| Excerpts from Vietnam books | ||
| —No-Win War —Rules of Engagement | —Tet 1968 —U.S. News Media | –Communist Atrocities –Anti-war Movement |
The following list of books, categorized by branch of service, is intended to demonstrate the richness of the popular Vietnam war literature that has been authored by the men who fought in that war. Since many of these books were published decades after the events recounted, the authors often expended tremendous effort to contact other individuals involved and research the records before writing their stories.
One point becomes quickly apparent in surveying this literature — not all of the men saw the same war. Combat conditions varied greatly by year, by region (e.g., DMZ, Central Highlands, Mekong Delta), and by branch of service, unit, and responsibility. Yet on many topics there is common agreement. Excerpts from a number of these books have been selected to demonstrate that consensus.
The appearance of a book in this list (or its selection for excerpts) does not by itself constitute an endorsement of every view, attitude, or conclusion of the author. The comments following each book are publisher comments taken from the cover jacket.
The books that appear in this list have been read by staff over several years. With so many Vietnam War books now in print, inevitably numerous worthy titles did not make it on this list.
Note: This section of the Vietnam web area is in the process of being updated and completed. Please check back frequently for new additions.
U.S. Army
Infantry/Airborne/Airmobile
Helicopter War
Rangers/LRPs/LRRPs
Special Forces
Tanks
U.S. Navy
Brown Water Warriors
SEALS
Seawolves (Helicopters)
Naval Air
U.S. Marine Corps
Tanks
Infantry
Force Recon
Marine Air
The Vietnam War as Recounted by Vietnam Veterans:
Bibliography
Basel, G. I. Pak Six. New York: Berkley Publishing, 1982
A blistering first-hand account of the air war over North Vietnam. The Vietnam air war, 1967. Vietnam was divided into six Route Packages, known among the bomber pilots as Paks. But no missions were so deadly, so feared, as those in Pak Six. Far in the north, Pak Six included not only Hanoi but the enemy’s vital supply lines to China. The most aggressively defended piece of air space in the war, the skies over Pak Six were thick with MiGs, surface-to-air missiles, and the dark flak of artillery. (cover)
Blesse, Frederick C. “Check Six”—A Fighter Pilot Looks Back. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1987
From West Point through two wars and hundreds of combat missions, a flying ace tells it like it is. Major General F. C. “Boots” Blesse flew two tours over Korea, becoming our nation’s sixth-ranking jet ace, and returned to battle over Vietnam – 380 combat missions in all. he holds thirty-six decorations and in 1955 won every individual trophy in the USAF Worldwide Gunnery Meet, the only flier ever to do so. (cover)
Broughton, Colonel Jack. Thud Ridge. New York: Dell Publishing, 1969
This is the story of that special breed of warrior, the fighter pilot: the story of the valiant men who flew the F-105 “Thud” bomber over North Vietnam.
Flanagan, John F. Vietnam Above the Treetops – A Forward Air Controller Reports. New York: Dell Publishing, 1992
Every bomb that streaked from a jet air strike into a Vietnamese jungle canopy was directed there by an Air Force forward air controller (FAC) on the ground or circling in an unarmored light plane. John Flanagan worked for Project Delta, the top secret predecessor to Delta Force. He directed six-man hunter-killer teams along the Laotian border, orchestrating ground forces, helicopter gunships, medevac units, and screaming fighter-bombers in over a thousand sorties. (cover)
Whitcomb, Darrel D. The Rescue of BAT 21. Maryland. Naval Institute Press, 1998
When his electronic warfare plan, call sign Bat 21, was shot down on 2 April 1972, fifty-three-year-old Air Force navigator Iceal “Gene” Hambleton parachuted into the middle of a North Vietnamese invasion force and set off the biggest air rescue effort of the Vietnam War. Now, after twenty-five years of official secrecy, the astonishing story of that dangerous and costly rescue is revealed for the first time by a decorated Air Force and Vietnam veteran. (cover)
Yarborough, Col. Tom. Da Nang Diary – A Forward Air Controller’s Year of Combat over Vietnam. New York: St. Martin’s Press Publisher, 1990
Prairie Fire was a secret front of the Vietnam War: classified Green Beret missions that jumped “the fence” into Laos and erupted into firefights, emergency air support, and extractions of downed pilots. In the air, an elite group of courageous American forward air controllers—FACs—strapped into the vulnerable cockpits of their slow-moving OV-10 Bronco prop planes, plunged headfirst into the heat – unleashing ground-hugging rocket attacks, braving hails of enemy fire and calling down a rain of death…. Here is the heroism, courage and skill of the fliers who took the war into the enemy’s backyard. (cover)
U.S. Army
U.S. Army – Infantry/Airborne/Airmobile
Estep, James L. Comanche Six — Company Commander, Vietnam. New York: Dell Publishing, 1991
If it wasn’t for bad luck, Charlie Company would have had no luck at all – until a new commander unleashed them on the NVA.
In this powerful and moving memoir, James L. Estep tells what it was like to inherit an airmobile rifle company of demoralized, underachieving snuffies – infantry soldiers – and mold it into a finely tuned fighting machine. From setting up claymore ambushes to walking into sudden point-blank firefights, Estep’s Charlie Company became killers at Happy Valley and during the frantic fighting of the 1968 Tet offensive, leaving behind their black and gold cavalry patches on scores of dead NVA soldier.
“You gotta love ‘em, Six. Nobody else does.”
Drawing on the experience of his four tours of duty – including fighting with Montagnards at a godforsaken Special Forces outpost called AOR – Estep chronicles how young men change in the heat and sweat of war, how men change a war, and how one colorful, misbegotten group of snuffies won their own individual victories in the land of Nam. (cover)
Gwin, Larry. Baptism – A Vietnam Memoir. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1999
The 1st Cav meets the NVA in the valley of the Ia Drang River.
A Yale graduate who volunteered to serve his country, Larry Gwin was only twenty-three years old when he arrived in Vietnam in 1965. After a brief stint in the Delat, Gwin was reassigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in An Khe. There, in the hotly contested Central Highlands, he served almost nine months as executive officer for Alpha Company, 2/7, fighting against crack NVA troops in some of the war’s most horrific battles. (cover)
Schneider, Ches. From Classrooms to Claymores – A Teacher at War in Vietnam. New York: Random House, 1999
As a soldier in the 1st Infantry Division, Schneider went out on twelve-man search-and-destroy combat missions, never knowing whether the next moment would bring an ambush, a firefight, or eternal oblivion. Later, when the Big Red One rotated back to the U.S., he was transferred to the 1st Cav and fought it out with the NVA in the steamy jungles of Phuoc Long Province near the Cambodian border. As an ordinary man in extraordinary times, Schneider realistically captures the pain, loss, sacrifice, and courage of the men who fought for their lives even as the war wound down. (cover)
Boyle, Jerome M. Apache Sunrise. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1994
A Cobra pilot’s life-and-death experience in Vietnam’s legendary Apache Troop, 1st of the 9th, Air Cavalry. (cover)
Brennan, Matthew. Brennan’s War: Vietnam 1965-1969. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986
Three years and over 400 assaults later, Matthew Brennan came home. His story is a harrowing firsthand account of life and death in Vietnam, from the point of view of an elite air cavalry assault soldier. In the tradition of the greatest military memoirs, Brennan’s War lays bare the courage, the cowardice, the strategy and the chaos that is war – and the state of mind that was Vietnam. (cover)
Brennan, Matthew. Headhunters — Stories from the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, in Vietnam 1965-1971.New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987
They were an elite air cavalry assault troop. For over six years of nearly non-stop action in la Drang, Khe San, Binh Dinh and Quang Tri, they moved by helicopter, battled large NVA forces and scored an extraordinary number of kills – half the enemy soldiers killed by the entire 1st Air Cavalry Division. (cover)
Brennan, Matthew. Hunter-Killer Squadron – Aero-Weapons, Aero-Scouts, Aero-Rifles/Vietnam 1965-1972. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990
The 1stSquandron, 9th Calvary, was the legendary recon force that by itself killed more than one-half of the enemy soldiers claimed by the entire 1st Air Cav Division. They did it by hunting the enemy from the air and striking with split-second teamwork and a hell-for-leather style unmatched in the Vietnam War. Here are the stories of 29 soldiers in their own words. (cover)
Carlock, Chuck. Firebirds. Arlington, TX: Summit Publishing, 1995
A harrowing firsthand account of helicopter combat in Vietnam. (cover)
Coleman, J. D. Choppers. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988 (Previously published as Pleiku)
Journalist and military hero J.D. Coleman reconstructs the battles, the men who waged them, the forces that shaped them, and the extraordinary acts of military courage that made Pleiku a resounding U.S. victory – and the birthplace of air-mobile chopper war. (cover)
Grant, W. T. Wings of the Eagle — A Kingsmen ‘s Story. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1994
He could be trusted to fly into the mouth of hell and come out alive with a helicopter full of LRPs.
As a member of the “Kingsmen,” the callsign for the 17th Assault Helicopter Company, helicopter pilot W.T. Grant regularly went into hot landing zones in Vietnam in 1968. In mid-air he hovered in the lightly armed, thin-skinned Huey helicopter, braving enemy gunfire until six men ran, hopped, or dragged themselves on board. This is his story of rescue in the steamy, bloody jungles of Vietnam. (cover)
Holley, Charles. Aero-Scouts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992
Delta Troop 2/1st Cavalry Regiment (Air) and Warrant Officer Charles Holley arrived in Pleiku in 1968. Their mission: Locate the enemy. Their method: use scouts as bait. Flying Light Observation Helicopters called Loaches, skimming the treetops until they drew fire, Holley and his fellow scouts became the point men for the Huey transports and Cobra gunships at some of the hottest spots in the war. (cover)
Marshall, Tom. The Price of Exit. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1998
For assault helicopter crews flying in and around the NVA infested DMZ, the U.S. pullout from Vietnam in 1970-71 was a desperate time of selfless courage. (cover)
Mason, Robert. Chickenhawk. New York: Viking Press, 1983
Robert Mason is a veteran of more than one thousand combat missions as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War. Here is the straight-from-the-shoulder, electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. (cover)
Meacham, William C. Lest We Forget — The Kingsmen, 101st Aviation Battalion, 1968. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1999
Lt. “Wild Bill” Meacham was a former enlisted man turned UH-1 pilot assigned to Bravo Company, 101st Aviation Battalion, an assault helicopter company whose lift-ships were called the Kingsmen. Bravo Company carried troops and supplies for many units, but Meacham preferred flying insertions and extractions for the LRP’s of the 101st and for the men of SOG, whose operations frequently took them into Laos. (cover)
Mills, Hugh L., Jr. Low Level Hell – A Scout Pilot in the Big Red One. New York: Dell Publishing, 1992
Hugh Mills earned three Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam. This is the account of his career as a scout pilot in the Darkhorse Air Cavalry Troop with the 1st Infantry Division. (cover) Rosenburg, Bob.Snake Driver! Cobras in Vietnam. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1993
This is the saga of the Cobra, its development and introduction into Vietnam during the summer of 1967, and the stories of the men who flew it. For a Cobra pilot – a Snake Driver – every launch meant he was going headlong into combat. (cover)
Smith, Tom. Easy Target—The Riveting True Story of a Scout Pilot in Vietnam. New York: Penguin Group Publishing, 1996
Chosen as an aero scout leading an elite squadron on combat missions, Smith’s job was to attract Vietcong fire so that the U.S. Army’s AH-1 Cobras could locate and destroy the enemy. (cover)
Spalding, Richard D. Centaur Flights – A Cobra Pilot in the 4th Cav. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1996
The Cobra – an AH-IG gunship helicopter armed with rockets and machine guns and cannon – was the first U.S. Army helicopter designed as an attack helicopter. A Cobra pilot’s riveting firsthand account of Vietnam’s deadly form of combat. (cover)
U.S. Army – Rangers/LRPs/LRRPs
Chambers, Larry. Death in the A Shau Valley – L Company LRRPs in Vietnam, 1969-70. New York: Random House, 1998
Larry Chambers was still new to Vietnam in early 1969 when the LRRPs of the 101st Airborne Division became L Company, 75th (Ranger). But his unit’s mission stayed the same: act as the eyes and ears of the 101st deep in the dreaded A Shau Valley, where the NVA ruled. (cover)
Chambers, Larry. Recondo – LRRPs in the 101st Airborne. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1992
They will never be able to duplicate the 5th Special Forces Recondo School [in Nha Trang] and the training that gave its grads something they desperately needed – the skills to survive Long Range Patrol missions in jungles that the NVA considered its own. …. Here is an unforgettable account that follows Chambers and the Rangers every step of the way – from joining, going through Recondo, and finally leading his own team on white-knuckle missions through the jungle hell of Vietnam. (cover)
Foley, Dennis. Special Men – A LRP’s Recollections. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1994
In five years, he went from private to captain, from New Jersey to Vietnam. But he always served with the best the U.S. Army had to offer…. Throughout his several tours of Vietnam, Dennis Foley served with America’s finest Warriors – men like David Hackworth … and Jim Gardner…. It began in 1965, when Foley landed in the best infantry job in Vietnam and didn’t know it. He was with the cream of the Airborne crop, serving under then Major Hackworth as a platoon leader of the Tiger Force, a provisional and experimental unit designed to meet the brutal realities of jungle warfare. (cover)
Jorgenson, Kregg P.J. Acceptable Loss – An Infantry Soldier’s Perspective. New York: Ballantine Publish, 1991
In just ten months in Vietnam, he was overrun, shot up, but not underworked – he survived fifty-four missions as point man. He has one [whale] of a story to tell.
You didn’t get in the Rangers without volunteering, and you didn’t stay on point unless you liked it. But after watching most of his buddies die in a firefight when his LRRP team was overrun by the NVA, Kregg Jorgenson volunteered to serve on a Blue Team in the Air Cavalry, racing to the aid of soldiers who faced the same dangers he had barely survived. (cover)
Jorgenson, Kregg P. J. The Ghosts of the Highlands – 1st Cav LRRPs in Vietnam, 1966-67. New York: Random House, 1999
The Ghosts of the Highlands is based on accounts and recollections of the men who helped form the 1st Air Cavalry division’s Long-Range Reconnaissance Patrol Detachment, small teams of specially trained soldiers charged with carrying out the army’s most important and dangerous reconnaissance missions. This stark history of sacrifice, determination, and courage gives powerful testimony to why the 1st Cav’s LRRP company became the most decorated Ranger unit in American history. (cover)
Jorgenson, Kregg P. J. MIA Rescue – LRRPs in Cambodia. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1995
A true story of ambushed LRRPs and their Apache Troop rescuers in the NVA-infested jungles of Cambodia. (cover)
Linderer, Gary A. Eyes Behind the Lines — L Company Rangers in Vietnam, 1969. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1991
The job of the all-volunteer Rangers was to find the enemy, observe him, or kill him – all the while behind enemy lines, where discovery could mean a quick but violent death. Whether inserting into hot LZs, ambushing NVA soldiers, or rescuing downed air crews, the Rangers demanded – and got extraordinary performance from their dedicated and highly professional troops. (cover)
Linderer, Gary A. The Eyes of the Eagle – F Company LRPs in Vietnam, 1968. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1991
Gary Linderer volunteered for the Army, then volunteered for Airborne training. When he reached Vietnam in 1968, he was assigned to the famous “Screaming Eagles”, the 101st Airborne Division. Once there, he volunteered for training and duty with F Company 58th Inf, the Long Range Patrol company that was “the Eyes of the Eagle.” (cover)
Linderer, Gary A. Phantom Warriors, Book I – LRRPs, LRPs, and Rangers in Vietnam. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 2000
Here are some of the most courageous missions executed by six-man teams on their own deep behind enemy lines. Ranging from the Central Highlands to the Mekong Delta to excursion – authorized and unauthorized – into Cambodia, these gripping accounts begin when the call first went out for covert U.S. long-range reconnaissance patrols in late 1965, continue through the battles of Tet, and go all the way up to the final tortured pullout. (cover)
Linderer, Gary A. Six Silent Men – 101st LRP/Rangers: Book Three. New York: Random House, 1997
By 1969, the NVA had grown more experienced at countering the tactics of the long-range patrols, and Six Silent Men: Book Three describes some of the fiercest fighting Lurps saw during the war. Based on his own experience and extensive interview with other combat vets of the 101st’s Lurp companies, Gary Linderer writes this final, heroic chapter in the seven bloody years that Lurps served God and country in Vietnam. These tough young warriors – grossly outnumbered and deep in enemy territory – fought with the guts, tenacity, and courage that have made them legends in the 101st. (cover)
Martinez, Reynel. Six Silent Men – 101st LRP/Rangers: Book One. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1997
In 1965 nearly four hundred men were interviewed and only thirty-two selected for the infant LRRP Detachment of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Old-timers called it the suicide unit. Whether conducting prisoner snatches, search and destroy missions, or hunting for the enemy’s secret base camps, LRRPs depended on one another 110 percent. One false step, one small mistake by one man could mean sudden death for all. (cover)
Miller, Kenn. Six Silent Men – 101st LRP/Rangers: Book Two. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1997
In the summer of 1967, the good old days were ending for the hard-core 1st Brigade LRRPs of the 101st Airborne Division, perhaps the finest maneuver element of its size in the history of the United States Army. It was a bitter pill. After working on their own in Vietnam for more than two years, the Brigade LRRPs were ordered to join forces with the division once again. But even as these formidable hunters and killers were themselves swallowed up by the Screaming Eagles’ Division LRPs to eventually become F Co., 58th Infantry, they continued the deadly, daring LRRP tradition. From saturation patrols along the Lao border to near-suicide missions and compromised positions in the always dangerous Ashau Valley, the F/58 unflinchingly faced death every day and became one of the most highly decorated companies in the history of the 101st. (cover)
Bendell, Don. The B-52 Overture – The North Vietnamese Assault on Special Forces Camp A-242, Dak Pek. New York: Dell Publishing, 1992
The enemy had their spies. The allies had their cowards. But on a bloody mountaintop it was a handful of Green Berets and an army of courageous Montagnards – facing the entire 2nd division of the NVA. (cover)
Burruss, Lt. Col. L.H. “Bucky” USA (Ret.). Mike Force. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989
Two years of war with the Green Berets’ Mobile Strike Force in Vietnam. “Mike Force is…a fantastic account of dedication and bravery from a perspective that is unique to special forces….Mike Force is an authentic first hand report of what really happened on the ground. It brings back vivid memories.” – Clayton S. Scott, President, Special Operations Association, and Commander, 1st Battalion, II Corps Mobile Strike Force, Vietnam 1968-69. (cover)
Craig, William T. Lifer! – From Infantry to Special Forces. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1994
The fascinating true story of an army brat who hated the army – and became one of its best soldiers. (cover)
Craig, William T. Team Sergeant – A Special Forces NCO at Lang Vei and Beyond. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1998
Donahue, James C. Mobile Guerrilla Force — With the Special Forces in War Zone D. New York: St. Martin’s Press Publishing, 1996
Operation Blackjack-31, chronicles the treacherous trek through War Zone D by thirteen handpicked Green Berets who infiltrated the VC’s “secret zone” and proved just how far determination can go. (cover)
Garner, Sgt. Maj. Joe R. Code name: Copperhead –- Inside the Legendary Green Berets – The True Exploits of an American Hero. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994
The U.S. Army Special Forces. The Green Berets. Their courage, honor, fierce loyalty – and independence – under fire is legendary. Now, for the first time, Joe Garner, one of the original Green Berets, breaks his silence to tell the gripping inside story of his twenty-one years of continuous active duty in this elite fighting force. Here are his top secret operations, which, due to national security, can only now be revealed. (cover)
Wade, Leigh. Assault on Dak Pek – A Special Forces A-Team in Combat, 1970. New York: Random House, 1998
With gritty honesty, SF veteran — five tours in Vietnam and Thailand — Leigh Wade recounts the weeks of carnage, courage, and sacrifice in which the men of Dak Pek carried out bunker-to-bunker mop-up operations and heroic uphill counterattacks to reclaim their base. With hundreds of corpses littering the camp, it was truly a fight to the death — a fight that proved just what Americans are made of… (cover)
Wade, Leigh. The Protected Will Never Know. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1998
Special Forces operator Leigh Wade outwitted death through five harrowing SF tours in Vietnam. In 1965, during his second assignment to Vietnam, Wade volunteered for duty with the newly arrived 173rd Airborne and participated in the first battalion-size helicopter assault in Vietnam. Later he helped set up a Special Forces A-camp and worked with the 1st Cav, eventually taking part in SOG operations, where he was a recon team leader. In early 1966, after joining the highly classified all-volunteer C-5 unit, he engaged in unconventional warfare and clandestine ops in Cambodia, roving deep into areas crawling with NVA. (cover)
Wade, Leigh. Tan Phu — Special Forces Team A-23 in Combat. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1997
Vietnam, 1963. Leigh Wade was a radioman for Special Forces Team A-23, a twelve-man unit sent to Tan Phu, a hell on earth in the Mekong Delta where the VC had the advantage of knowing the tangled terrain. The team’s mission: run sweeps and hammer-and-anvil operations, kill or capture as many VC as possible, and move back to camp before they could strike back. By the time Team A-23 returned to Fort Bragg in December 1963, after a six-month tour, all but two of its original twelve members had been wounded or captured. Wade left Vietnam thinking the Americans would pull out within twelve months, unaware that he would see five more years of bloody combat…. (cover)
Zumbro, Ralph. Tank Sergeant. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986
From tearing roads through the jungle to blasting out Viet Cong positions, from convoy escort to rescue operations, the tank crews of Vietnam did it all. When Sgt. Zumbro’s tour of duty ended in June 1968, A-Company was the most highly decorated unit in Vietnam. (cover)
U.S. Navy
U.S. Navy – Brown Water Warriors
Bryant, Jimmy R. SMC, USN. Man of the River – Memoirs of a Brown Water Sailor in Vietnam – 1968-1969. Virginia: Sergeant Kirkland’s Museum and Historical Society, Inc. Publishing, 1998
Powerful…An epic, true story about the U.S. Navy’s Courageous Campaign on Vietnam’s rivers. (cover)
Sheppard, Don. Riverine – A Brown Water Sailor in the Delta, 1967. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992
Patrolling the Mekong Delta’s Bassac River in hot-rodded cabin cruisers called PBRs, the U.S. Navy’s brown-water sailors in 1967 were like tigers waiting for the cage door to open. Then Lieutenant Commander Don Sheppard cut them loose. THEIR MISSION: Drive the Viet Cong off the river. THEIR MOTTO: “Close and Kill” (cover)
Constance, Harry. Good to Go – The Life and Times of a Decorated member of the U.S. Navy’s Elite SEAL Team Two. New York: Avon Books, 1997
In the mid-nineteen sixties, Harry Constance made a life-altering journey that led him out of Texas and into the jungles of Vietnam. As a young naval officer, he went from UDT training to the U.S. Navy’s newly formed SEAL Team Two, and then straight into furious action. By 1970, he was already the veteran of three hundred combat missions and the recipient of thirty-two military citations, including three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.
Good to Go is Constance’s powerful, firsthand account of his three tours of duty as a member of America’s most elite, razor-sharp stealth fighting force. It is a breathtaking memoir of harrowing missions and covert special-ops – from the floodplains of the Mekong Delta to the beaches of the South China Sea- that places the reader in the center of bloody ambushes and devastating firefights. (cover)
Enoch, Barry W. Teammates: SEALs at War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996
The searing inside story of Vietnam War special operations from a founding member of SEAL Team ONE. (cover)
Fawcett, Bill, editor. Hunters and Shooters — An oral history of the U.S. Navy SEALs in Vietnam. New York: William Morrow & Company Publisher, 1995
Gormly, Captain Robert A., USN (Ret.).Combat Swimmer –- Memoirs of a Navy SEAL. New York: Dutton Publishing, 1998
Miller, Rad Jr. Wattaya Mean I Can’t Kill ‘Em? – A Navy Seal in Vietnam. New York: Random House, 1998
In his unvarnished and brutally candid account, Miller shares the raw, bloody, and courageous daily life of SEALs is Vietnam. Here are unbelievable moments in six months of missions — without a single SEAL KIA — during which is platoon ran ninety-for ops, killed forty-three of the enemy, and captured thirty-one. Stealing into hostile villages, gathering intelligence, killing or kidnapping VC officials, and surviving a tropical hell of mud, heat, leeches, and constant, life-threatening peril, Miller and his teammates undeniably earned their pay… (cover)
Smith, Gary R. Master Chief –- Diary of a Navy SEAL. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1996
In Master Chief, Gary R. Smith covers his fifth tour in Vietnam and his rise to the highest enlisted rank, master chief petty officer. Characteristically, Smith holds nothing back when describing life during wartime in one of the world’s toughest fighting units.
Based on the author’s own experience, as well as his own and others’ diaries, letters, and documents, and on extensive interviews, Master Chief is an outstanding memoir of a warrior who answered the call to arms when his country needed him. (cover)
Watson, Chief James. Point Man. New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1993
Inside the toughest and most deadly unit in Vietnam. By a founding member of the elite Navy SEALs. (cover)
Young, Darryl. The Element of Surprise — Navy SEALS in Vietnam. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1990
For six months in 1970, fourteen men in Juliett Platoon of the Navy’s SEAL Team one – including the author – carried out over a hundred missions in the Mekong Delta without a single platoon fatality. Their primary mission: kidnap enemy soldiers – alive – for interrogation.
Adept at many skills of war – underwater, on land, and in the skies – SEALs matched the Vietcong in flexibility and unpredictability. It used to be said that the night belonged to Charlie. But that wasn’t true where SEALs patrolled. (cover)
U.S. Navy – Seawolves (Helicopters)
Kelly, Daniel E. Seawolves – First Choice. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1998
They called themselves Seawolves… The men of SEALs, PBRs, and SF called them saviors. .. This is the story of one of those men.
Created in 1967, the HAL-3 helicopter squadron – a.k.a. Seawolves – provided quick reaction close air support to SEALS, PBR River Rats, and Special Forces advisers and their troops. During the five years of the unit’s existence, the seven detachments of Seawolves amassed stunning statistics. (cover)
Gillcrist, Rear Admiral Paul T., USN (Ret.). Feet Wet –- Reflections of a carrier pilot. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990
From prop planes to Vietnam: An elite Navy pilot’s thirty-three years of flying, fighting and sacrifice. Paul Gillcrist was one of the Navy’s top fighter and test pilots, breaking in a new generation of jets and carriers, winning seventeen combat decorations for his duels with MiGs and SAMs in the bloody air war over North Vietnam. (cover)
Nichols, Comdr. John B. On Yankee Station – The Naval Air War over Vietnam. New York: Bantam Publishing, 1987
Comdr. John Nichols was there. He flew the missions. He analyzed the tactics. Written with Barrett Tillman, the bestselling author of Warriors, On Yankee Station is a swift-moving account of U.S. Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War. Factual and shocking, this remarkable document is a true account of how American carrier power was employed in Vietnam. As told by a veteran pilot, this is an objective historical analysis drawn from personal observations. On Yankee Station is a vivid air warrior’s battle record…. It is a book so vitally important that it is studied as an essential text by modern airmen today. (cover)
U.S. Marine Corps
Norton, Maj. Bruce H./Maffioli, M. Gy. Sgt. Len. Grown Gray in War – The Len Maffioli Story. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1997
Len Maffioli was only eighteen when he stormed Saipan on D-Day in 1944. Shortly after that he was involved in combat operations on Tinian and Iwo Jima. And that was just the beginning of a long and distinguished career.
In the 1950s came the Korean War, with Maffioli participating in the amphibious landing in Inchon, the retaking of Seoul, and the ill-fated Task force Drysdale, where he was captured by the Chinese Communist Forces and endured icy prison camp conditions so appalling that four out of ten POWs died. Yet Maffioli not only survived, he escaped and earned himself the Bronze Star. Seventeen years later, Maffioli was still going strong, weathering the Tet Offensive during his third war, a twelve-month tour of Vietnam.
From Iwo Jima to the Chosin Reservoir to Da Nang, Maffioli exemplifies the guts and courage that have made the U.S. Marine a legend among warriors. (cover)
Camp, Colonel R.D. Lima-6 – A Marine Company Commander in Vietnam. NewYork: Simon & Schuster, 1989
In 1967, U.S. Marine Captain Dick Camp was dropped in the field by helicopter to replace a unit commander killed in battle. Here is his searing, relentlessly honest memoir of six months on the front lines as Lima-6 — commander of Lima Company 3rd Battalion, 26th Marines – a tour that culminated with the brutal siege of Khe Sanh in 1968. (cover)
Culbertson, John J. Operation Tuscaloosa – 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, at An Hoa, 1967. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1997
In 1967, Operation Tuscaloosa sent 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines into the hostile Song Thu Bon valley. Their mission: to exterminate the Viet Cong. But a sandbar island in the river quickly became an island of death for the Marines who lay trapped there, pinned under merciless enemy fire. Seventeen would die. And that was just the beginning…
As point man for the lead squad of Hotel Company, 2/5, Marine John Culbertson tells the full bloody story of the battle that wiped out nearly an entire battalion of crack VC troops. OPERATION TUSCALOOSA gives full honors to the final sacrifice of the young Marines who made the victory possible. (cover)
Culbertson, John J. A Sniper in the Arizona– 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, in the Arizona Territory, 1967. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1999
In 1967, death was the constant companion of the Marines of Hotel Company, 2/5, as they patrolled the paddy dikes, mud, and mountains of the Arizona Territory southwest of Da Nang. (cover)
Guidry, Richard A. The War in I Corps. New York: Random House, 1998
In riveting, relentless, bloody detail, Guidry captures jungle, mountain, and grassland battles, where death could erupt in a second, best friend could vanish without warning, and you could become just another loved one’s memory.” Such was life along the DMZ. (cover)
Hodgins, Michael C. Reluctant Warrior – A Marine’s True Story of Duty and Heroism in Vietnam. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1996
Michael C. Hodgins served in Company C, 1st RECON Bn (Rein), as a platoon leader. (cover)
Turley, Col. G. H. The Easter Offensive – Vietnam, 1972. New York: Warner Books,1985
Spring 1972: On the heels of American troop withdrawals, they came from across the Demilitarized Zone – multiple divisions of the NVA, spearheaded by T-54, T-55, and light, amphibious PT-76 tanks, determined to deliver a deathblow to the South. In three days of blood and smothering cloud cover, entire firebases were smashed and whole regiments of South Vietnam’s army collapsed in panic. But a small cadre of American advisors stayed and fought, and one man – Marine Col. G. H. Turley – was catapulted to the forefront, to make life-and-death decisions while the brass in Saigon refused to believe what was going on. In this gripping chronicle, Col. Turley relates the relentless action at Quang Tri, the staggering confusion, and the extraordinary, unforgettable acts of courage displayed by Americans who put honor before their lives. (cover)
Warr, Nicholas. Phase Line Green – The Battle for Hue, 1968. New York: Random House, 1997
The bloody month-long battle for the Citadel in Hue pitted U.S. Marines against an entrenched North Vietnamese Army force. By official accounts it was a tactical and moral victory for the Marines and the United States. But here survivor Nicholas Warr describes with urgency and outrage the Marines’ savage house-to-house fighting – ordered without air, naval, or artillery support by officers with no experience in that type of combat. (cover)
U.S. Marine Corps – Force Recon
Lee, Lt. Col. Alex. Force Recon Command — A special Marine unit in Vietnam, 1969-1970. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. 1995
Author Alex Lee commanded the Third Force Reconnaissance Company in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. Made up of small units of specially trained U.S. Marines, that company conducted long-range patrols deep in Northern I Corps – including the infamous Ashau Valley – to gather intelligence about the North Vietnamese Army. An intelligent, effective operator who led by example, Lee was also brash and excruciatingly honest, and in this controversial, no-holds-barred account, he takes the wraps off this select group of courageous and intrepid Marines. (cover)
Peters, Dr. Bill. First Force Recon Company – Sunrise at Midnight. New York: Random House, 1999
Making perilous helicopter inserts deep in the Que Son Mountains, where the constant chatter of AK-47 rifle fire left no doubt who was in charge, Peters and the other men of 1st Force Recon Company risked their lives every day in six-man teams, never knowing whether they would live to see the sunset. Peters’ accounts of silently watching huge movements of heavily armed NVA regulars, prisoner snatches, sudden-death ambushes, and extracts from fiercely fought firefights vividly capture the realities of Recon Marine warfare and offer a gritty tribute to the courage, heroism, and sacrifice of the U.S. Marines. (cover)
U.S. Marine Corps – Marine Air
Moriarty, J. M. Ground Attack Vietnam: The Marines Who Controlled the Skies. New York: Ballantine Publishing, 1993
Lieutenant Colonel J. M. Moriarty’s Marine Observation Squadron II, VMO-2 was an indispensable part of the Marine Corps’s air war in Vietnam. For the pilots and observers of VMO-2 were the crucial link in the Marine air/ground team, providing fire support and intelligence for the reconnaissance and infantry units on the ground in their never-ending battle of survival, evasion, and escape in the deadly jungles of Vietnam. (cover)
Stoffey, Col. Bob. Cleared Hot! – A Marine Combat Pilot’s Vietnam Story. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999
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. (cover)
Trotti, John, USMC. Phantom Over Vietnam. New York: Berkley Publishing, 1984
A Marine Corps fighter pilot. The war in the air. Vietnam. “If you stop for a moment and imagine the wildest, fire-breathingest, farthest-out thing in the world, and then let your imagination out one more notch, you’ve got it indexed. It was a healthy Phantom hauling buckets into its element … coming off the catapult where it’d gone from zero to one-eighty in two and a half seconds.” (cover)