Books about the Vietnam war (ideally non-fiction)

Books about the Vietnam war (ideally non-fiction)

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Discussion

Brigand

2,544 posts

168 months

Sunday 19th July 2020
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Seen Chickenhawk feature here a few times; an equally good one is Low Level Hell, which is about one of the "Loach" scout helicopter pilots, and you also have Snake Driver which is a series of accounts detailing the various gunship helicopters used in Vietnam, and their development through to the Cobra gunship.

entropy

5,403 posts

202 months

Wednesday 29th July 2020
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If you have to read one book then undoubtedly it would be Vietnam - The Definitive Oral History Told From All Sides by Christian Appy https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vietnam-Definitive-Oral-H...

A host of interviews from all sides: pilots, politicians, Playboy Playmate, protesters, Northern and Southern Vietnamese, grunts, commanders and even an air stewardess sickened at seeing lambs being sent and slaughtered.

BobToc said:
I enjoyed Dispatches.
Very colourful account but not sure if you know this but Michael Herr has done a lot to mythologize the war and admitted that its part fictionalized. It reads like half is after watching Apocalypse Now and FMJ dozens of times. I seems like nothing much actually happened and/or too busy scoring drugs.

irc

7,171 posts

135 months

Saturday 29th August 2020
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Just finished reading "Vietnam: No Regrets: One Soldier's Tour of Duty" by J Richard Watkins. An account of his year in Vietnam spent mostly on the front line with the infantry. He was at the sharp end but doesn't turn the book into just a series of fire fights.

He mentions a few times the contrast between the teeth of the army - the infantry on the ground and the vast majority of supporting units. Not sure how accurate it was but he says of the 2.5 million Americans who served in Vietnam only around 75'000, 3% ever took part in a helicopter assault. He survived more than 70. His hairiest moment was when a chopper assault was aborted at the last moment as the LZ was hot. Him and another grunt who had been standing on the skids ready for a fat exit fell off as the chopper turned and landed in the elephant grass 15 feet below. They survived the next few minutes as the VC searched for them until the Hueys and gunships returned.

He talks about the nuts and bolts of the job. As a radio operator, along with the platooon officer he was the number 1 target if they got ambushed as if the radio contact was broken the American advantage of close artillery support was lost. With an 8ft aerial the radioman was easy to spot. In any contact with the VC he often took the radio off and found cover a few feet away using the extension mike. Doesn't skip the dark side either. One night ambush in a free fire zone off limits to locals they ambushed a group of VC. After springing the ambush they followed the SOP of getting away from the location in case it attracted more enemy and set another ambush up some distance away. In the morning they retuned to survey the ambush site and found they had killed 7 villagers.

He was in a front line unit which didn't seem to suffer the discipline and drug issues of others, possibly later in the war. But as he says everyone's Vietnam was different. This was his. In my top ten Vietnam books. Well worth a read.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0979362903/ref=cfb_at_...


blingybongy

3,858 posts

145 months

Saturday 29th August 2020
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Just put that in my Audible wishlist. Cheers.

ReverendCounter

6,087 posts

175 months

Saturday 29th August 2020
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wisbech

2,939 posts

120 months

Saturday 29th August 2020
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A Vietcong Memoir - Truong Nhu Tang. From the other side

The Sorrow Of War - Bao Ninh (novel - but semi autobiographical)

It is a odd war, because normally the victors get to write the history!

Hilts

4,383 posts

281 months

Tuesday 15th September 2020
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I think I've only ever read one book about the Vietnam war but it held my attention which is no mean feat.

It was 'We were soldiers once...and young' by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway.

burton_ii

244 posts

200 months

Monday 5th October 2020
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working my way through 'the killing zone' by Frederick downs on Audible which I can recommend.

heisthegaffer

3,347 posts

197 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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Slightly Leftfield but I'm reading the Oliver Stone bio at the moment which has a fair amount of Vietnam content. I didn't realise that his experiences led to Platoon.

As an aside, its a brilliant book so far - I'm about 30% in.

take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey

5,071 posts

54 months

Friday 30th October 2020
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Thoroughly recommend My Father My Son by Zummwalt Jnr and Snr

Jnr was a brown water navy skipper. His father gave the go ahead for agent orange spraying. Jnr died of a cancer as a result of the spraying.

I'd also thoroughly recommend the documentary Letters Home - likely to be on YouTube. Letters read aloud by Hollywood's greatest spanning the history of the war A very sad watch and some very powerful performances.


take-good-care-of-the-forest-dewey

5,071 posts

54 months

Monday 2nd November 2020
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Found Dear America: Letters Home on youtube if anyone is interested...

Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaH7FaqNqAs

Cracking soundtrack too.

Levin

2,019 posts

123 months

Wednesday 11th November 2020
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Hue 1968, by Mark Bowden. It's an excellent read if you're interested in the Tet Offensive. I read it a few years ago and it still stands out because of how Bowden writes. Ordinarily when an historian follows an individual in crafting their narrative it means they're a survivor.

In Bowden's case, this is not so. More than once the person whose actions you are following are recounted by another survivor because the person followed was killed in action. It really brings home just how ferocious urban combat can be. Plus, it's a twist on the standard perception of sweltering jungle environments and booby-traps.