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Published: March 27, 2011
Words: 24,333 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781458145635
Short description
In April 1968, we were a country at war with ourselves and increasingly with a small country halfway around the world: Vietnam. I don’t recall ever thinking about Vietnam when I started college in 1963. By 1968, it was all any of us could think about. This memoir was written for my grandchildren, but it will give anyone some sense of what it was like to serve a tour of duty in Vietnam.Extended description
In April 1968, we were a country at war with ourselves and increasingly with a small country halfway around the world: Vietnam. I don’t recall ever thinking about Vietnam when I started college in 1963. By 1968, it was all any of us could think about. The book begins with my being drafted into the Army and ends with my return to civilian life. I wrote this for my grandchildren, but it will give anyone some sense of what it was like to serve a tour of duty in Vietnam. The job I had gave me an excellent overview of how the gears of the war machine meshed together. I have tried to convey this as best I can.This is a memoir with a point of view. In these times, when we seem to be constantly marching off to yet another war in yet another faraway place, creating yet more generations of wounded warriors, the lessons learned (and forgotten) from Vietnam are more important than ever.
Tags
nonfiction, vietnam war, vietnam, army, autobiograhy, vietnam veterans, 1st infantry divisionAvailable ebook reading formats
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Reviews
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Review by:
GC Frantz
on July 03, 2011 :
Sitrep Negative: A Year in Vietnam
Some of us went. Some, for various reasons, stayed behind. This was a terrifically misunderstood war, both then and now. When friends came home from Vietnam, we knew right away they were different from the men and women we’d known prior to Nam. 58,000 died there, and many more were wounded. Even those who appeared whole seemed… remote. How many times have you read about a “thousand yard stare?” Looking at these guys, you knew exactly what that meant.
GJ Lau’s account tells of the ordinary life of a service man in Nam. To a great extent, it doesn’t deal in great heroic deeds or horrific combat. I think the situations he described were experienced by a great many of the over 2.5 million Americans who served “in country” during the Vietnam era. The anxiety, frustration and fear were daily rations, along with the C and K rations. The understanding that everything was totally crazy was universal. Depend on your closest buds; the others are watching out for themselves.
Those of us who stayed behind learned that vets rarely, if ever spoke about their tour of duty, except with other vets, or not at all. Lau’s candid recounting of his experiences in Nam helped me understand a lot of things about what went on and those who served there.
Recommended.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)