Download or read book Tragedy at Chu Lai written by David Venditta and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2016-06-21 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicky Venditti, a U.S. Army helicopter pilot with a love of fast cars and practical jokes, went to Vietnam in 1969 and was dead in 11 days, killed by an Americal Division grenade training explosion at Chu Lai. The full story of the incident did not come out until the author, David Venditta (a different spelling), Venditti's cousin, made a chance discovery that began a decades-long effort to find out exactly what happened, what the Army did about it and who was held responsible. This book documents the Army's mishandling of the incident and the effects on the families and friends of Venditti and of the two other young soldiers who died with him.

Download or read book Seabee 71 in Chu Lai written by David H. Lyman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-11-08 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:  Hoping to stay out of Vietnam, David Lyman joined the U.S. Naval Reserve to avoid the draft. By summer 1967 he was with a SeaBee unit on a beach in Chu Lai. A reporter in civilian life, Lyman was assigned to Military Construction Battalion 71 as a photojournalist. He documented the lives of the hard-working and hard-drinking SeaBees as they engineered roads, runways, heliports and base camps for the troops. The author was shot at, almost blown up by a road mine, and spent nights in a mortar pit as rockets bombarded a nearby Marine runway. He rode on convoys through Viet Cong territory to photograph villages outside "The Wire." The stories and photographs Lyman published as editor of the battalion's newspaper, The Transit, form the basis of this memoir.

Download or read book From Chu Lai to Saigon written by Sean M. Heuvel and published by Hellgate Press. This book was released on 2020-11 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Brig. Gen. Wallace L. Clement first arrived in Vietnam in December 1968, he was eager to serve his country and continue his advancement in the U.S. Army. A distinguished combat veteran of World War II and the Korean War, General Clement was well equipped to lead troops in battle. However, what he found in Vietnam was a complex conflict he would later refer to as "that strange war." FROM CHU LAI TO SAIGON explores General Clement's Vietnam War journey through his letters home and through the recollections of those who served with him.

Download or read book U S Marines In Vietnam The Landing And The Buildup 1965 written by Dr. Jack Shulimson and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2016-08-09 with total page 666 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the second volume in a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam War. This volume details the Marine activities during 1965, the year the war escalated and major American combat units were committed to the conflict. The narrative traces the landing of the nearly 5,000-man 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and its transformation into the ΙII Marine Amphibious Force, which by the end of the year contained over 38,000 Marines. During this period, the Marines established three enclaves in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and their mission expanded from defense of the Da Nang Airbase to a balanced strategy involving base defense, offensive operations, and pacification. This volume continues to treat the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces but in less detail than its predecessor volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964; The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era.

Download or read book 2D Surgical Hospital written by Lorna Griess and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2016-11-21 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about living and working in a mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) in South Vietnam. It talks about the hospital itself, the setting, how we lived, how we coped with less-than-good circumstances, the type of patients we received, the equipment we worked with, and the emotional highs and lows that were part of every day. The stories are true. Some of the dates and numbers of things may be off a little; that was a long time ago. Names have not been used to protect the wonderful, dedicated people with whom I worked and lived with.

Download or read book Expat Journal Postcards from the Edge written by Stephen Dennstedt and published by . This book was released on 2012-09-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expat Journal: Postcards from the Edge, draws heavily from Mr. Dennstedt's travel blog of the same name. It chronicles his transition from commercial banker to expatriate and international photographer, and the events that led up to this life-altering change. Often witty and funny, it also touches on serious subjects: Death, divorce, Vietnam, Cuban cigars, Scotch Whisky, beautiful women and a little gecko named Pedro Gonzalez. It is hoped that this first volume will be part of an ongoing series.

Download or read book The First Battle written by Otto J. Lehrack and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2004-06-19 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] brief but well-told and well-researched account . . . a good description of early U.S. Marine deployments to Vietnam” (HistoryNet). The First Battle is a graphic account of the Vietnam War’s first major clash. On August 18, 1965, regiment fought regiment on the Van Tuong Peninsula near the new Marine base at Chu Lai. On the American side were three battalions of Marines under the command of Col. Oscar Peatross, a hero of two previous wars. His opponent was the 1st Viet Cong Regiment commanded by Nguyen Dinh Trong, a veteran of many fights against the French and the South Vietnamese. Codenamed Operation Starlite, this action was a resounding success for the Marines, and its result was cause for great optimism about America’s future in Vietnam. Blood debt, han tu in Vietnamese, can mean revenge, debt of honor, or blood owed for blood spilled. The blood debt came into Vietnamese usage early in the war with the United States. With this battle, the Johnson Administration began compiling its own blood debt, this one to the American people. The book also looks at the ongoing conflict between the US Army and the US Marines about the methodology of the Vietnam War. With decades of experience with insurrection and rebellion, the Marines were institutionally oriented to base the struggle on pacification of the population. The Army, on the other hand, having largely trained to meet the Soviet Army on the plains of Germany, opted for search-and-destroy missions against Communist main force units. The history of the Vietnam War is littered with many “what ifs.” This may be the biggest of them.

Download or read book Four Hours in My Lai written by Michael Bilton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1993-03-01 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Uncovering the secrets behind the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam, this is "a brutal, cautionary tale that serves as a painful reminder of the worst that can happen in war."—Chicago Tribune.

Download or read book Utter s Battalion written by Alex Lee and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2000-01-04 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 1965, the entire 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment--lock, stock, and barrel--embarked for Vietnam. Captain Alex Lee was there. . . . Now combat-veteran Marine captain Alex Lee brings to gritty life the full tour of 2/7. From the search-and-destroy missions to the sudden violent ambushes in the hills and valleys west of Qui Nhon, Lee describes how Marines battled monsoons, malaria, and the enemy as they crept through terrain infested with Viet Cong caves and hideouts. After paving the way in Qui Nhon for the arrival of more American military, 2/7 was assigned to Chu Lai, where the battalion fought its most bitter, deadly battles. With the scalding ring of truth, Lee captures the conditions of the bone-weary 2/7 Marines as they slogged through jungles and spent night after night in dreary, rain-filled foxholes. Although they faced a life of constant danger and occasional mindless confusion, in their seemingly endless marathon of effort, agony, and sacrifice, the Marines of 2/7 never faltered, never stopped giving their best.

Download or read book Hostile Fire written by Philip Bigler and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the early morning hours of June 8, 1969, a Soviet-built 122-mm rocket slammed into ward 4 of the 312th Evacuation Hospital in Chu Lai, Vietnam. Lt. Sharon A. Lane, a young, attractive 24-year-old nurse from Canton, Ohio, died instantly. Though seven other American military nurses lost their lives serving in Vietnam, Lt. Lane was the only American service-woman killed as a direct result of enemy fire throughout the war. Her life and untimely death have come to epitomize the duty, honor, and sacrifice of the almost 11,000 American military and naval nurses who served the country during the Vietnam ara. Hostile Fire is based on extensive interviews with veterans, family, and friends; a review of official records; and Lt. Lane's own letters home which were carefully preserved by her family. The author paints a picture of a vibrant and dedicated young woman, tragically killed just as her adult life was beginning.Skillfully placed within the historical and political context of the period, the story provides the reader with a powerful and personal look at Vietnam and those who served.

Download or read book Marines of Qu S n written by R.B. MacNichol and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2021-07-20 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1967, during the Vietnam War, there is a place of deadly fighting, strange sightings and rumors, and whispers of hidden treasure, it is known as the Quế Sơn Valley. As the war intensifies, a Marine patrol is ambushed, men are wounded; one vanishes without a trace. Another patrol kills a Viet Cong Tax Collector; a curious map is removed from his body. Elsewhere, Marines confront and kill an enemy squad; they discover an unsigned letter written by an American. Later, the Marines kickoff Operation Hillandale; Bravo Company will use explosives to destroy enemy caves inside Hill 270. 350 miles to the south, Ryan, a former Marine turned civilian, is working in Saigon and has fallen in love with Vân, the beautiful daughter of a powerful South Vietnamese general. When the couple decides that Ryan needs her father’s approval to marry and go to America, circumstances plunge him into the middle of the mystery and chaos of Quế Sơn once again; a place he vowed never to revisit—but now he must. A typhoon disrupts his flight out of Saigon. Grounded in Chu Lai, he continues overland under the cover of extreme weather to avoid the enemy. Based in part on real events; interrogators, secret agents, hidden agendas, gritty Marines, ancient treasure, Ryan and Vân, a missing man, a recon team fighting to survive, the general and a mountain full of explosives, all become entangled in this story of mystery, intrigue, adventure and Romance. The volatile outcome is anyone’s guess....

Download or read book CAP Mot written by Barry L. Goodson and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Water buffalo dung to keep the mosquitoes away. Ordinary villagers like Mamasan Tou would set up a security network so the CAP marines could afford the occasional luxury of a nap or a few minutes to write a letter home. The only time a CAP marine left the jungle was when he was rotating home, wounded or dead. Goodson's thirteen-month tour of duty was almost over when he was wounded. He spent several weeks in various hospitals before going home, and facing a whole.

Download or read book Hill 488 written by Ray Hildreth and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-06-15 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For some, Hill 488 was just another landmark in the jungles of Vietnam. For the eighteen men of Charlie Company, it was a last stand—this is the stirring combat memoir written by Ray Hildreth, one of the unit's survivors. On June 13, 1966, men of the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division were stationed on Hill 488. Before the week was over, they would fight the battle that would make them the most highly decorated small unit in the entire history of the U.S. military, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor, four Navy Crosses, thirteen Silver Stars, and eighteen Purple Hearts—some of them posthumously. During the early evening of June 15, a battalion of hardened North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong—outnumbering the Americans 25-to-1—threw everything they had at the sixteen Marines and two Navy corpsmen for the rest of that terror-filled night. Every man who held the hill was either killed or wounded defending the ground with unbelievable courage and unflagging determination—even as reinforcements were on the way. All they had to do was make it until dawn...

Download or read book Sappers in the Wire written by Keith W. Nolan and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the costly 1971 surprise attack on Firebase Mary Ann draws on declassified documents and interviews with more than fifty veterans of the 1st Battalion of the 46th Infantry. Reprint.

Download or read book Casting Alpha written by James R. Kelley and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2002-03 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Casting Alpha is the story about a platoon of Marine Corps amtrac crewmen who served during the Vietnam War. Kelly, a former trac rat, has wanted to write about his unit since he returned from Vietnam in 1967. He wanted Casting Alpha to be different; not just another blood and guts book about Vietnam. Casting Alphais the story of young Marines sharing a common goal: getting home in one piece. It's the story of their daily activities and their feelings combined with the sense of helplessness they endured as they carried out their sworn duty. Kelly opened his Vietnam photo album and searched the faces on now faded photographs. Each one transported Kelly back thirty-five years to a time in his life that he refers to as his personal twilight zone. The young faces in the photographs brought back memories, memories of situations and occurrences that seemed to have happened only yesterday. A few memories were of comical situations while others reflect sadness, cruelty, and anger. One memory most trac rats can't forget is the anxiety associated with thoughts of enemy land mines and snipers. Kelly named that anxiety "the big wait." Discover what it was like to be a crewman aboard an amtrac during the Vietnam War. Feel the anxiety build as you climb into the driver's seat, start the engine, and begin a mission into no-man's land on roads and trails that have been previously visited by enemy soldiers. Are land mines in your path? Will your number be up today? The big wait will take control of your senses as you read Casting Alpha.

Download or read book The First Fight U S Marines in Operation Starlite August 1965 written by Rod Andrew and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-10-27 with total page 61 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 2008 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the Secretary of Defense to conduct a program to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. The First Fight is the second title in a series dedicated to the Marine Corps' involvement in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s until 1975. This commemorative publication focuses on Operation Starlite, the first significant engagement between Marines and the Viet Cong with regimental-sized forces. It lasted from 18 to 24 August 1965, and in many ways foreshadowed the experience of American forces in Vietnam.

Download or read book Her Own Vietnam written by Lynn Kanter and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fiction. For decades, Della Brown has tried to forget her service as a U.S. Army nurse in Vietnam. But when she receives a letter from a fellow combat nurse, once her closest friend, all the memories come flooding back: Della's nightmarish introduction to the Twelfth Evacuation Hospital, where every bed held a patient hideously wounded in ways never mentioned in nursing school. The day she learned how to tell young men they were about to die. The night her chopper pilot boyfriend failed to return from his mission. She must also confront the fissures in her family life, the mystery of her father's disappearance, the things mothers and daughters cannot maybe should not know about one another, and the lifelong repercussions of a single mistake. An unflinching depiction of war and its personal costs, HER OWN VIETNAM is also a portrait of a woman in midlife a mother, a nurse, and long ago a soldier. "Kanter explores the life of Della Brown and the haunting effects of her time in Vietnam with great emotion and insight. This novel successfully captures a very specific time in history but it also reveals the more subtle battles of a daughter, sister, wife, mother and friend." Jill McCorkle, author of Life After Life, Tending to Virginia, and Going Away Shoes "Lynn Kanter's characters, Della and Charlene, could be anyone's mother, sister, or daughter. Because they are so accessible, the reader finds it easy to journey with them. It should be a required trip for everyone, particularly those who think there is glory in war." Mary Reynolds Powell, Captain, U.S. Army Nurse Corps, Vietnam 1970-71, author of A World of Hurt: Between Innocence and Arrogance in Vietnam "HER OWN VIETNAM will captivate you, and bring you to tears. It will also give you a deeper understanding of what military nurses endure." Military Spouse Book Review "This novel is one of the best books about nurses in Vietnam." VVA Veteran (national magazine of the Vietnam Veterans of America) "Well written, compassionate, and perceptively told, addressing the trauma felt by the 'invisible' women in Vietnam." Foreword Reviews"