Admiring biography of two officers in the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam (ARVN), which fought far better than most American
histories have acknowledged.Vietnam has a long martial tradition,
writes military historian Wiest (Haig: The Evolution of a
Commander, 2005, etc.), so there was no shortage of young men eager
for a military career when ARVN was created in the 1950s. They
fought for 25 years and suffered more than 200,000 casualties,
laboring under two critical flaws. Vietnamese leaders wanted a
lightly armed, mobile anti-insurgency force, but American military
advisors insisted on a heavily armed, Western-style army dependent
on the United States for equipment and logistics. In addition,
Vietnamese rulers relied on the army to remain in power, so they
chose senior officers for loyalty rather than competence. Despite
this, good commanders existed, and some ARVN units fought well.
Wiest tells the story of two officers, Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc
Hue, who led their units with courage and energy well documented in
reports from American advisors who worked with them. Hue was
captured during the disastrous invasion of Laos in 1970 and spent
13 years in North Vietnamese prisons. Dinh switched sides during
the equally disastrous 1972 Easter Offensive and served in the
North Vietnamese Army until his retirement. The author spends a
great deal of time describing the fighting. While several hundred
pages on small-unit actions will interest only military buffs, they
present the war from the unfamiliar point of view of the
Vietnamese. For example, ARVN did much of the fighting in the epic
1968 battle for the Citadel of Hue City, but saw Vietnamese
contributions downplayed by American journalists more interested in
depicting heroic Marines. The later offensives make painful reading
as lack of good generalship and absence of American firepower undid
the efforts of many brave Vietnamese soldiers. A unique perspective
on the Vietnam War, though no less depressing than the old one.
(Kirkus Reviews)
View the Table of Contents
Read the Introduction
"No book about the Vietnam War can be simply a book about the
Vietnam War. "Vietnam's Forgotten Army" appears in the midst of a
raging debate over American armed interventions abroad and over the
proper lessons to draw from Vietnam for the war in Iraq."
--"The Nation"
This is a fascinating study of the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam (ARVN)--the South Vietnamese army--during America's
involvement in the Vietnam War. . . . This well-written,
compassionate study is a major contribution to most
libraries.
--"Library Journal"
This sympathetic biography of Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue,
mid-level officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN),
provides a unique perspective among American war histories. . . .
[Readers] will gain new respect for the mishandled South Vietnamese
army.
--"Publishers Weekly"
Exceptional, both in content and readability. Vietnam's
Forgotten Army addresses one of the lacunas in the historiography
of the war -- the story of the South Vietnamese soldier, a story
that more often than not is totally ignored or only given the
briefest of consideration. The authors vivid description of combat
and its toll put a human face on what for many historians is merely
a clinical discussion of unit moves, victories and defeats.
--James H. Willbanks, Director, Department of Military History,
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
Vietnam's Forgotten Army offers a compelling account of two
heroic ARVN officers who, in the final years of the war, choose
diametrically opposed courses of action. One surrenders, and enjoys
a relatively easy subsequent life, but is plagued by guilt.
Hiscomrade-in-arms remains true to the Republic, suffers many years
of separation, imprisonment and deprivation, but ultimately finds
fulfillment. In the process of telling this remarkable story, Wiest
offers a better understanding of the trials and travails of those
who served in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Vietnam.
--James R. Reckner, Director, The Vietnam Center, Texas Tech
University
Written with balance and flair by a scholar who is devoted to a
thorough accounting of Vietnam. With firsthand research, Wiest
provides crucial missing voices, those of the South Vietnamese
often misportrayed, overshadowed, and under-appreciated by their
powerful American allies.
--Quang X. Pham, author of "A Sense of Duty"
Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN
chronicles the lives of Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue, two of the
brightest young stars in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
(ARVN). Both men fought with valor in a war that seemed to have no
end, exemplifying ARVN bravery and determination that is largely
forgotten or ignored in the West. However, while Hue fought until
he was captured by the North Vietnamese Army and then endured
thirteen years of captivity, Dinh surrendered and defected to the
enemy, for whom he served as a teacher in the reeducation of his
former ARVN comrades.
An understanding of how two lives that were so similar diverged
so dramatically provides a lens through which to understand the
ARVN and South Vietnam's complex relationship with Americas
government and military. The lives of Dinh and Hue reflect the
ARVNs battlefield successes, from the recapture of the Citadel in
Hue City in the Tet Offensive of 1968, to Dinhs unheraldedrole in
the seizure of Hamburger Hill a year later. However, their careers
expose an ARVN that was over-politicized, tactically flawed, and
dependent on American logistical and firepower support.
Marginalized within an American war, ARVN faced a grim fate as U.S.
forces began to exit the conflict. As the structure of the
ARVN/U.S. alliance unraveled, Dinh and Hue were left alone to make
the most difficult decisions of their lives.
Andrew Wiest weaves historical analysis with a compelling
narrative, culled from extensive interviews with Dinh, Hue, and
other key figures. Once both military superstars, Dinh is viewed by
a traitor by many within the South Vietnamese community, while Hue,
an expatriate living in northern Virginia, is seen as a hero who
never let go of his ideals. Their experiences and legacies mirror
that of the ARVNs rise and fall as well as the tragic history of
South Vietnam.
General
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