Military Memoirs Vietnam

The top Billboard Hot 100 single of 1966 wasn't The Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" or the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" - it was "The Ballad of the Green Berets", a hyper-patriotic tribute to the men of the Special Forces by Vietnam veteran, US Army Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler. But Sadler's clean-cut, all-American image hid a darker side, a Hunter Thompson-esque life of booze, girls, and guns. Unable to score another hit song, he settled in Central America, ran guns, and allegedly trained guerrillas.

The American war in Vietnam was concluded in 1973 after eight years of fighting, bloodshed, and loss. Yet the terms of the truce that ended the war were effectively identical to what had been offered to the Nixon administration four years earlier. Those four years cost America and Vietnam thousands of lives and billions of dollars, and they were the direct result of the supposed master plan of the most important voice in American foreign policy: Henry Kissinger.

Magnet Ass and the Stone-Cold Truck Hunters is a Vietnam war memoir about Captain Alan "Magnet Ass" Milacek, the "man who flew his plane on one wing". It is a war story. But it is also not a war story. It has everything to do with a white-hot mission over the Plain of Jars in 1970, for which 10 men earned The Mackay Trophy, one of history's most coveted aviation awards.

Following the success of Jarhead, Anthony Swofford assumed he had exorcised his military demons - but as every veteran knows, that isn't exactly how it works. In these searing, courageous pages, Swofford struggles to make sense of what his military service meant, and to decide - after nearly ending it - what his life can and should become. Consumed by drugs, booze, fast cars, and the wrong women, Swofford almost lost everything and everyone that mattered to him.

This volume contains 17 autobiographical stories. The first begins on December 31, 1968, with a US Army infantryman on search and destroy missions in the Mekong Delta. It ends with the story told by the US Marine Corps officer who was in charge of the Marine Corps’ evacuation of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and Saigon in 1975.

A collection of short stories of people and events about my time in the service, and the year serving my country in Vietnam.

Return to Eden is an exploration of one man's and one country's journey from the devastation of war through recovery and healing, then to creativity. Smallwood's reflections on his military and film experiences have appeared in magazines, but this is the first recorded collection of essays.

During Vietnam, the basic role of the USMC gunship squadrons was to protect the transport helicopters during medevac missions, troop insertions and extractions, resupply missions, and supporting the Marines on the ground during operations and patrols. Basically, whenever the Marines or South Vietnam friendlies got in trouble the gunships were dispatched to assist them.

In a world where war is often portrayed in simplistic terms, Echo-4 stands out as a complex and nuanced portrayal of the Vietnam War. It's a book that will make you think, make you feel, and leave you with a profound appreciation for the sacrifices that soldiers make in service of their country. R.C.'s memoir is a fitting tribute to the legacy of those who fought in Vietnam and a powerful reminder of the human cost of war.

Coupled with dialogue from the We Were Soldiers, personal interviews and Biblical truth, The Battle will walk you through the techniques, tactics, and procedures of any successful campaign - including winning the battle as a father, husband, and man of God.

With a compass to direct him in his job as a forward observer and a personal camera to document his experiences - and keep him connected to his creative side - Vietnam veteran Steven Burchik was lucky enough to make it home and years later decided to write about the most challenging year of his life.

December, 1966: Platoon leader Lt. Joseph Callaway had just turned 23 when he arrived in Vietnam to lead 42 untested men into battle against some of the toughest, most experienced, and best-trained guerrilla soldiers in the world. Callaway soon learned that most events in this savage jungle war were beyond his control. But there was one thing he could do well: take the best damn care of his troops he knew how.

Jessica Dudley is a child of the Vietnam War. Her parents came from two different worlds and were not able to make things work between them. With her father returning to the United States after his tour of service and her mother staying behind to have her baby, Jessica is born into a home without love.

Nathaniel Tripp grew up fatherless in a house full of women, and he arrived in Vietnam as a just-promoted second lieutenant in the summer of 1968 with no memory of a man's example to guide and sustain him. The father missing from Tripp's life had gone off to war as well, in the navy in World War II, but the terrors were too much for him, he disgraced himself, and after the war ended he could not bring himself to return to his wife and young son.

Kill Me If You Can, You SOB is a judicious, penetrating record of the Vietnam War as experienced by an ordinary soldier. Through diary entries written over three decades ago, we get a rare and illuminating glimpse into one of America's greatest tragedies. Bob Miller's unflinching observations not only expose the harsh realities of war but also provide a long-overdue tribute to the men who fought it.

In 1966, just as the American military buildup in Vietnam was going into overdrive, a working-class 22-year-old from Chicago was drafted into the army. Larry Heinemann served one year of combat duty, most of it in the vicinity of Cu Chi. It was the most horrific and consequential year of his life, and it served as the raw material for his two classic war novels. This memoir chronicles a 1992 railway journey Heinemann took from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City as the guest of the Vietnam Writers' Association.

In May 1962, Naval Chief Petty Officer Bryant Arbuckle flew to Saigon to establish a new armed forces radio station. Next to follow were his wife and three boys, Leslie among them. Saigon Kids is the candid, recondite slice of 14-year-old military brat Les Arbuckle's experience at the American Community School during the critical months of the Vietnam War when events would, quite literally, ignite in downtown Saigon.

The rise of Adolf Hitler, America’s Great Depression in the heartland, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American life following World War II, the Korean War, America’s development of atomic weapons in the Cold War age, the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and the Mariel boatlift. Captain Allen Brady not only witnessed all of these events but actually participated in them, in many instances as a US Naval Aviator.

Mike lived by the marine sniper mantra: One shot, one kill. During his time in the jungles of Vietnam, Mike was confronted with having to hunt and kill the enemy and being hunted in return. Now, for the first time, Marine veteran and debut author, Phil Lenser, guides listeners through Mike’s extraordinary final mission.

The story of an extraordinary campaign in the Vietnam War - fought in a 200-mile labyrinth of underground tunnels and chambers. The campaign in the tunnels of Cu Chi was fought with cunning and savagery between Viet Cong guerrillas and special teams of US infantrymen called 'Tunnel Rats'. The location: the 200-mile labyrinth of underground tunnels and secret chambers that the Viet Cong had dug around Saigon.