whats your best Vietnam war book (fact book)

[hochiminhtrail]

well here i come again with another VN war topic

 

whats your favorite Vietnam war book,

 

my top 5

 

1)Frank Snepp. Decent Interval, story is about the fall of Saigon view by a CIA case officer from the US Embassy

 

2) Micheal Bilton Kevin Sim. 4 hours in My Lai

 

3) Garry Linderer. eyes of the eagle and eyes behind the lines, LRRP ( does anybody have an oipnion on these books ??), i have read that i might have been exagerated ?)

 

4) Christopher robbins. The Ravens

 

5) Bright shining Lie

 

Cheers

 

Alex

[gwb123]

We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young by Harold G. Moore and Joseph Galloway

 

Subtitled Ia Drang: The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam

 

As good as the movie with Mel Gibson was, it doesn't tell even half of the story. Hal Moore was the commander of 1/9 CAV and Joe Galloway was a journalist who was crazy enough to join the unit in the middle of the battle. It is not only detailed, but also well written.

 

A book that I have not read yet, but that is also recommended by many who read this on is

 

Pleiku and the Dawn of Helicopter Warfare by J.D. Coleman.

 

Anyone who wants to understand the origins of the Vietnam War absolutely must read

 

Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu and

Street Without Joy

 

both by Bernard Fall.

 

Fall had a brilliant style and wrote about the French in Indochina. Unfortunately he was killed in theater before he could produce a full book on the American involvement. He did however write some early magazine articles on the subject.

[mobrigade]

1. Bright and Shining Lie

2. The First Vietnam War

3. America' Miracle Man in Vietnam: Nho Ginh Diem

4. In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam

5. America's Longest War

 

Just about in that order. Favorite Memoirs:

 

1. ...and a Hard Rain Fell

2. Blood on the Risors

3. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace (written by a N.V. female nurse).

4. Rumor of War

5. We Were Soldiers Once...

 

Paul

[hochiminhtrail]

yes, i really like blood on Risors.

 

alos another very good book,

 

"escape with honor" , Amb. Francis Terry Mc Namara General Consul Mekong delta region

 

Alex

 

1. Bright and Shining Lie

2. The First Vietnam War

3. America' Miracle Man in Vietnam: Nho Ginh Diem

4. In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam

5. America's Longest War

 

Just about in that order. Favorite Memoirs:

 

1. ...and a Hard Rain Fell

2. Blood on the Risors

3. Last Night I Dreamed of Peace (written by a N.V. female nurse).

4. Rumor of War

5. We Were Soldiers Once...

 

Paul

[JERRY COBB]

1. Into the Mouth of the Cat Story about Capt. Lance Sijan, USAF, MOH Recipient (posthumously)

2. Bat 21 Great story of evasion and rescue of LtCol Iceal Hamilton, EWO, USAF

3. We Were Soldiers

4. Can't remember the name of the book, it was about Col Robinson Risner's as a POW.

5. Guns Up by Johnnie Clark Autobiography while he was a machine gunner in the USMC

[Chris_B]

Try "The Killing Zone" by Frederick Downs, jr.

[Jeff Ashenfelter]

Here are a few of my favorites,

Marine Sniper 93 confirmed kills by Charles Henderson- story about Carlos Hathcock

Reflections of a Warrior by Elwood J.C.Kureth- story of Franklin D. Miller MOH recipient

Combat Recon my year with the ARVN by Robert D. Parrish

War Stories of the Green Berets by Hans Halberstadt

[BOB K. RKSS]

If You want "Facts": You'd need the ORDER of BATTLE book; for the Vietnam War.

[TBMflyer]

A few good 'air' related books;

 

"My Secret War" by Drury- about flying the A-1's/Air Commando operations

"Alpha Strike Vietnam" by Levinson-the US Navy's air ops throughout the war

"Fast Movers" by Sherwood-good stories of jet aviators from all services

[BEAST]

For memoir I like Phil Caputo's "A Rumour of War". Their may be better memoirs out there, but his was one of the first and really got me interested in the war in Vietnam.

[mpguy80/08]

Pleiku, by JD Coleman

Low Level Hell, by Hugh Mills

Going Downtown, by Jack Broughton

Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason

 

Just a few of my faves

 

Wayne

[vicjoy1945]

Hey Guys,

 

I thought "And Brave Men Too" by Timothy Lowry was excellent. This book is about 14 recipients of the MOH during Vietnam. Interestingly it does not have the actual citations but the author interviewed the soldiers and writes from their perspective regarding the actions and also their personal reflections on the war and the times.

 

I just read "We Were Soldier..." and really enjoyed it.

 

Thanks,

 

Vic

[101combatvet]

Dipatches

 

Ambush

 

Inside the NVA

[Bluehawk]

"Hamburger Hill", by: Samuel Zaffiri

[DwightPruitt]

"Armored Combat in Vietnam" by General Donn A. Starry, and "A Hundred Miles of Bad Road" by Dwight Birdwell.

[Greg Robinson]

well here i come again with another VN war topic

 

whats your favorite Vietnam war book,

 

my top 5

 

1)Frank Snepp. Decent Interval, story is about the fall of Saigon view by a CIA case officer from the US Embassy

 

2) Micheal Bilton Kevin Sim. 4 hours in My Lai

 

3) Garry Linderer. eyes of the eagle and eyes behind the lines, LRRP ( does anybody have an oipnion on these books ??), i have read that i might have been exagerated ?)

 

4) Christopher robbins. The Ravens

 

5) Bright shining Lie

 

Cheers

 

Alex

 

The CIA sued to have "Decent Interval" taken out of print so don't expect to have much luck finding a copy.

 

Greg

[Greg Robinson]

We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young by Harold G. Moore and Joseph Galloway

 

Subtitled Ia Drang: The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam

 

As good as the movie with Mel Gibson was, it doesn't tell even half of the story. Hal Moore was the commander of 1/9 CAV and Joe Galloway was a journalist who was crazy enough to join the unit in the middle of the battle. It is not only detailed, but also well written.

 

If you have a chance to pick up a hardcover edition of this book I suggest you do so. Joe Galloway told me that the hardcover edition that he and Hal Moore were selling for $25 back in the 1990's are sought by collectors. And the 1st editions sell for big bucks. The copy I own signed by both authors is a prized possession. I keep a paperback copy for when I want to re-read the book.

 

BTW....it was the 1st Bn 7th Calvary....Custer's unit..... that Harold Moore commanded in Viet Nam.

 

Greg

[strangepair03]

Tattletale by Charlie Palek I'm in the middle of it and it is a great read.

[pksampley]

I would have to say that for pure facts, the following list works for me...

 

1. Vietnam Order of Battle by Shelby L. Stanton. Listing all the Army units including Support that served down to the Company level. Also has general section on the US Marines (to the Battalion level), Australia and New Zealand, Philippines and Thailand, Republic of Korea and South Vietnam troops. Coffee table size 396 pages and about 6-7 pounds.

 

2. Nam The Vietnam Experience 1965-75 by Mallard Press with Consulting Editors Tim Page and John Pimlott. Another large book with tons of color photographs of most of the aspects of the war along with some little known items.

 

3. Southeast Asia: Building the Bases-The History of Construction in SE Asia by Richard Tregaskis Government Printing Office 1975 466 pages. Richard Tregaskis covered WWII, Korea and Vietnam as an Army journalist and he has written many books, all of which are excellent. He covers the Seabees, Army Engineers and civilian construction efforts in Vietnam. This is a regular sized book and comes in both hardbound and soft cover. He also has a list of key personnel involved in the effort from the US Ambassadors to NCF Command Officers with all personnel listed along with their rank and periods of service.

 

4. Vietnam Military Lore 1959-1973...Another Way To Remember by MSgt Ray A. Bows US Army Retired. Stories of forgotten heros, Named Installations, Military Monies MPC, Chits and Tokens, Decorations & Awards, Vietnam issued wooden nickels, maps, Regimental and unofficial military medals (similar to Commanders Coins), Propanganda Leaflets both Allied and Communist. This is a softcover book that has tons of information and photographs relating to the War in this 720 page book.

 

5. Vietnam Battle Chronology U.S. Army and Marine Corps Combat Operations, 1965-1973 by David Burns Sigler. McFarland & Co. Publishers 1993. This little 184 page, hardbound book list the battles and operations undertaking by the US Army and US Marine Corps during Vietnam. It list them by date of operation or combat-related incident that took place. It also has an index where you can look up information by Name of Operation, Date of Incident, Type of Operation, Units Involved, Events and Casualties. Many of the entries brake down the Units involved from both sides as well as the KIA's, WIA's and MIA's. I have a hardbound copy and at one time this book was out of print and extramely expensive but I understand that a second printing in softcovers has been put out about a year ago. I highly recommend this book.

 

I suppose I should mention one more book...Seven Firefights In Vietnam...but then again, I would be drawing attention to myself since the firefight called Ambush on Highway One involved my first convoy in Vietnam, Thanksgiving Day 1966 heading to Xuan Loc! Yes that is what was left of my truck

 

 

 

Phil

[nguoi tien su]

The CIA sued to have "Decent Interval" taken out of print so don't expect to have much luck finding a copy.

 

Greg

 

That book is VERY interesting ! No wonder why the CIA got little shivers with the content !

We still find some copies in the old book shops in France (and translated into french). I read that book twice, once about 10 years ago, and the second time in april 2005, when I was in SGN exactely 30 years after the fall.

 

My selection would be :

 

#1 : Da Nang Diary: A Forward Air Controller's Gunsight View of Combat in Vietnam (Tom Yarborough, 20th TASS Covey FAC). A wonderful account of the FAC's life and some chapters about the Prairie Fire missions.

 

#2 : The Ravens, awesome !

 

#3 : Decent Interval

 

#4 : Bright Shining Lie

 

#5 : SOG: The Secret Wars of America's Commandos in Vietnam (John Plaster), a very good vision of the SOGs from the inside.

 

At the moment I am reading a book about the influence of the sects in Vietnam (Hoa Hao, Binh Xuyen and Cao Dai), "Soldats perdus et fous de dieu Indochine 1945-1955" (Lost soldiers and God raven in IndoChina, 45-55) written by Jean Larteguy.

Larteguy was already in Vietnam during war against the Viet Minh, came back during the American involvement and then moved to Algeria during the independance war against France.

That book is very interesting as it shows that the conflicts inside the vietnamese population, the relationship between religion and politics, etc...

 

NTS

[ithaca37]

JERRY COBB said:

1. Into the Mouth of the Cat Story about Capt. Lance Sijan, USAF, MOH Recipient (posthumously)

2. Bat 21 Great story of evasion and rescue of LtCol Iceal Hamilton, EWO, USAF

3. We Were Soldiers

4. Can't remember the name of the book, it was about Col Robinson Risner's as a POW.

5. Guns Up by Johnnie Clark Autobiography while he was a machine gunner in the USMC

 

 

General Risner's book is titeled: The Passing of the Night. My Seven Years a Prisoner in North Vietnam.

 

[gwb123]

The CIA sued to have "Decent Interval" taken out of print so don't expect to have much luck finding a copy.

 

Greg

 

There's 55 copies of this available in paperback on Amazon.com right now, and another 6 hardbound copies.

 

There was a fresh printing of it in 2002.