Shining-hearted, blood-and-guts tale of Marine Corps captain John
Ripley's heroic demolition of a strategic bridge on Easter Sunday,
1972, in Vietnam. Miller, a former Marine who also served in
Vietnam, pays tribute to Ripley's incredible exploit with souped-up
sentiment but also with impressively tight moment-to-moment psychic
and physical detailing - no doubt enhanced by the acknowledged full
cooperation of Ripley, now a Marine colonel at Camp Lejene, N.C. A
relatively slow opening sets up the dramatic stage and principal
players, all tough as nails and male-super-glued to each other:
ARVN Major Le Ba Birth; his bodyguard Three Finger Jack, who
demonstrates loyalty to Binh by lopping off that fourth digit; US
Army major Jim Smock; and Birth's advisor, Ripley - elite product
of American Marine, Airborne, Ranger, and Seal training, and
British Royal Marine polishing. Their mission: to keep 30,000 NVA
troops and 200 tanks from crossing south on a Seabees-built-to-last
steel-and-timber bridge spanning the Cua Vier River - and does the
narrative fly once Ripley tackles the job. Under near-constant
enemy fire, he, aided by Smock, drags TNT to the bridge, climbs up,
crawls in and around razor wire that slashes him to a blood mess,
hand-walks beams, crimps explosive detonators with his teeth, and
sets charges. And after he crawls back to safety, he decides to do
it all over again to place back-up electric detonators. And after
he at last dashes back behind friendly lines, he charges out again
into the middle of mortar fire to save a dazed little girl. A
spirited, if square-jawed and occasionally simplistic, account that
does Ripley honor and that may appeal intensely to many real-life
and armchair warriors. (Kirkus Reviews)
This is the true story of the legendary Vietnam War hero John
Ripley, who braved intense enemy fire to destroy a strategic bridge
and stall a major North Vietnamese invasion into the South in April
1972. Told by a fellow Marine, the account lays bare Ripley's
innermost thoughts as he rigged 500 pounds of explosives by
hand-walking the beams beneath the bridge, crimped detonators with
his teeth, and raced the burning fuses back to shore, thus saving
his comrades from certain death. First published in 1989, the book
has broad appeal as a riveting tale of adventure. But John Miller
has taken this daring act of heroism beyond the specifics of time
and place to provide new insights into the nature of war and
warriors, characteristics that have remained unchanged for
centuries and will remain valid for generations to come. It has
been on the Marine Corps Commandant's recommended reading list
since 1990. Newly illustrated by Col. Charles Waterhouse, USMCR
(Ret.).
General
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