In the summer of 1966, in the middle of the Vietnam War, eighty
young volunteers arrived at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot on
Parris Island, South Carolina, from all over the Eastern United
States. For the next eight weeks, as Platoon 1005, they endured one
of the most intense basic training programs ever devised. Parris
Island was not a place for idle conversation or social gatherings,
and these men remained from start to finish almost complete
strangers. Ehrhart did get to know one Marine, his bunkmate John
Harris, who quietly shared his sweetheart's letters. He was a
friend who died in Vietnam only a year later.
Twenty-seven years after basic training, Ehrhart began what
became a five-year search for the men of his platoon. Who were
these men alongside whom he trained? Why had they joined the
Marines at a time when being sent to war was almost a certainty?
What do they think of the war and of the country, that sent them to
fight it? What does the Corps mean to them? What Ehrhart learned
offers an extraordinary window into the complexities of the Vietnam
Generation and the United States of America then and now.
Based on supporting materials from military records and family
members as well as interviews-some of which Ehrhart held in such
active secondary roles as dairy farmhand, fishing companion, and
impromptu guest at a family wedding-this book records the
more-than-30-year journey that each man took after his boot-camp
graduation on August 12, 1966. Photos of the men, both then and
now, accompany the profiles. Their stories are diverse, but as
Ehrhart says, "It was, in short, history, and each of these men was
and is a part of that history.... There are, no doubt, scoundrels
andliars and losers among these men, but as a group they have
mostly impressed me with their decency and their loyalty and their
hard work and their perseverance in the face of hardship and
hurdles, the everyday obstacles that make ordinary lives
extraordinary."
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