# Looking for a book on Vietnam



## winchable (15 Jan 2006)

After spending an hour in the military history section at Chapters and coming away with a book I'm somewhat unsure about (Michael Herr's: Dispatches") I need some help finding a history book, somewhat anecdotal in nature, written in the first person perspective on the Vietnam War. 

There are hundreds of books written by historians on the war, but I really want a book written in first person; a memoir or a diary of a soldier would be best.


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## D-n-A (15 Jan 2006)

US Army LRRPs/Rangers:
Charlie Rangers
Of Their Own Accord  
(My dad served with the authors in the above two books)
Six Silent Men
Phantom Warriors
Eyes of the Eagle
Eyes Behind the Line
Death in the A Shau Valley: L Company LRRPs 1969-1970US Army Special Forces


US Army Special Forces:
Gone Native: An NCOs Story


US Army Infantry:
We Were Soldiers Once, And Young


USMC Recon:
Reluctent Warrior


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## Michael OLeary (15 Jan 2006)

Che, try this one:

Long Time Passing; Vietnam & the Haunted Generation
Myra macPherson
Doubleday & Co., Inc.
Garden City, New York
1984

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385158424/002-8259212-4332830?v=glance&n=283155

Not a single first person narrative, but based on hundreds of interviews from all points of view.


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## Nieghorn (15 Jan 2006)

Everytime I go to Chapters' military history section, it's the Vietnam memoirs I see the most of!   

I've only read Phil Caputo's 'Rumour of War' and 'Charlie Rangers' - which I picked up for 25c at a thrift shop.  Wasn't blown away by either, but both were good reads.


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## winchable (16 Jan 2006)

Honestly the Vietnam section at the chapters in Halifax was tiny, the smallest war section in the store actually.
And I think some Anti-war people got in there because for some reason there was a chunk of books on Buddhism and a chunk of books on the war in Iraq, and I don't mean like one book accidentally put in the wrong spot, I mean like 4-5 books made to look like they belonged there; it was cheeky.

Thanks for the books guys.


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## Patrolman (17 Jan 2006)

I would recommend "Baptism" by Larry Gwinn.It is a memoir about Alpha Coy of the 1st Cavalry Division.They were the unit that relieved those pinned down at LZ X-Ray as detailed in the book(movie) "We Were Soldiers Once" An excellent first hand account of some of the most fierce battles of the Vietnam war.I also recommend " Charlie Rangers " as already mentioned above.


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## Michael Dorosh (17 Jan 2006)

I've read a few but not that many are too outstanding.  I think the best one I've read was by an officer who, after writing a book about his mandatory 6 months with a combat unit, wrote a second book about his mandatory six months in a rear echelon unit.  VIETNAM: THE OTHER WAR was the title IIRC; if sufficiently interested I can find it on my shelf.

In all honesty, the battle accounts all read the same to me - and since none benefit from having the enemy POV, seem rather useless as a learning tool.

Another good one would be SOLDIER! by Anthony Herbert.  He was the most decorated US soldier of the Korean War, won tons of valour medals as an NCO, and commanded a battalion in the 173d Airborne Brigade in Vietnam.  Was asked to resign because - in his words - he was told to lie about body counts and other things that were distasteful to him.  His book seems very self serving, but is interesting nonetheless and a good look at the Army culture in Vietnam, if you believe any of it.


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## Foxhound (17 Jan 2006)

Just finished Stalking The Vietcong, Inside Operation Phoenix: A Personal Account.  Good insight into what some of the advisors were up against later on in the war.  Also a good look at how the indigenous South Vietnamese in the countryside felt about being caught in the middle.  Author is Stuart A. Herrington.


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## winchable (17 Jan 2006)

Thanks again guys,

There's actually one book I'm looking for and it's just on the tip of my tongue.

It was about an advisor in the war who was advising a Special South Vietnamese Unit, the same general went on to be an advisor to Clinton I believe, and the book is more or less about his career.
I read the first few chapters at the library then I forgot which one it was and it's driving me nuts, because I really liked it.

By the way I've purchased a few of the suggestions here online, I should be reading for months on these.


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## fourninerzero (17 Jan 2006)

Recondo- sorry I forget the author
the magnificent bastards- the joint army-marine defense of dong ha, 1968 (Keith William Nolan)
Centaur Flights (Richard D Spaulding)
Fighting Men (Jim Morris)
Warriors- and infantrymans memoir of vietnam (Robert Tonsetic)
reluctant warrior (Micheal Hodgins)
Chickenhawk (author unknown)
Rogue Warrior (Richard Marcinko)- although not totally on vietnam...it does have a lengthly section on the authors experences there. the author was a SEAL who went onto create SEAL Team 6.


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## baboon6 (18 Jan 2006)

Anthony Herbert's_ Soldier_ I thought was good- really exposed the bloated, inefficient organisation the US Army became in Vietnam, while showing there were still some effective soldiers. _A Rumor of War_ by Philip Caputo, who was there as a Marine infantry officer in 1965-66, is I think one of the best memoirs to come out of any war. Robert Mason's _Chickenhawk_, is essential reading on the helicopter crews in the early stages of the war.


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## StevenPeece (18 Feb 2006)

ChickenHawk was a really good book.

There was a book some years ago called The Devil's Guard.  It was about a Waffen SS Storm Trooper.  I would strongly recommend it if you can get hold of a copy.

Regards

Steve


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## Danjanou (18 Feb 2006)

_Devils Guard_, by George Robert Elford is a good read, although I wonder about it's authenticity. When I first read it as teenager I naturally thought it was true, now I wonder. Even as fiction though good. I just went and pulled it off of my book shelf to get the autho'r name and may start it again tonight.

The definative Vietnam War fiction though has to be either Winston Groom's _Better Times Than These_ (Groom wrote Forrest Gump and and the character he based him on shows up here) or _Fields of Fire_ by James Webb. Both while novels or more or less autobiographical as the authours were both vets.


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## axeman (18 Feb 2006)

ive been trying to find it[devils guard] out on the web in ebook form and no luck can anyone help me with this ...
the book i like on vietnam is ahh crap i cant recall  it was by a foward arty observer who worked with the blues  [ ahh Headhunters thats what it was call ed by matt brenaman i think ]


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## Journeyman (20 Feb 2006)

Tim O'Brien has written several...interesting....Vietnam books. I'd go for _If I Die in a Combat Zone_, which he wrote just after returning from Vietnam. After you've gotten a grip on the "truth" of RVN combat ops, pick up _The Things They Carried_. It's my favourite of his, but it's not quite non-fiction - - although based on "stories heard." Avoid his _Going After Cacciato_ (about a private who deserts, intending to walk to the Paris peace talks leaving a trail of M&Ms behind him - - too f**d up)

The first two, however, are excellent reads.


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## ChopperHead (20 Feb 2006)

Well the best Vietnam book I have ever read is "A Time of War" by Michael Peterson. 
It is not a biography or anything but still very very good. written by a former marine lieutenant.


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## Scott (20 Feb 2006)

Che, I don't really understand exactly what you are looking for, as well I am not sure how my suggestion will rank with the others here, alas, I really enjoyed _Steel my Soldiers Hearts_ by David Hackworth.

http://www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_25596.asp

http://www.hackworth.com/


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## winchable (20 Feb 2006)

Actually that's more or less exactly what I'm looking for, first person accounts of the Vietnam war; I'm reading About Face by Hackworth right now, it's still in the Korean War right now, getting on to Vietnam at some point I believe.


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## PPCLI MCpl (20 Feb 2006)

If you like Hackworth and are interested in the medical side of things, I would recommend: _"Vietnam 1968-1969: A Battalion Surgeon's Journal"_ by Dr. Byron E. Holley.


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