. The guys there remind her of her brother, and that's one of the reasons she does it. One of my favorite parts in the book is when a depressed attitude is going around in the VA hospital. "Okay, people," I said loudly. "New rules, starting now. I don't want to see any talking. I don't want to see any smiles. I don't want to see any fun. All I want to see is healing, got it? Lots and lots of healing." Molly ends up creating a whole new mood, she starts making pillow sheet footballs and throwing them around to the guys in the ward.
In the end when Patrick gets injured, Molly has to deal with all of those feelings, too. But she's just grateful that he's alive. You can tell that she's beginning to understand things a little. I was glad when she finally decides the boy she liked is a jerk. Molly knows she doesn't like the war, but still admires her brother and she never has racial prejudice.
It's a great book, and I definitely recommend it. It really helps with the feel of the turmoil in the 60's. Then why did I give it only four stars? Because I don't agree with some of Molly's religious or "Feminine Mystique" views. Other than that, I really enjoyed it, especially Molly's spunk and good humor.

Average customer rating:

A Darn Good Read
DIRECT, NO FLUFF
Excellent and honest account
A squid hero
Tactical Textbook

Force Recon Diary, 1969
Bruce H. Major Norton
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0804106711
Release Date: 1991-03-31

Book Description

The riveting, true-to-life account of survival, heroism and death in the elite Marine 3d Force Recon unit, one of one two Marine units to receive the Valorous Unit Citation during the Vietnam War. Doc Norton, leader of 3d Force Recon, recounts his team's experiences behind enemy lines during the tense patrols, sudden ambushes and acts of supreme sacrifice that occurred as they gathered valuable information about NVA operations right from the source.

Customer Reviews:

A Darn Good Read.......2007-09-09

I cannot add any more than what has already been written below, except to say I like TRUE stories books better than fiction, and this book captivates your attention right at the beginning and takes the reader right through the very end. For a first book by this author, it is a superior read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

DIRECT, NO FLUFF.......2007-03-21

This is a very sobering and informative account of the author's 1969 stint in Vietnam. The early part contains background on how the author joined the marines and became a medic. Later chapters recount particular missions into the DMZ. You get to experience the danger of what's it like to be part of a small team, sometimes just a few yards away from an enemy of greatly superior numbers.

This short work is extremely well-written, direct, and very interesting. The author provides great insight into the special comradeship within the US Marines.

Excellent and honest account.......2006-04-11

I highly recommend any of Major Norton's books. This book is very well written, and provides an honest opinion of his experiences during his first tour in Vietnam. It also gives a good, personal look at the inner workings of Marine Recon teams in Vietnam.

Major Norton's easy and honest writing style make his books very hard to put down once you start reading them. He also does a great job of bringing the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of combat in Vietnam to life for the reader.

Most of all, Major Norton does an outstanding job of making one proud of all our fighting men & women who served in Vietnam; they did a great job and books like this one are long overdue.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to all who might be interested in the personal experiences of Vietnam combat, as well as for anyone interested in the extremely tough job of gaining intel on enemy forces in Vietnam.

A squid hero.......2004-09-02

This is a story about Bruce Norton, who joined the Navy and then became a
> Navy medic.(Corpsman)
> > He was assigned to 3rd Force Recon Company in 1969-1970 in Vietnam. He
> served with Alex Lee, who wrote his own book about commanding 3rd Force
> Recon Company.
> >
> > Norton, like the Marine sniper Carlos Hathcock, was raised in the woods,
> and learned to shoot and find his way around the woods as a kid. This came
> in handy in Vietnam.
> > He learned to shoot rats in the city garbage dump in his home town in
> Mass. They hunted at night, with flashlights taped to their rifle barrels
> to spot the rats.
> >
> > While in Vietnam, he went through a typhoon and was in the jungle, with
> his 6 man team. They tied themselves together, and to some banana trees to
> avoid being blown away by the 120 mile per hour winds.
> >
> > He was on patrols that encountered a bear on one, and a tiger on another.
> >
> > He lost several friends in the Ashau Valley. Alex Lee describes the
> Ashau Valley as spooky and filled with evil spirits in his book, Force
> Recon. Horton, on the other hand compares it to the Garden of Eden.
> > While in the Valley, he describes how he got very sick on water the North
> Vietnamese poisoned by killing a pig and throwing the carcass in a pond.
> Norton drank the water, not realizing there was a dead carcass in there,
> even though the North Vietnamese left signs on the nearby trees announcing
> this.(The Marines could not read Vietnamese)
> > The 3rd Recon Company was disbanded when he was there, after Gen
> Nickerson, who created the Company, got transferred back out of Vietnam.
> >
> > Norton notes the outstanding leadership in the Company. Alex Lee, Major,
> Commanding, had the Legion of Merit, Silver Star, Bronze Star, 3 Navy
> Commendation medals, Navy Achievement medal, 2 purple hearts. Today, Lee is
> still considered a genius at small unit tactics. Clovis Coffman, another
> officer won the Navy Cross.
> > Two of his best friends, died bravely in the Ashau Valley winning medals.
> Charles Sexton, won the Navy Cross in the Ashau Valley and Paul Keaveney
> won the Silver Star.
> >
> > Norton stayed in the military, leaving the Navy and made a career
> > of the Marines, and was a Major when writing this book in 1990.
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>

Tactical Textbook.......2004-05-06

This is a great read. For those interested in small unit tactics and leadership this is a must read. The final chapters brought tears to my eyes because you almost come to know the team first hand in each mission only to read about their deaths in the last patrol; it is numbing. It is with gratitude to know that there are those who become warriors for love of country, to endure hardships and to look death in the face to sustain loyalty to their comrades and the legend of the Corps. Thank you Doc and Force Recon Marines.

Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Gunsight View of Combat in Vietnam

Average customer rating:

A surprisingly great book
Outstanding
Great job of telling the true story!
Another American Hero
Da Nang Diary

Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Gunsight View of Combat in Vietnam
Tom Yarborough
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0312984936

Book Description

THEY FLEW LOW, SLOW, AND INTO THE FACE OF ENEMY FIRE....In Vietnam, an elite group of air force pilots fought a secret air war in Cessna 0-2 and OV-10 Bronco prop planes-flying as low as they could get. The eyes and ears of the fast-moving jets who rained death and destruction down on enemy positions, the forward air controller made an art form out of an air strike-knowing the targets, knowing where friendly troops were, and reacting with split-second, life and death decisions as a battle unfolded. For Tom Yarborough, the risk was constant, intense, electrifying. A member of the super secret Prairie Fire unit, Yarborough became one of the most frequently shot-up pilots flying out of Da Nang-engaging in a series of dangerous secret missions in Laos. This is Yarborough's adrenaline-pumping chronicle of heroism, danger, and brotherhood in Vietnam. From the rescuing of downed pilots to taking out enemy positions, to the most harrowing day-long missions, here is the dedication, courage, and skill of the fliers who took the war into the enemy's backyard.... AUTHORBIO: TOM YARBOROUGH served in the Air Force for thirty years in a variety of flying and staff assignments. A command pilot, he logged 5,000 hours of flying time, with over 1,500 of them in combat. During his two Vietnam tours as a forward air controller, he earned thirty combat decorations, including the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry. Now a business executive, he lives in West Springfield, Virginia, where he maintains ties to the academic community as an adjunct history professor at Northern Virginia Community College.

Customer Reviews:

A surprisingly great book.......2007-09-24

Really great read, a real page turner, funny. About a newby covey pilot who turns into the old man. His crew chief cringes every time he takes off because he brings back more ruined planes than anyone. One of the best FAC books out there.

Outstanding .......2007-05-04

A rare combination a true warrior, who survived some of the most dangerous flying of the Vietnam War and a highly literate author. One wonders where our nation finds the quiet Paladins of the 20'Th century.

At one level a warrior's story of near hand to hand combat from the air with a fully committed enemy. The evolution of the author's transition from a member of the Air Force to his very close identification with the Special Forces who operated under his wing adds to the story. Live at the Muff Divers Club also brings color to the tale. As a war story it has the same ring of aggressive sacrifice of other great warriors.

As a psychological study it is a great story of the magnetism / repulsion of war and the warrior culture.

Finally, it is a story of flying on the very edge. As a pilot what is so stunning is the difficulty of the conditions under which they operated. Operating under ceilings a fraction of that required for civilian pilots while performing a difficult mission and finally trying to stay alive stretches the reader's ability to understand. Most non pilots will take for granted the brief description of descending into cloud covered valleys, far from navigation facilities as another day at the office. Far from it, some of the most dangerous and challenging things a pilot can be called upon to do. But that's just for starters; those of us in civilian life almost always have the ability to climb back though the clouds to sunshine when we are overloaded. However, it must be a totally different experience to be flying against a dedicated enemy while trapped under the overcast. The equivalent of fighting on the edge of a cliff.

.The reader is fortunate that the author brings a great story and the skill to tell the story. Even more of a gift is that the author lived to tell the story of those who did not return.

Great job of telling the true story!.......2007-03-22

Tom has done an outstanding job of telling the tales of FAC work in Vietnam and the secret war in Laos. This book is a must read for anybody with a sense of patriotism and who is a pilot and really cares abot "getting the job done". Excellent book and story.

Thanks Tom

Another American Hero.......2007-03-15

Tom Yarborough (TY)has written an exelent book about his time as a FAC with the 20 TASS in Da Nang during the vienam war.
It is well written, very exiting and I had a hard time putting it down, the author dos a great job putting the reader in the backseat and you can almost taste the adrenelin and smell the sweat.
Go buy this book, you cannot miss out
Bo Hermansen

Da Nang Diary.......2007-01-10

This book has personal significance for me. My sweetheart flew with this group and knows the author, so we will read it together and re-live history with a very intensely personal appreciation of this well-written, engaging book. I initially looked at a few sections and passages and found it interesting, engaging and not the least bit dry or boring as some historical stories can be. Amazed and thrilled that the author has captured such an important part of our mutual history that touched so many American families. BRAVO!

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram

Average customer rating:

A tender and wise book
A view of military medicine from the other side
Timeless Concerns
A memoir about war for all to learn from
deep diary

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
Dang Thuy Tram
Manufacturer: Harmony
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0307347370
Release Date: 2007-09-11

Book Description

At the age of twenty-four, Dang Thuy Tram volunteered to serve as a doctor in a National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) battlefield hospital in the Quang Ngai Province. Two years later she was killed by American forces not far from where she worked. Written between 1968 and 1970, her diary speaks poignantly of her devotion to family and friends, the horrors of war, her yearning for her high school sweetheart, and her struggle to prove her loyalty to her country. At times raw, at times lyrical and youthfully sentimental, her voice transcends cultures to speak of her dignity and compassion and of her challenges in the face of the war’s ceaseless fury.

The American officer who discovered the diary soon after Dr. Tram’s death was under standing orders to destroy all documents without military value. As he was about to toss it into the flames, his Vietnamese translator said to him, “Don’t burn this one. . . . It has fire in it already.” Against regulations, the officer preserved the diary and kept it for thirty-five years. In the spring of 2005, a copy made its way to Dr. Tram’s elderly mother in Hanoi. The diary was soon published in Vietnam, causing a national sensation. Never before had there been such a vivid and personal account of the long ordeal that had consumed the nation’s previous generations.

Translated by Andrew X. Pham and with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Frances FitzGerald, Last Night I Dreamed of Peace is an extraordinary document that narrates one woman’s personal and political struggles. Above all, it is a story of hope in the most dire of circumstances—told from the perspective of our historic enemy but universal in its power to celebrate and mourn the fragility of human life.

Customer Reviews:

A tender and wise book.......2007-09-30

This is a poignant and sad book. The perspective, the daily survival experience of a guerrilla force fighting a technologically sophisticated army, is unique in literature. This perspective obviously speaks to many similar experiences around the world (Chechyna, Iraq, Timor, South Sudan, etc.) --that reaches beyond the political labels that get attached to the various partisans.

Yes, the book is somewhat tendentious and overwritten but that is the charm of the honesty of her writing. After all, she was not writing for us, she was writing for herself about her lost love, the sexual tensions in medicine, the fear, the fatigue, the disappointments both political and medical. The reader should accept this voice as one might listen to any young person coming and talking about how confused this crazy destructive madness is. And yet, despite her voice--here is a barely trained doctor--operating without infrastructure, making medical judgments far beyond her experience and training. In this sense, she is older than most of us.

A view of military medicine from the other side.......2007-09-29

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram
Two years ago my colleagues at the Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi gave me a copy of the recently published diary of Dang Thuy Tram. It was apparent that they were very moved by the contents of that diary. Unfortunately for me, the diary was written in Vietnamese. I could do little more that wait for a translation of the text.
Working and teaching at the Bach Mai Hospital Department of Intensive Care Medicine since 1997, I knew why I was given the copy of the diary. During my association with my Vietnamese colleagues, I had often lamented that unlike American military physicians, Vietnamese military physicians didn't write about their military medicine experiences. A frequent response to my queries had been that the experiences of Vietnamese physicians in the wars were so difficult, so harsh and so painful, over such extended periods, that Vietnamese physicians who survived the conflicts didn't wish to recall those devastating hardships. I tried to point this out in my recently published book - A DOCTOR'S VIETNAM JOURNAL, and credit the brave physicians who labored for the other side.
The recent arrival of the translation of the diary of Dang Thuy Tram - LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE, provides us with the story of a young female physician's personal hardships and struggles to provide medical care under extremely difficult conditions and with inadequate resources. Like most military physicians working with patients in battle-zone settings, the respect, gratitude and in her case, the love of her patients, appeared to carry her through the most difficult times.
This brave and compassionate young lady suffered much during the two years of her military service, which ended with her own traumatic death.
Fortunately, her story survives through her diary which introduces us to a noble, idealistic and heroic young physician.

Timeless Concerns.......2007-09-24

Read LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE, keeping in mind her words are from a diary, not an edited book. Dang Thuy Tram says her diary "... is not only for my private life. It must also record the lives of my people and their innumerable sufferings, these folks of steel from this Southern land." Her latter purpose is apparent when she quotes Party (communist) rhetoric as she scolds herself for acknowledging her "natural" feelings of loneliness, fear, sadness, confusion, self doubt, pride, love, and so on. Why should she complain when her countrymen are dying for the cause? She doesn't want to appear less than fully vested in the "revolution" against U.S. presence, which indicates it's clear her diary could be read at any time. (Unfortunately, lack of privacy is the reason most people who write in diaries censor what they say.)

Tram speaks for many young women when she asks Who am I? and What do I have to do to be accepted and respected? or What is the proper way to express love? She was a doctor who treated soldiers and civilians in South Vietnam in the late 1960s, but she could have just as easily been in Iraq in 2006. Her universal concerns are what kept me reading the book.

Tram's "flowery literary style" is irritating but tolerable, because, as the translator notes, that was the "style of her era."

Please note the book design: Beautiful cover. The end sheets are pages from Tram's diary, and the title page features a design from a bookmark in her possession when she was killed.

A memoir about war for all to learn from.......2007-09-18

(Translated from the original Vietnamese by Andrew X. Pham)

April 8, 1968 is the first date in the diary of Dr. Dang Thuy Tram, a lovely, twenty-five year-old woman from Hanoi, who works as the chief medical officer in a field hospital in the mountains of central Vietnam. It is only two months after the Tet offensive and while hers is a civilian facility, she also treats many wounded soldiers.

Her first entry describes an appendectomy, "Operated on one case of appendicitis with inadequate anesthesia. I had only a few meager vials of Novocain to give the soldier, but he never groaned once during the entire procedure. He even smiled to encourage me."

Under conditions that were much less than optimal, she strives to give her patients the care she feels they deserve for devoting their lives to the cause of Vietnamese reunification under the banner of Ho Chi Minh's Party. In North Vietnam, she grew up in a somewhat privileged family and thus works extra hard to become a Party member. Yet she doesn't give up on the literature and music she was raised with. During nights in underground shelters, waiting for the end of American bombing raids, she discusses the works of Russian novelists with some of her friends. Her diary contains quotes from some of those works as well as quotations from well-known Vietnamese poetry.

Thuy, as she refers to herself, writes poignantly about the soldiers and villagers that she encounters. She also is very real in her musings about her own life - how she misses her parents and sisters who are still back in Hanoi, about her struggle to maintain proper sisterly affection for the young men who profess to love her. She seems naïve about love while harboring a passionate hatred for the Americans who are destroying her country and killing and maiming so many of her countrymen.

This book is not easy. The names and places are difficult to remember. Thuy Tram does not survive the war. This diary was found by an American soldier and returned to her family in March 2005. It was published in Hanoi in July 2005 and surprised everyone by being a major bestseller.

Andrew X. Pham enlisted the help of his father, who grew up in Hanoi, as well as Thuy's sister Kim Tram, to translate this book as accurately as possible. It also includes family pictures.

Armchair Interviews says: A vivid point of view written by a very sympathetic person.

deep diary.......2007-09-12

In 1968 in a Viet Nam twenty-four years old Dr. Dang Thuy Tram joined the Viet Cong as a physician at a battlefield hospital. In 1970 American soldiers shot and killed her. In those two years that she served as a battlefield doctor, she kept a diary. Military Intelligence officer Fred Whitehurst found the tattered hand sewn journal in 1970; preserved it (against orders); and eventually in 2005 presented it to Dr. Tram's dairy to her family.

The diary is a deep look at the destructive impact of the Viet Nam war on the country and its people from the perspective of a young medical volunteer who was zealous towards healing her patients. Dr. Dang Thuy Tram provides insight into the horrors of war as she struggles with saving lives and not having great success. Although difficult to read at times as this is a journal filled with short concise commentary (remember this was not intended to be published as a book three decades later), LAST NIGHT I DREAMED OF PEACE is a powerful indictment of those who rush others to war from a safe distance as the innocent suffer for years afterward.

Harriet Klausner

Diary of an Airborne Ranger: A LRRP's Year in the Combat Zone

Average customer rating:

A great read
Diary of an Airborne Ranger: A LRRP's Year in the Combat Zone
Through the Eyes of a 19 Year Old
Diary of an Airborne Ranger
DIARY OF AN AIRBORNE RANGER

Diary of an Airborne Ranger: A LRRP's Year in the Combat Zone
Frank Johnson
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0804118809
Release Date: 2001-02-27

Book Description

Perhaps the most accurate story of LRRPs at war
ever to appear in print!

When Frank Johnson arrived in Vietnam in 1969, he was nineteen, a young soldier untested in combat like thousands of others--but with two important differences: Johnson volunteered for the elite L Company Rangers of the 101st Airborne Division, a long range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) unit, and he kept a secret diary, a practice forbidden by the military to protect the security of LRRP operations.

Now, more than three decades later, those hastily written pages offer a rare look at the daily operations of one of the most courageous units that waged war in Vietnam. Johnson served in I Corps, in northern Vietnam, where combat was furious and the events he recounts emerge, stark and compelling: walking point in the A Shau Valley, braving enemy fire to rescue a downed comrade, surviving days and nights of relentless tension that suddenly exploded in the blinding fury of an NVA attack.

Undimmed and unmuddied by the passing of years, Johnson's account is unique in the annals of Vietnam literature. Moreover, it is a timeless testimony to the sacrifice and heroism of the LRRPs who dared to risk it all.

Customer Reviews:

A great read.......2006-09-25

There's no fluff or hot air because Johnson basically wrote this while in-country, which makes trusting his word a no-brainer. He spares nothing, especially those whom he served with; he's not afraid to say what he thinks. All too often, time changes the perception of the author from how they thought and felt during war, into what they now think and feel.

I must also commend Johnson for coming forward with a review that set the record straight about Herman Brown and the events that unfolded on 11 January 1970 - that takes character.

Otherwise, it was a fast read, but if you're not familiar with how the LRRPs operated, you may want to start with a book that provides more explaination.

Diary of an Airborne Ranger: A LRRP's Year in the Combat Zone.......2006-08-22

I have to admit that I'm prejudice because I wrote the book. I bought the copy for a friend. But let me take this time to clear up a matter I wrote about in my book. I wrote a about Herman Brown's team getting into a fire fight where SSG Salters, the TL, and Sgt Jones, the ATL, were killed. I said in my diary that I didn't think Herman should have gotten the DSC for his actions in the fight. Even though Heman was a friend of mine, and I really liked him alot, I didn't think he deserved the DSC. What I didn't get a chance to say in my book because it was published before I knew it, was what really happened during Herman's fire fight. So let me take the time now. I talked with our 1st Sgt, Gilbert, years later and Top asked me why I said what I did about Herman. I said because it was the way the fight was explained to me. But Top said that about three days after the contact, the Loach pilot that pulled the team out came by the company area and asked if anyone had gotten medals for the contact. Top said no. The Loach pilot than began to tell Top what he had observed. It was very socked in, meaning it was raining and the clouds were ground level. But the pilot was able to fly up a draw and reach the team. When the pilot got there the team was in a shooting match with the bad guys and Herman was standing up and firing in all directions. The pilot got as close to the ground as he could but was unable to touch down. Herman, firing his weapon the whole time, grabbed Salters body and one handed Salters to the gunner. Herman then grabbed Jones' body and again one handed the body to the gunner, the whole time firing in all directions at the bad guys with his free hand. The pilot flew off and dropped the bodies off at a safe place and returned. The pilot again observed Herman going around the small perimeter and firing in all directions like a one man army. The pilot again got as close to the ground as he could and said he could only take two out. The other two members of the team got onto the Loach and Herman stayed back by himself, still firing in all directions. The pilot said he really didn't expect to find Herman alive upon his return, but when he returned, there was Herman still holding off the bad guys. It seemed like to the pilot that Herman had been the only one firing at the bad guys and each of the times the pilot flew in, there was Herman, going around the small perimeter and doing all the firing like a one man army! There was no hesitation of Herman being the last guy out, but the other two rushed on board the Loach. So...that is the real story about Herman Brown. As far as I'm concerned Herman should have gotten the Medal of Honor, and I'm not just saying that because he was my friend. I slammed him in my diary and he was my friend, and I'm now saying he should have earned the CMH because of what he actually did. Top did not want Herman to go out to the field anymore after that fight and that is why. Top said that anyone who goes through a fight and fought like Herman did, he doesn't have to go out. But Herman did go out one more time and that was with me when we had a fobar mission in the Ashau Valley to blow up some bridges. Anyway, I wanted to set the record straight. I know this a little long and alot of years have passed, and I don't know who will actually read this, but I pray for only the best for Herman and that he gets the credit he deserved.

Through the Eyes of a 19 Year Old.......2001-06-09

It was my privilege to have known Frank Johnson while serving with him in Vietnam. There were many times we set across from each other on our bunks and thanked God we were still alive. Frank indeed was a warrior and a man of great courage but there was also another side that was warm kind and gentle. A man that would take the time to listen to your problems, to help you when you were down and to support you when you needed a friend. This book is an accurate accountant of places and events that took place as seen through the eyes of Frank Johnson.With great pleasure I recommend you read this book. It is a supreme insight into what it was like for a 19 your old to have been exposed to the horrors of war. Burgess Wetta

Diary of an Airborne Ranger.......2001-06-02

This book really gives you the first hand account on what happen day by day to this soldier. What a great history lesson. It isn't soften down by someones memories of the Vietnam War but gives you the actual feelings that happen on that day. I find that when I am reading I get lost in the moment and feel like I am right in the jungle with this soldier. I was only 10 yrs old little girl when this was taking place. I looked up my birthday because I wanted to see what this guy was doing on that day when I was celebrating my birthday. Gave me a strange feeling. Thank you to ALL the war veterans who have fought for our freedom.

DIARY OF AN AIRBORNE RANGER.......2001-03-25

A LRRP'S YEAR IN A COMBAT ZONE...This was an excellent book. I just bought the book 2 days ago, and just finished it tonight. I had to read it every chance I got. The hell these guys went through, detailed explicitly in this book, is amazing. The honor and courage that these men showed, went above and beyond the call of duty. Definitely a must read, especially for those who have been in the military, and especially for those who have seen combat...it has certainly brought back memories for me.....

Average customer rating:

An excellent follow-up!
first book better
Col. Norton nailed it.
Right story, wrong period of time.
Sequel to Force Recon Diary, 1969, Another Great Book!

Force Recon Diary, 1970
Bruce H. Major Norton
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0804108064
Release Date: 1992-05-23

Book Description

In the thickof a jungle war where there often wasn't enough food, enough, water, enough air support, enough explosives, or even enough radio batteries, the vulnerable Force Recon Marines knew that the only things that could keep them alive were their courage, their skills, and their loyalty to one another. Here is the story of a Force Recon Company that put its lethal skills to work to make sure its team could survive combat behind benemy lines--where one slip could mean body bags for everyone.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent follow-up!.......2006-04-11

I highly recommend any of Major Norton's books. This book is very well written, and provides an honest opinion of his experiences during his second tour in Vietnam. It also gives a good, personal look at the inner workings of Marine Recon teams in Vietnam.

Major Norton's easy and honest writing style make his books very hard to put down once you start reading them. He also does a great job of bringing the sights, smells, sounds and tastes of combat in Vietnam to life for the reader.

Most of all, Major Norton does an outstanding job of making one proud of all our fighting men & women who served in Vietnam; they did a great job and books like this one are long overdue.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to all who might be interested in the personal experiences of Vietnam combat, as well as for anyone interested in the extremely tough job of gaining intel on enemy forces in Vietnam.

first book better.......2004-09-08

Force Recon, 1970 Bruce Norton

This is the 2nd book by Bruce Norton on his tour of Vietnam in 1969-1970.
His first book takes us from his childhood, to joining the Navy and becoming a Corpsman, to being attached the Marine 3rd Force Company, Recon. Alex Lee, a Major at the time wrote his own book, Force Recon.

Norton's first book stops after 22 patrols, and he is sent to the Philippines for Scuba training.
This is where the second book picks up in his tour of duty. He devotes a chapter to the details of Scuba school, and going on liberty in the nearby town, a dangerous business. Another chapter is devoted to his getting his jump wings in the Philippines, and some time spent jumping in Okinawa, while on the way back to Vietnam.
When he got back, Maj Lee was gone, as were most of the officers and men. Only a platoon of men were left.
They became a cadre to train ROK Marines in recon work.
Norton relates the story of having to go out, establish an outpost, and guard it. They find out that the outpost is only being set up so that a General can come out and inspect it. The Marines have old, worn out uniforms. Before the general's visit, choppers are sent out with new uniforms and boots for the men.
After the inspection, which took the general 10 minutes, the new uniforms and boots are taken back, and the Marines are back in their old uniforms. Days of work spent building an outpost for this! Then it is abandoned.
Norton got assigned to the 1st force recon company. He found out quickly that 3rd Company ran a lot more patrols than 1st recon company. Most of the members who had extensive patrolling experience were men transferred from 3rd company.
A chapter is devoted to jumping from the OV10 Bronco. A chapter is devoted to unusual events at EM clubs, such as the accidental shooting of an American female singer.
He goes back into patrolling, and discusses again in detail all the training and cross training involved.
A chapter is devoted to a mission of mistakes, where an idiot Lt named Blotz nearly gets everyone killed.
Blotz tries to get Norton court martialed, but when details of what happened on the patrol are found out, it is Blotz who is in trouble. Later in the book, Lt Blotz gets tossed out of a moving truck by infuriated enlisted men, but no one saw anything.
A chapter is devoted to 1st Sgt Maurice Jacques, and his exploits, mostly before Norton knew him. Missions with Special Forces in 1965 are discussed in detail.
Another chapter is devoted to Norton's visit to the Naval Support Activity hospital ship. Good food, air conditioning, clean clothes, etc.
Then next chapter involves patrolling the Thuong Duc Valley area, West of Da Nang. There was an SF camp in the Thuong Duc Valley and the North Vietnamese were rocketing it. The Marines set up an outpost and began patrolling trying to find the site where the rockets were being launched and knock it out.
Another chapter is spent on the death of a Marine by being eaten by a tiger.
A Lt Corbett took over the platoon, and a chapter is devoted to him, as he had a lot of experience, and was an excellent officer. Patrolling details are related.
The final chapter relates to Norton getting wounded while on patrol and medevaced. He describes what his unit did while he was in the hospital. 2 Australian Ranges were being trained and loudly wanted the Marines to do patrolling the Australian way. They were choppered out as they were loud and dangerous.
Norton was assigned duty at the Naval Hospital in Boston after he recovered from his injuries.

He was amazed to see Naval Officers spending their lunch time in uniform demonstrating against the war.

Norton met a Marine officer who also had jump wings, who got him in touch with Maj Lee, who was stationed in the Pentagon. Lee suggested that Norton finish college and join the Marines to become and officer, which he did.

Col. Norton nailed it........2001-09-29

I believe Col. Norton pretty well encapsulated the climate over there...I wasn't in Recon, but he did a great job of explaining how counter-recon tactics of the NVA evolved, beginning in Force Recon Diary 1969 and on through Force Recon Diary 1970. Both books were great...real keepers.

Right story, wrong period of time........2001-02-03

As a Special Forces cadre,I observed the Marine Recon teams working the Laotian border around our base at Lang Vei. Their 4 man teams provided much needed information for everyone. We knew of massive enemy build ups in the area prior to Tet, thanks to these brave men. There is no mention of those days in any of these books. Sadly, the story of Marine Recon's greatest feats will probably never be told.

Sequel to Force Recon Diary, 1969, Another Great Book!.......2000-06-27

Force Recon Diary, 1970, picks up where FRD, '69 left off, with "Doc" Norton returning to Vietnam and his second tour with 1st Force. The detail of his work is exceptional, and brings the reader right into the "harbor site" with the team. Major Norton has the ability and talent to capture the moment and spares no expense in "telling it like it was." For anyone interested in the tough business of Marine Reconnaissance during the Vietnam War, the Force Recon Diaries, written by Doc, are as good as it gets. Get this book, sit down with a stiff drink, and read what it was like to be a member of a Marine Force Recon Team in combat. Trully, a great source of information. I give it 5 Stars!

China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975 (The New Cold War History)

Average customer rating:

Interesting but lacking
Read for Class, Pretty Good
Cooperation & Containment in Sino-Vietnamese Relations
good summary but...

China and the Vietnam Wars, 1950-1975 (The New Cold War History)
Qiang Zhai
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807848425
Release Date: 2000-03-15

Book Description

In the quarter century after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Beijing assisted Vietnam in its struggle against two formidable foes, France and the United States. Indeed, the rise and fall of this alliance is one of the most crucial developments in the history of the Cold War in Asia. Drawing on newly released Chinese archival sources, memoirs and diaries, and documentary collections, Qiang Zhai offers the first comprehensive exploration of Beijing's Indochina policy and the historical, domestic, and international contexts within which it developed.

In examining China's conduct toward Vietnam, Zhai provides important insights into Mao Zedong's foreign policy and the ideological and geopolitical motives behind it. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he shows, Mao considered the United States the primary threat to the security of the recent Communist victory in China and therefore saw support for Ho Chi Minh as a good way to weaken American influence in Southeast Asia. In the late 1960s and 1970s, however, when Mao perceived a greater threat from the Soviet Union, he began to adjust his policies and encourage the North Vietnamese to accept a peace agreement with the United States.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting but lacking.......2007-04-16

This is very important history. For much of the last 50 years the history of Vietnam has mostly been one of the history of the Vietnam war, there has been little attention paid to the history of the country or its relations with its other neighbors such as Cambodia or China. Yet the Chinese relationship is immensely important. Even during the Vietnam war the relationship was very complex, especially in light of Detente. By the high point of Detente in 1973, Vietnam and China had many differences, not onyl culturally and historically but also in terms of power-politics. Vietnam became mostly an ally of the U.S.S.R. After the fall of Saigon and the Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia things changed again and China demonstrated along the Vietnamese border and invaded the country for a few kilometers to teach it that China was the boss of southeast Asia, not Vietnam. After all Vietnam ousted China's ally, Pol Pot, from Pnomh Penh. However this book does not make light of this, it ends in 1975 and for that this book is a shame for it should have continued the story.

Nevertheless this is an important book and an important contribution.

Seth J. Frantzman

Read for Class, Pretty Good.......2006-04-24

Author Qiang Zhai, professor of history at Auburn University Montgomery in Alabama, explains his rationale for writing this book in the introduction, "The rise and fall of the Sino-Vietnamese alliance is one of the most crucial developments in the history of the Cold War in Asia in general and Chinese foreign relations in particular." During the course of his research, Zhai found many, yet complex, motives behind Beijing's Indochina policy and one of his main premises is that the Beijing-Hanoi relationship was composed of both agreements and contradictions, cooperation and confrontation.

China and Vietnam had a complicated relationship long before the Indochina wars of the mid-20th century. Zhai believes that the Vietnamese "had a tradition of looking to China for models and inspirations," but there also were "historical animosities between the two countries as a result of China's interventions in Vietnam." Zhai writes that Mao Zedong was very eager to help Vietnam because Mao believed Indochina constituted one of the three fronts (the others being Korea and Taiwan). When the Viet Minh army headed toward the decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, they were accompanied by a Chinese general military adviser and China furnished the PAVN with antiaircraft guns, as well as engineering experts and large quantities of ammunition. The Viet Minh won the battle but were bitterly disappointed by the peace which followed. According to Zhai, China's approach to the Geneva conference was motivated by fear of the United States' designs in Indochina: "To prevent American intervention, [Zhou Enlai] was ready to compromise of the Laotian and Cambodian issue," and he formally proposed the immediate withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from Laos and Cambodia.
An interesting part of the book is when Zhai makes the assertion that, in 1961, President Kennedy set out to increase U.S. commitment to the Saigon regime. In response, according to Zhai, Mao Zedong expressed a general support for the armed struggle of the South Vietnamese people, but China's leaders were uneasy about their Vietnamese comrades' tendency to conduct large-unit operations in the south. Zhai writes: "The period between 1961 and 1964 was a crucial one in the evolution of Sino-DRV relations....Its urgent need to resist American pressure increased its reliance on China's material assistance." In Zhai's view, although Chinese leaders were determined to avoid war with the United States, Beijing said that if the United States attacks China, that would mean war and there would be no limits to the war. Above all, Mao and his associates wanted the North Vietnamese to wage a protracted war to tie down the United States in Vietnam.
When the Paris negotiations began in May 1968, Beijing was "unenthusiastic." In less than three years, the international situation changed. By 1971, according to Zhai, Chinese leaders were hoping to see an early conclusion of the Vietnam War in order to preserve American power and contain Soviet influence. After President Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972, according to Zhai, the North Vietnamese learned that Chinese foreign policy drew less on Communist unity and more on Chinese national interest. In September 1975, just a few months after Saigon fell and Vietnam was unified, Zhai writes that Mao told a Vietnamese visitor, in effect, "Hanoi should stop looking to China for assistance...The long historical conflict between China and Vietnam...had returned to life."
In conclusion, and in my opinion, the most important aspects of this book is its demonstration that international Communism was not huge in the 1960s and 1970s. Zhai makes clear that the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China encouraged and aided Vietnam's struggle for independence from France and its war for national unification against the United States, but the Communist powers were motivated more by national interests than by revolutionary solidarity. The history of Chinese-Vietnamese relations between 1950 and 1975 must be viewed within the broader contexts of growing Sino-Soviet competition for dominance in the international Communist movement and of China's eventual, if only limited, relationship with the United States.

Cooperation & Containment in Sino-Vietnamese Relations.......2000-10-09

In the introduction to this scholarly and impassive, but very interesting, study of China's relations with Vietnam during the height of the Cold War, Author Qiang Zhai, professor of history at Auburn University Montgomery in Alabama, explains his rationale for writing this book: "The rise and fall of the Sino-Vietnamese alliance is one of the most crucial developments in the history of the Cold War in Asia in general and Chinese foreign relations in particular." According to Zhai, he drew on "fresh Chinese documents to present a full-length treatment of the evolution of the Sino-DRV relationship between the two Indochina wars, focusing on its strategic, political, and military aspects." During the course of his research, Zhai found "a complex blend of motives behind Beijing's Indochina policy," and one of his main premises is that the "Beijing-Hanoi relationship was composed of both agreements and contradictions, cooperation and confrontation."

China and Vietnam had a complicated relationship long before the Indochina wars of the mid-20th century. According to Zhai, the Vietnamese "had a tradition of looking to China for models and inspirations," but there also were "historical animosities between the two countries as a result of China's interventions in Vietnam." Zhai writes that Mao Zedong was "eager to aid Ho Chi Minh in 1950" because Mao believed "Indochina constituted one of the three fronts (the others being Korea and Taiwan) that Mao perceived as vulnerable to an invasion by imperialist countries headed by the United States." When the Viet Minh army headed toward the decisive battle at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, they were accompanied by a Chinese "general military adviser," and China furnished the PAVN with antiaircraft guns, as well as engineering experts and large quantities of ammunition. The Viet Minh won the battle but were bitterly disappointed by the peace which followed. According to Zhai, China's approach to the Geneva conference was motivated by fear of the United States' designs in Indochina: "To prevent American intervention, [Zhou Enlai] was ready to compromise of the Laotian and Cambodian issue," and he formally proposed "withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from Laos and Cambodia." Zhai writes: "For the Vietnamese Communists, the Geneva Conference served as a lesson about the nature and limits of Communist internationalism," and both Beijing and Moscow pressured the Viet Minh "to abandon its efforts to unify the whole of Vietnam."

Zhai makes the controversial assertion that, in 1961, President Kennedy "set out to increase U.S. commitment to the Saigon regime." In response, according to Zhai, Mao Zedong "expressed a general support for the armed struggle of the South Vietnamese people," but China's leaders "were uneasy about their Vietnamese comrades' tendency to conduct large-unit operations in the south." Zhai writes: "The period between 1961 and 1964 was a crucial one in the evolution of Sino-DRV relations....Its urgent need to resist American pressure increased its reliance on China's material assistance." According to Zhai: "The newly available Chinese documents clearly indicate that Beijing provided extensive support (short of volunteer pilots) to Hanoi during the Vietnam War and in doing so risked war with the United States." In Zhai's view, although Chinese leaders were "determined to avoid war with the United States," Beijing warned that "if the United States bombs China[,] that would mean war and there would be no limits to the war." According to Zhai: "Between 1965 and 1968, Beijing strongly opposed peace talks between Hanoi and Washington and rejected a number of international initiatives designed to promote a peaceful solution to the Vietnam conflict." "Above all, Mao and his associates wanted the North Vietnamese to wage a protracted war to tie down the United States in Vietnam." When the Paris negotiations began in May 1968, Beijing was "unenthusiastic." In less than three years, the international situation changed. Zhai's lengthy discussion of the complicated internal and international events leading up to the crisis in Cambodia in 1970 is a case study in Machiavellian politics and diplomacy. By 1971, according to Zhai, Chinese leaders were "keen to see an early conclusion of the Vietnam War in order to preserve American power and contain Soviet influence." After President Nixon's historic trip to China in 1972, according to Zhai, the North Vietnamese "drew a bitter lesson from Nixon's handshake with Mao that China's foreign policy was concerned less with Communist unity than with the pursuit of China's national interest." In Zhai';s view: "Nixon's decision to normalize relations with Beijing nullified the hitherto basic rationale of the Vietnam War, namely to contain and isolate Communist China." According to Zhai: "Mao and Zhou Enlai viewed with satisfaction the conclusion of the Paris Peace Agreement." In September 1975, just a few months after Saigon fell and Vietnam was unified, Zhai writes that Mao told a Vietnamese visitor, in effect, "Hanoi should stop looking to China for assistance." "The long historical conflict between China and Vietnam...had returned to life."

In conclusion, Zhai asserts that "[t]here were two strands in China's policy toward Vietnam during the two Indochina wars: cooperation and containment;" "From the 1950s to 1968, the cooperation side of China's policy was predominant; and "From the late 1960s, particularly between 1972 and 1975, the containment side of China's policy became more prominent." In my opinion, the most important aspects of this book is its demonstration that international Communism was not monolithic in the 1960s and 1970s. Zhai makes clear that the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China encouraged and aided Vietnam's struggle for independence from France and its war for national unification against the United States, but the Communist powers were motivated more by national interests than by revolutionary solidarity. The history of Chinese-Vietnamese relations between 1950 and 1975 must be viewed within the broader contexts of growing Sino-Soviet competition for primacy in the international Communist movement and of China's eventual, if only limited, rapprochement with the United States. Zhai's book is, therefore, an important contribution to the literature about the most controversial foreign war in American history.

good summary but..........2000-05-17

Mr. Zhai's contribution to Cold War history is a worthy addition to any CW buff's collection, since China's role in the conflict has always been a mix of "Yellow Peril" paranoia, rumor and biased commentary. It is a sound summary of the initially cozy, then increasingly frosty relations between the two communist Asian nations. However, being familiar with many of the observations made in this book from other sources, I was hoping for a more cogent analysis of the synergy between the radicalization of Mao's vision of perpetual revolution and the Indochinese wars. For example, did the Cultural Revolution hinder or help the Vietnamese, and what were their perceptions? Did China encourage Pol Pot's intransigence vis-a-vis Hanoi because of ideological affinity or just plain spite? How did the Ussuri River clashes affect the Soviet supply link to Hanoi? This is a good volume for factual summary of the events, but a more profound reading of the new archival sources needs to follow.

Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Year of Combat over Vietnam

Average customer rating:

A Great Hero
Outstanding, very readable and fast paced- as good as Clancy
I could not put the book down.
The most hair rising combat flight missions I've ever read.
Excellent recount of OV-10 Forward Air Controller in Vietnam

Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Year of Combat over Vietnam
Tom Yarborough
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312050674

Customer Reviews:

A Great Hero.......2002-07-25

This book is excellent! But, I am biased. Col Tom Yarborough was my Professor of Aerospace Studies at Indiana University and a major reason why I joined the Air Force. He a great and inspiring man. I highly recommend this book by a true hero.

Outstanding, very readable and fast paced- as good as Clancy.......1999-06-14

Anyone who is an armchair flyboy or military aviation buff will find this book to be one of the best. Col. Yarborough's writing style keeps you on the edge of your chair as you follow his incredible hair raising missions in Veitnam and Laos. Best on all this is not fiction but the real item.

I could not put the book down........1999-03-08

This is by far the best book I have read on Vietnam. It takes you to the air with the pilot like you are in the back seat. It's hard hitting and lots of action. I highly recommend it.

The most hair rising combat flight missions I've ever read........1997-12-10

I read a lot of Vietnam pilot's memoires but these are definitely the best. Here I found absolutly the most hair rising combat sorties in treetop level under enemy fire written with such speed, that I could not stop reading. I don't know Tom Yarborough personally, but I really started to like that guy when reading his book. If I should ever be in such a stressy enviroment like Nam, having a guy like him as squadron mate should make things a lot more bearable.

Excellent recount of OV-10 Forward Air Controller in Vietnam.......1997-10-12

Excellent first hand story of flying the OV-10 as a Forward Air Controller in Vietnam. Especially exciting because of the nature of the mission: supporting the infil and exfil of long range patrols. This story has only recently been declassified and is now told in a vivid and thrilling first hand account by one of the most decorated Forward Air Controllers from the Vietnam war. If you like flying and fighting you'll love this story.

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