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Books > History > American history > From 1900 > Postwar, from 1945 > Vietnam War

Toxic War - The Story of Agent Orange (Hardcover): Peter Sills Toxic War - The Story of Agent Orange (Hardcover)
Peter Sills
R2,437 Discovery Miles 24 370 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The war in Vietnam, spanning more than twenty years, was one of the most divisive conflicts ever to envelop the United States, and its complexity and consequences did not end with the fall of Saigon in 1975. As Peter Sills demonstrates in "Toxic War," veterans faced a new enemy beyond post-traumatic stress disorder or debilitating battle injuries. Many of them faced a new, more pernicious, slow-killing enemy: the cancerous effects of Agent Orange.


Originally introduced by Dow and other chemical companies as a herbicide in the United States and adopted by the military as a method of deforesting the war zone of Vietnam, in order to deny the enemy cover, Agent Orange also found its way into the systems of numerous active-duty soldiers. Sills argues that manufacturers understood the dangers of this compound and did nothing to protect American soldiers.


"Toxic War" takes the reader behind the scenes into the halls of political power and industry, where the debates about the use of Agent Orange and its potential side effects raged. In the end, the only way these veterans could seek justice was in the court of law and public opinion. Unprecedented in its access to legal, medical, and government documentation, as well as to the personal testimonies of veterans, "Toxic War" endeavors to explore all sides of this epic battle.

Marine Advisors - With the Vietnamese Marine Corps (Paperback): Charles D. Melson, Wanda J. Renfrow Marine Advisors - With the Vietnamese Marine Corps (Paperback)
Charles D. Melson, Wanda J. Renfrow; US Marine Corps History Division
R343 Discovery Miles 3 430 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The author first served with Vietnamese Marines in 1972 when they came on board the U.S. Navy ships that Battalion Landing Team 1/9 was embarked on. They were preparing for an amphibious landing to counter the North Vietnamese Army's Spring Offensive in Military Region 1 (I Corps) in South Vietnam. They brought with them their U.S. Marine advisors who were known by the senior members of the battalion. They had already witnessed or heard of the exploits of then-Captain John Ripley and Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Turley in blunting the initial attacks of the Easter Offensive. As the Vietnamese were formed into helicopter or boat teams and fed a meal before going ashore, they bantered with the American Marines and Sailors, telling them to come along to "kill communists." After a turbulent start to the offensive, the Vietnamese Marines exhibited the fighting spirit that elite units create for themselves. This was reflected in the various names of their battalions that were the focus of their unit identification. The infantry battalions had a series of nicknames and slogans that were reflected on their unit insignia: 1st Battalion's "Wild Bird," 2d Battalion's "Crazy Buffalo," 3d Battalion's "SeaWolf," 4th Battalion's "Killer Shark," 5th Battalion's "Black Dragon," 6th Battalion's "Sacred Bird," 7th Battalion's "Black Tiger," 8th Battalion's "Sea Eagle," and 9th Battalion's "Mighty Tiger." For the artillery units, this was the 1st Battalion's "Lightning Fire," 2d Battalion's "Sacred Arrow," and 3d Battalion's "Sacred Bow." Support and service battalions followed this example as well. The 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade and its embarked troops provided helicopters, amphibious tractors, and landing craft support for a series of attacks leading to the recapture of Quang Tri City through the fall of 1972. In addition, command and control facilities and liaison were provided to the Republic of Vietnam's I Corps and Military Advisory Command Vietnam's 1st Regional Advisory Command in the sustained counteroffensive. This reinforced the impression made by the Vietnamese Marines themselves. This began the interest in the story that follows. The period after World War II saw a number of associated Marine Corps formed in the republics of China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. They had been founded, with the help of foreign military aid, to fight the various conflicts to contain communist expansion in the region. Also present at various times were other Marines from the Netherlands, France, and Great Britain. The beginnings of the Cold War witnessed this proliferation of amphibious forces in Asia, in part because of the reputation the U.S. Marines had earned in the cross Pacific drive against Japan and in other postwar confrontations. This is about one of them, the Vietnamese Marine Corps or Thuy Quan Luc Chien (TQLC). This occasional paper provides documents on the topics of the Vietnamese Marines and the U.S. Marine Advisory Unit from this period.

Mighty Men of Valor - With Charlie Company on Hill 714-Vietnam, 1970 (Paperback): John G. Roberts Mighty Men of Valor - With Charlie Company on Hill 714-Vietnam, 1970 (Paperback)
John G. Roberts
R339 Discovery Miles 3 390 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

THE SCREAMING EAGLES OF VIETNAM IN 1970 The Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne have been in combat against the elusive Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army for nearly five years. In his memoir, author John G. Roberts tells the story of the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, the "Widow Makers" of the 101st Divisions' 1st Brigade. Written in the often crude language of the combat infantryman, Roberts describes what it was like to confront the enemy during close combat in the triple-canopied jungles of I Corps, west of the Song Bo River and in the infamous A Shau Valley. As part of Operation Texas Star, the 502nd Infantry (the "O-Deuce") lost 30 men killed and over 200 wounded in a month long battle against the 29th NVA Regiment in April and May, 1970. JUNGLE COMBAT SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF A YOUNG SHAKE-N-BAKE SERGEANT Roberts relates the shock and grief he and others felt when his 11-man squad lost 3 men killed and five wounded in about an hour of combat. The fights around Hill 714, Hill 882 and the 4-month Battle of Firebase Ripcord received very little attention in the media. The press was focused on the April invasion of Cambodia and the May student shootings at Kent State University in Ohio. Roberts, like many Vietnam combat veterans, carried the symptoms of PTSD with him when he returned home. The author is very open about the 35 year battle he had with PTSD and alcohol. With help from his family and support from medical professionals at Veterans Affairs, he has worked out a truce with the demons of PTSD and now lives a quiet life in Southern California. JOIN THE O-DEUCE DURING OPERATION TEXAS STAR When you read Mighty Men of Valor: With Charlie Company on Hill 714 - Vietnam, 1970 you have the chance to experience life (and death) as an combat infantryman during the last big American-led battles of the Vietnam War as only someone who was there can describe them.

David and Lee Roy - A Vietnam Story (Hardcover): David L. Nelson David and Lee Roy - A Vietnam Story (Hardcover)
David L. Nelson
R784 R650 Discovery Miles 6 500 Save R134 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

They were little more than boys in the turbulent 1960s when Lee Roy Herron and his high school buddy, David Nelson, signed up for Marine Corps officer training. Decisions during college took the pair in different directions--Lee Roy to the infantry, language school, and the cauldron of Vietnam, David to law school, the JAG office, and eventually to Okinawa.
When Lt. Lee Roy Herron was killed on the front lines in February 1969, only two months into his tour of duty, Nelson mourned the tragic loss. Haunted for years afterward, he questioned his own choices, his relative safety, and his backstage role in the conflict while his friend paid the ultimate price.
A chance encounter with a retired officer in 1997 spurred Nelson to delve more deeply into Lee Roy's death. What really happened that day on the hillside above A Shau Valley on the Laotian border? A quest to understand his old friend's experience and sacrifice led Nelson to military archives, to the homes of friends and family back in West Texas, and even to battle sites in Vietnam. What he learned caused him to rethink the nature of fate, friendship, and heroism--and touches lives even today.
The final chapter in Nelson's journey to honor his fallen friend, David and Lee Roy will resonate with Vietnam veterans, their families, and survivors of any war who carry the memory with them.

Loss of Innocence - A History of Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines in Vietnam (Paperback): Stephen Cone Loss of Innocence - A History of Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines in Vietnam (Paperback)
Stephen Cone
R809 R675 Discovery Miles 6 750 Save R134 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This book is above all, history. For the first time an author has covered the actions of a single Marine company in Vietnam and their 5+ year deployment. The content of Loss of Innocence is the result of 15 years of official document research, taped interviews, and meetings with those who served within the company's ranks. From beginning to end, the reader will discover the horror, boredom, and humor of America's most controversial war. The reader, veteran or non-veteran, will find meaning and new understanding about a war fought largely by those 18 to 21 years of age. For current information about Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines in Vietnam, visit www.hotel27vietnam.com.

Spreading Ink Blots from Da Nang to the DMZ - The Origins and Implementation of Us Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Strategy in... Spreading Ink Blots from Da Nang to the DMZ - The Origins and Implementation of Us Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Strategy in Vietnam, March 1965 to November 1968 (Hardcover)
David Strachan-Morris
R1,039 R822 Discovery Miles 8 220 Save R217 (21%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

During the United States' involvement in the war in Vietnam, the decision by the US Marine Corps to emphasise counterinsurgency operations in coastal areas was the cause of considerable friction between the Marines and the army commanders in Vietnam, who wanted the corps to conduct more conventional operations. This book will examine the background to the Marines' decision and place it in the context of Marine Corps doctrine, infrastructure and logistical capability. For the first time, this book brings together the Marine Corps' background in counterinsurgency and the state of contemporary counterinsurgency theory in the 1960s - combining this with the strategic outlook, role, organisation and logistic capability of the Marine Corps to provide a complete view of its counterinsurgency operations. This book will argue that the US Marine Corps successfully used counterinsurgency as a means to achieve their primary aim in Vietnam - the defence of three major bases in the coastal area in the north of the Republic of Vietnam - and that the corps' decision to emphasise a counterinsurgency approach was driven as much by its background and infrastructure as it was by the view that Vietnam was a 'war for the people'. This book is also an important contribution to the current debate on counterinsurgency, which is now seen by many in the military doctrine arena as a flawed or invalid concept following the perceived failures in Iraq and Afghanistan - largely because it has been conflated with nation-building or democratisation. Recent works on British counterinsurgency have also punctured the myth of counterinsurgency as being a milder form of warfare - with the main effort being the wellbeing of the population - whereas in fact there is still a great deal of violence involved. This book will bring the debate 'back to basics' by providing an historical example of counterinsurgency in its true form: a means of dealing with terrorist or guerrilla warfare at an operational level to achieve a specific aim in a specific area within a specific period of time.

Tiger Papa Three - Memoir of a Combined Action Marine in Vietnam (Paperback): Edward F. Palm Tiger Papa Three - Memoir of a Combined Action Marine in Vietnam (Paperback)
Edward F. Palm
R948 Discovery Miles 9 480 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The U.S. Marine Corps' Combined Action Program (CAP) in Vietnam was an enlightened gesture of strategic dissent. Recognizing that search-and-destroy operations were immoral and self-defeating and that the best hope for victory was "winning hearts and minds," the Corps stationed squads of Marines, augmented by Navy corpsmen, in the countryside to train and patrol alongside village self-defense units called Popular Forces. Corporal Edward F. Palm became a combined-action Marine in 1967. His memoir recounts his experiences fighting with the South Vietnamese, his readjustment to life after the war, and the circumstances that prompted him to join the Corps in the first place. A one-time aspiring photojournalist, Palm includes photographs he took while serving, along with an epilogue describing what he and his former sergeant found during their 2002 return to Vietnam.

Warren James (Jay) Hays, A Life Well Lived (Paperback): Doris Hays, Jack Mayhew Warren James (Jay) Hays, A Life Well Lived (Paperback)
Doris Hays, Jack Mayhew
R344 Discovery Miles 3 440 Ships in 10 - 15 working days
Inventing Vietnam - The United States and State Building, 1954-1968 (Paperback): James M. Carter Inventing Vietnam - The United States and State Building, 1954-1968 (Paperback)
James M. Carter
R713 Discovery Miles 7 130 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

This book considers the Vietnam war in light of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, concluding that the war was a direct result of failed state-building efforts. This U.S. nation building project began in the mid-1950s with the ambitious goal of creating a new independent, democratic, modern state below the 17th parallel. No one involved imagined this effort would lead to a major and devastating war in less than a decade. Carter analyzes how the United States ended up fighting a large-scale war that wrecked the countryside, generated a flood of refugees, and brought about catastrophic economic distortions, results which actually further undermined the larger U.S. goal of building a viable state. Carter argues that, well before the Tet Offensive shocked the viewing public in late January, 1968, the campaign in southern Vietnam had completely failed and furthermore, the program contained the seeds of its own failure from the outset.

Vietnam Helicopter Crew Member Stories - Volume 1 (Paperback): H.D. Graham Vietnam Helicopter Crew Member Stories - Volume 1 (Paperback)
H.D. Graham
R574 R490 Discovery Miles 4 900 Save R84 (15%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
The Easter Offensive - Vietnam 1972 Voume 1 - Volume 1: Invasion Across the DMZ (Paperback): Albert Grandolini The Easter Offensive - Vietnam 1972 Voume 1 - Volume 1: Invasion Across the DMZ (Paperback)
Albert Grandolini
R591 R476 Discovery Miles 4 760 Save R115 (19%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

On 30 March 1972 the South Vietnamese positions along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separated the North from South Vietnam were suddenly shelled by hundreds of heavy guns and multiple rocket launchers. Caught in a series of outposts of what was the former 'McNamara Line', the shocked defenders had just enough time to emerge from their bunkers at the end of the barrage before they were attacked by regular North Vietnamese Army divisions, supported by hundreds of armoured vehicles that crashed though their defensive lines along the border. Thus began one of the fiercest campaigns of the Vietnam War but also one of the less well documented because by then most of the American ground forces had been withdrawn. Following on from the details of the downsizing of American forces and the setting up of the'Vietnamization' policy, the build up of both the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in the South and the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the North is discussed at length. A special emphasis is devoted to the study of the development the North Vietnamese armoured corps that would spearhead the coming offensive. Consequently, the nature of the war changed dramatically, evolving from a guerrilla one into a conventional conflict. The South Vietnamese resistance shuddered, and then crumbled under the communist onslaught, putting Hue the ancient imperial capital at risk. It was only thanks to US airpower, directed by a small group of courageous American advisers, which helped to turn the tide. Under the command of a new capable commander, the South Vietnamese then methodically counterattacked to retake some of the lost ground. This culminated in the ferocious street fighting for Quang Tri. This first volume describes the combat taking place in the northern part of South Vietnam, and uses not only American archives but also Vietnamese sources, from both sides. The book contains 130 photos, five maps and 18 colour profiles. Asia@War - following on from our highly-successful Africa@War series, Asia@War replicates the same format - concise, incisive text, rare images and high quality colour artwork providing fresh accounts of both well-known and more esoteric aspects of conflict in this part of the world since 1945.

Armoured Warfare in the Vietnam War (Paperback): Michael Green Armoured Warfare in the Vietnam War (Paperback)
Michael Green
R476 R393 Discovery Miles 3 930 Save R83 (17%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Historian and collector Michael Green shows in this fascinating and graphically illustrated book that the two wars that engulfed Indochina and North and South Vietnam over 30 years were far more armoured in nature than typically thought of. By skilful use of imagery and descriptive text he describes the many variants deployed and their contribution. The ill-fated French Expeditionary Force was largely US equipped with WW2 M3 and M5 Stuart, M4 Sherman and M24 light tanks as well as armoured cars and half-tracks. Most of these eventually went to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam but were outdated and ineffective due to lack of logistics and training. The US Army and Marine Corps build-up in the 1960s saw vast quantities of M48 Pattons, M113 APCs and many specialist variants and improvised armoured vehicles arrive in theatre. The Australians brought their British Centurion tanks. But it was the Russians, Chinese and North Vietnamese who won the day and their T-38-85 tanks, ZSU anti-aircraft platforms and BTR-40 and -50 swept the Communists to victory. This fine book brings details and images of all these diverse weaponry to the reader in one volume.

Peace in the Mountains - Northern Appalachian Students Protest the Vietnam War (Hardcover): Tom Weyant Peace in the Mountains - Northern Appalachian Students Protest the Vietnam War (Hardcover)
Tom Weyant
R1,564 Discovery Miles 15 640 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Peace in the Mountains analyzes student activism at the University of Pittsburgh, Ohio University, and West Virginia University during the Vietnam War era. Drawing from a wide variety of sources including memoirs, periodicals, archival manuscript collections, and college newspapers such as The Pitt News, author Thomas Weyant tracks the dynamics of a student-led campus response to the war in real time and outside the purview of the national media. Along the way, he musters evidence for an emerging social and political conscience among the student bodies of northern Appalachia, citing politics on campus, visions of patriotism and dissent, campus citizenship, antiwar activism and draft resistance, campus issues, and civil rights as major sites of contention and exploration.Through this regional chronicle of student activism during the Vietnam War era, Weyant holds to one reoccurring and unifying theme: citizenship. His account shows that political activism and civic engagement were by no means reserved to students at elite colleges; on the contrary, Appalachian youth were giving voice to the most vexing questions of local and national responsibility, student and citizen identity, and the role of the university in civil society. Rich in primary source material from student op-eds to administrative documents, Peace in the Mountains draws a new map of student activism in the 1960s and early 1970s. Weyant's study is a thoughtful and engaging addition to both Appalachian studies and the historiography of the Vietnam War era and is sure to appeal not only to specialists-Appalachian scholars, political historians, political scientists, and sociologists-but to college students and general readers as well.

Legend - The Incredible Story of Green Beret Sergeant Roy Benavidez's Heroic Mission to Rescue a Special Forces Team... Legend - The Incredible Story of Green Beret Sergeant Roy Benavidez's Heroic Mission to Rescue a Special Forces Team Caught Behind Enemy Lines (Paperback)
Eric Blehm
R365 R312 Discovery Miles 3 120 Save R53 (15%) Ships in 12 - 17 working days
The End of Ambition - The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era (Hardcover): Mark Atwood Lawrence The End of Ambition - The United States and the Third World in the Vietnam Era (Hardcover)
Mark Atwood Lawrence
R791 Discovery Miles 7 910 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

A groundbreaking new history of how the Vietnam War thwarted U.S. liberal ambitions in the developing world and at home in the 1960s At the start of the 1960s, John F. Kennedy and other American liberals expressed boundless optimism about the ability of the United States to promote democracy and development in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. With U.S. power, resources, and expertise, almost anything seemed possible in the countries of the Cold War's "Third World"-developing, postcolonial nations unaligned with the United States or Soviet Union. Yet by the end of the decade, this vision lay in ruins. What happened? In The End of Ambition, Mark Atwood Lawrence offers a groundbreaking new history of America's most consequential decade. He reveals how the Vietnam War, combined with dizzying social and political changes in the United States, led to a collapse of American liberal ambition in the Third World-and how this transformation was connected to shrinking aspirations back home in America. By the middle and late 1960s, democracy had given way to dictatorship in many Third World countries, while poverty and inequality remained pervasive. As America's costly war in Vietnam dragged on and as the Kennedy years gave way to the administrations of Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon, America became increasingly risk averse and embraced a new policy of promoting mere stability in the Third World. Paying special attention to the U.S. relationships with Brazil, India, Iran, Indonesia, and southern Africa, The End of Ambition tells the story of this momentous change and of how international and U.S. events intertwined. The result is an original new perspective on a war that continues to haunt U.S. foreign policy today.

Where the Ashes Are - The Odyssey of a Vietnamese Family (Paperback): Qui Duc Nguyen Where the Ashes Are - The Odyssey of a Vietnamese Family (Paperback)
Qui Duc Nguyen
R539 R452 Discovery Miles 4 520 Save R87 (16%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

In 1968 Nguyen Qui Duc was nine years old, his father was a high-ranking civil servant in the South Vietnamese government, and his mother was a school principal. Then the Viet Cong launched their Tet offensive, and the Nguyen family's comfortable life was destroyed. The author's father was taken prisoner and marched up the Ho Chi Minh Trail. North Vietnam's highest-ranking civilian prisoner, he eventually spent twelve years in captivity, composing poems in his head to maintain his sanity. Nguyen himself escaped from Saigon as North Vietnamese tanks approached in 1975. He came of age as an American teenager, going to school dances and working at a Roy Rogers restaurant, yet yearning for the homeland and parents he had to leave behind. The author's mother stayed in Vietnam to look after her mentally ill daughter. She endured poverty and "reeducation" until her husband was freed and the Nguyens could reunite. Intertwining these three stories, "Where the Ashes Are" shows us the Vietnam War through a child's eyes, privation after a Communist takeover, and the struggle of new immigrants. The author, who returned to Vietnam as an American reporter, provides a detailed portrait of the nation as it opened to the West in the early 1990s. "Where the Ashes Are" closes with Nguyen's thoughts on being pulled between his adopted country and his homeland.

Cash on Delivery - CIA Special Operations During the Secret War in Laos (Hardcover): Thomas Leo Briggs Cash on Delivery - CIA Special Operations During the Secret War in Laos (Hardcover)
Thomas Leo Briggs
R830 Discovery Miles 8 300 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

"Cash on Delivery: CIA Special Operations During the Secret War in Laos" is a detailed accounting of a CIA program directed by a CIA operations officer that sent small teams of irregulars behind enemy lines in Laos to find, fix and destroy North Vietnamese Army units, capture NVA soldiers or encourage them to defect, intercept NVA radio communications, and recruit NVA soldiers to spy and report on their comrades. It is a unique contribution to the history of the Vietnam War describing valuable experiences using surrogates to conduct intelligence and combat operations that have little or no adverse impact on the United States government's relations with the peoples and governments of other nations. An important lesson in the post 9/11 world of countering terrorism all over the globe where we do not have enough American troops to get the job done without political consequences. The book also describes the daring and dangerous rescue of Raven 42, a U.S. Air Force forward air controller shot down while supporting Lao irregular surrogate forces fighting NVA main force units in Laos, attempts to infiltrate Cambodia to collect intelligence on the North Vietnamese in early 1970, the effort to uncover information about a missing Air America crewman captured in 1963, the tragic fatal crash of an aircraft carrying four of the author's best Thai operational assistants, and the uncovering of a mole hidden in a Royal Lao government military headquarters. Here are intimate details that have never before appeared in print, recounting the planning and execution of a variety of special operations, conceived and carried out behind enemy lines by the CIA using only Lao irregular surrogates. The CIA employed surrogates in southern Laos to force the North Vietnamese Army to keep combat units there to defend their logistical supply line rather than send them to fight U.S. and allied forces in South Vietnam. For the duration of U.S. participation in the Vietnam War the CIA succeeded in that goal.

More Than A Few Good Men (Hardcover): Robert Jett Driver More Than A Few Good Men (Hardcover)
Robert Jett Driver
R1,343 R1,136 Discovery Miles 11 360 Save R207 (15%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

More Than A Few Good Men tells the compelling soldiers story of Robert J. Driver's life from childhood to his retirement from the United States Marine Corps. Driver witnessed and was part of many extreme, and sometimes chilling, events. These actions come to life through Driver's own letters home to his wife, encompassing the challenge of boot camp, Officer's Candidate School, and his tours of duty in the Vietnam War. Driver collected declassified documents and information from many of the Marines he served with in Vietnam in order to provide the reader with this exceptionally detailed account. Driver's letters home offer a clear reckoning of the traumatic events of combat and the bravery of his young Marines. The book also features biographies of the many contributors. Driver's admiration for the men he fought with is evident-they were More Than A Few Good Men.

The Vietnam War Reexamined (Paperback): Michael G. Kort The Vietnam War Reexamined (Paperback)
Michael G. Kort
R723 R597 Discovery Miles 5 970 Save R126 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Going beyond the dominant orthodox narrative to incorporate insight from revisionist scholarship on the Vietnam War, Michael G. Kort presents the case that the United States should have been able to win the war, and at a much lower cost than it suffered in defeat. Presenting a study that is both historiographic and a narrative history, Kort analyzes important factors such as the strong nationalist credentials and leadership qualities of South Vietnam's Ngo Dinh Diem; the flawed military strategy of 'graduated response' developed by Robert McNamara; and the real reasons South Vietnam collapsed in the face of a massive North Vietnamese invasion in 1975. Kort shows how the US commitment to defend South Vietnam was not a strategic error but a policy consistent with US security interests during the Cold War, and that there were potentially viable strategic approaches to the war that might have saved South Vietnam.

River City a Nurse's Year in Vietnam (Paperback): Patricia L Walsh River City a Nurse's Year in Vietnam (Paperback)
Patricia L Walsh
R426 Discovery Miles 4 260 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Patricia L. Walsh grew up the eighth of fifteen children in a poor Minnesota farm family and worked her way through nursing school and anesthesia training. In 1967, she volunteered to go to Vietnam to care for civilians caught in the crossfire. She injured her back in the Tet Offensive and returned home in denial of the severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) she had developed. RIVER CITY chronicles the dedication, self sacrifice, trials and triumphs of practicing combat medicine.

The Best of the Best the Fighting 5th Marines Vietnam - Dying Delta (Paperback): Paul A McNally The Best of the Best the Fighting 5th Marines Vietnam - Dying Delta (Paperback)
Paul A McNally
R460 R406 Discovery Miles 4 060 Save R54 (12%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days


"DYING DELTA" MARINES -VIETNAM
This story is a Marine's memoir of some of the fiercest combat that took place during the Vietnam War. It tells the story of a young man joining the U. S. Marine Corps looking for a fight. He got more than he bargained for when he got orders for Vietnam and assignment to Delta Co. 1st Bn. 5th Marines 1st Marine Division, the most decorated regiment throughout all of the Marine Corps history. He found out "The Fighting 5th Marines" earned that moniker.

An Enormous Crime - The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia (Paperback, First): Bill Hendon,... An Enormous Crime - The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia (Paperback, First)
Bill Hendon, Elizabeth A Stewart
R938 R785 Discovery Miles 7 850 Save R153 (16%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

"The dramatic history of living American soldiers left in Vietnam, and the first full account of the circumstances that left them there"
"An Enormous Crime" is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, "An Enormous Crime "brilliantly exposes the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973 and what these men have endured since.
Despite hundreds of postwar sightings and intelligence reports telling of Americans being held captive throughout Vietnam and Laos, Washington did nothing. And despite numerous secret military signals and codes sent from the desperate POWs themselves, the Pentagon did not act. Even in 1988, a U.S. spy satellite passing over Sam Neua Province, Laos, spotted the twelve-foot-tall letters "USA" and immediately beneath them a huge, highly classified Vietnam War-era USAF/USN Escape & Evasion code in a rice paddy in a narrow mountain valley. The letters "USA" appeared to have been dug out of the ground, while the code appeared to have been fashioned from rice straw (see jacket photograph).
Tragically, the brave men who constructed these codes have not yet come home. Nor have any of the other American POWs who the postwar intelligence shows have laid down similar codes, secret messages, and secret authenticators in rice paddies and fields and garden plots andalong trails in both Laos and Vietnam.
"An Enormous Crime" is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. It is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our modern history: ugly, harrowing, and true.
From the Bay of Pigs, where John and Robert Kennedy struck a deal with Fidel Castro that led to freedom for the Bay of Pigs prisoners, to the Paris Peace Accords, in which the authors argue Kissinger and Nixon sold American soldiers down the river for political gain, to a continued reluctance to revisit the possibility of reclaiming any men who might still survive, we have a story untold for decades. And with "An Enormous Crime" we have for the first time a comprehensive history of America's leaders in their worst hour; of life-and-death decision making based on politics, not intelligence; and of men lost to their families and the country they serve, betrayed by their own leaders. Former U.S. Rep. BILL HENDON (R-NC) served two terms on the U.S. House POW/MIA Task Force (1981-1982 and 1985-1986); as consultant on POW/MIA Affairs with an office in the Pentagon (1983); and as a full-time intelligence investigator assigned to the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs (1991-1992). He has traveled to South and Southeast Asia thirty-three times on behalf of America's POWs and MIAs. Hendon is considered the nation's foremost authority on intelligence relating to American POWs held after Operation Homecoming and an expert on the Vietnamese and Laotian prison systems. He lives in Washington, D.C.
ELIZABETH STEWART's father, Col. Peter J.Stewart (USAF), is missing in action in North Vietnam. His name appears on Panel 6E, Line 12, of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Elizabeth Stewart has spent more than two decades researching intelligence relating to American POWs and MIAs. Her efforts have taken her from Capitol Hill to Cambodia, from the South China Sea to the presidential palace in Hanoi, and to the most remote regions of northern Vietnam. An attorney, she lives in central Florida.

Pop a Smoke - Memoir of a Marine Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam (Paperback): Rick Gehweiler Pop a Smoke - Memoir of a Marine Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam (Paperback)
Rick Gehweiler
R946 Discovery Miles 9 460 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

By 1969, the Sikorski H-34 was an older helicopter with severe limitations for combat duty in Vietnam. For pilots like U.S. Marine Lieutenant Rick Gehweiler, the good news was it could still take significant damage and keep flying. His vivid memoir narrates his harrowing, at times deadly flight missions under fire, as experienced in the cockpit, along with anecdotes of tragedy and humor from his 13-month tour through Da Nang and Phu Bai.

Vietnam Chronicles - The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972 (Paperback): Lewis Sorley Vietnam Chronicles - The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972 (Paperback)
Lewis Sorley
R1,200 R1,002 Discovery Miles 10 020 Save R198 (17%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

During the four years General Creighton W. Abrams was commander in Vietnam, he and his staff made more than 455 tape recordings of briefings and meetings. In 1994, with government approval, Lewis Sorley began transcribing and analyzing the tapes. Sorley's laborious, time-consuming effort has produced a picture of the senior US commander in Vietnam and his associates working to prosecute a complex and challenging military campaign in an equally complex and difficult political context. The concept of the nature of the war and the way it was conducted changed during Abrams's command. The progressive buildup of US forces was reversed, and Abrams became responsible for turning the war back to the South Vietnamese. The edited transcriptions in this volume clearly reflect those changes in policy and strategy. They include briefings called the Weekly Intelligence Estimate Updates as well as meetings with such visitors as the secretary of defense, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other high-ranking officials. The 2005 winner of the Army Historical Foundation's Trefry Award, Vietnam Chronicles reveals, for the first time, the difficult task that Creighton Abrams accomplished with tact and skill.

Target Saigon: the Fall of South Vietnam - Volume 2: the Beginning of the End, January 1974 - March 1975 (Paperback): Albert... Target Saigon: the Fall of South Vietnam - Volume 2: the Beginning of the End, January 1974 - March 1975 (Paperback)
Albert Grandolini
R603 R490 Discovery Miles 4 900 Save R113 (19%) Ships in 9 - 15 working days

Drawing on a wide range of Vietnamese-language sources, the author presents a detailed account of the continuing efforts of North Vietnam to invade the South, enlivened by a large number of previously unpublished photographs, and colour profiles for modellers. A year after the Paris peace accord had been signed, on 17 January 1973, peace had not been settled in Vietnam. During that period, the North Vietnamese continued their attacks now that the United States had pulled out completely their forces, with the definitive conquest of South Vietnam as the goal. The South Vietnamese forces' erosion on the field increased in face of a series of concerted North Vietnamese offensives at Corps level. The drastic American aid reduction began to impact heavily on the South Vietnamese ability to wage war. Equally, Saigon could not respond to a Chinese invasion of the Paracel Islands after a brief naval battle, and if Hanoi had been bolstered by massive deliveries of equipment from Peking and Moscow, both the Chinese and the Soviet had withheld the delivery of sufficient ammunitions for the artillery and the tanks, to deter the North Vietnamese from attempting a new widescale offensive against the South. It was with these constraints that the North Vietnamese leadership planned their new campaign, initially expecting it to take 2 to 3 years. A last test had to be done in order to assess the American intentions in case of an all-out North Vietnamese offensive against the South - if a South Vietnamese provincial capital was taken without American reaction, then Hanoi would begin the last campaign of the war. After the fall of Phuoc Long, the North Vietnamese decided to attack the strategic Central Highlands area where they hoped to destroy the greater part of an ARVN Corps. The battle of Ban Me Thuout would be the pivotal event leading to the rapid collapse of South Vietnam. While the battle was going on, without taking advices from his generals, President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam decided to take radical measures by redeploying his forces. That meant abandoning no less than half of the country, in order to shorter his logistic communication lines and to concentrate his remaining depleted forces around Saigon and the Mekong Delta area. He probably also hoped that by aggravating the military situation he would force Washington to fulfil its promise that "in case of massive violation of the cease-fire", the Americans would resume their military aid and would send back the B-52s.

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