Vietnam War Bibliography:

Airborne and Airmobile

Command Sergeant Major Ted G. Arthurs, Land With No Sun: A Year in Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006. xvi, 353 pp. Arthurs was Sergeant Major of the 4/503d Airborne Infantry, May 1967 to May 1968. The battalion was involved in combat in the Dak To area, and in the area of Tuy Hoa in Phu Yen province on the coast. Was in the Tuy Hoa area during the Tet 1968 fighting.

Jerry Autry, Gun-totin' Chaplain: A True Memoir. Airborne Press, 2006. 301 pp. Autry served as a chaplain with the 101st Airborne Division, 1968-69.

Annette Bird & Tim Prouty, So Proudly He Served: The Sam Bird Story. Wichita, Kansas: Okarche Books, 1993. viii, 412 pp. Sam Bird served in the First Cav approximately Jan 1966 to Jan 1967.

Matthew Brennan, Brennan's War: Vietnam 1965-1969. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1985. vii, 275 pp. Memoir by a man who joined was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division at the end of 1965; he joined C Troop in the division's reconnaissance squadron (the 1/9 Cavalry) late in 1966. A good look at the way the best American regular units operated. (See Christopher and Flanagan, below, for other accounts of the 1/9 Cavalry).

Matthew Brennan, ed., Headhunters: Stories from the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, in Vietnam 1965-1971. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1987. Pb New York: Pocket Books, 1988. viii, 310 pp.

Matthew Brennan, ed., Hunter Killer Squadron: Aero-weapons, Aero-scouts, Aero-Rifles, Vietnam 1965-1972. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1990. pb New York: Pocket Books, 1992. xvii, 317 pp.

Richard R. Burns, Pathfinder: First In, Last Out. New York: Ballantine, 2002. 402 pp. This book covers Burns' training and his first tour in Vietnam. He was in the Pathfinder detachment of the 101st Airborne Division, arriving with the Division in December 1967 and staying until December 1968. A reorganization July 1, 1968 transferred the Pathfinders from the Headquarters Company of the 101st Aviation Battalion to the Headquarters Company of the 160th Aviation Group. Chap 15 describes a mission into Laos, west of the A Shau, to extract a substantial SOG force that was in trouble there, July 1968. William Meacham was one of the helicopter pilots.

Ronald Lee Christopher, A Troop 9th Cavalry. Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2006. 250 pp. Christopher was a staff sergeant in A Troop, 1/9 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division (Airmobile), September and October 1966. (See LRRPs in the Airborne for the sequel.)

Micheal Clodfelter, Mad Minutes and Vietnam Months. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1988. xi, 235 pp. pb New York: Zebra Books, 1989. 381 pp. Clodfelter arrived in Vietnam in late July 1965 with the 2/320 Airborne Artillery, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne. After taking a six-month extension on his tour, he transferred in August 1966 to C Company, 2/502 Airborne Infantry. By the time he left in January 1967 for hospitalization for a bad punji stake wound, he was a sergeant E-5.

Micheal Clodfelter, The Pawns of Dishonor. Boston: Branden Press, 1976. 467 pp. Probably an earlier version of the previous item.

J.D. Coleman, Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam. New York: St. Martin's, 1988. Paperback titled Choppers New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Covers the first battles between U.S. troops (the 1st Cavalry Division) and the PAVN, in what is usually called the Battle of the Ia Drang, autumn 1965.

J.D. Coleman, Incursion. New York: St. Martin's, 1991. This book is both broader and narrower than is suggested by the title, which refers to the attack on the Cambodian sanctuaries, May 1970. Coleman, who was an information officer with the 1st Cavalry from April 1969 to April 1970, concentrates on the 1st Cavalry, which was only one of the forces involved in the incursion. But he also runs the 1st Cavalry's story back to 1968 instead of concentrating on events of 1970.

James L. Estep, Comanche Six: Company Commander, Vietnam. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1991. pb New York: Dell, 1992. xiii, 286 pp. Reissued in 1996 by Presidio under the title Company Commander, Vietnam. The full text of this last version is available online to paid subscribers of Questia. Estep served four tours in Vietnam: as a Special Forces sergeant 11/62 to 11/63; a Special Forces officer 1/65 to 1/66; a company commander in the First Air Cavalry (the main focus of this book) from late 1967 until he was seriously wounded north of Hue 3/68; and at the ARVN NCO Academy 7/72 to 3/73. Names have been changed, and sometimes also the identities of units operating together with Estep's.

Mallon Faircloth, Behind the Names: The Story of An Ninh, The First Major Battle of Our War in Vietnam. Brentwood Academic Press, 2004. 77 pp. The battle of September 18-19, 1965, about 30 kilometers west of An Khe, in which the 2/502 Infantry and an RVN ranger company fought elements of the 2d PLAF Regiment.

John Flanagan, Born in Brooklyn. . . Raised in the CAV! XLibris, 2002. 238 pp. Flanangan was Saber Blue 37, piloting a Huey in a reconnaissance unit, B Troop, 1/9 Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, April 1967 to April 1968. (See Brennan above, for an account of C Troop in the same reconnaissance squadron from the viewpoint of one of the recon troops who travelled in the Hueys.)

Charles Gadd, Line Doggie: Foot Soldier in Vietnam. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1987. Gadd served a one-year tour with the 101st Airborne Division (1/501 Bn) starting in December 1967.

Manny Garcia, An Accidental Soldier: Memoirs of a Mestizo in Vietnam. University of New Mexico Press, 2003. 278 pp. Garcia served with the 101st Airborne Division, 1966-1967, and was seriously wounded.

Russell W. Glenn, "Reading Athena's Dance Card: The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam." Ph.D. dissertation, History, University of Kansas, 1997. 478 pp. DA 9817094. The focus is on the 1st Cavalry Division, veterans of which were surveyed in 1987. Glenn considers the S.L.A. Marshall thesis on willingness to fire, and the effects of the tour system (both 6-month for commanders and 12-month for soldiers).

Ulf Goebel, Sgt. Ed Arthur's Nam. Westerville, OH: Dakar, 1974. Arthur served with the First Air Cavalry.

Bernard E. Grady, On the Tiger's Back. Brunswick, Maine: Biddle, 1994. 239 pp. The 5/7 Cavalry arrived in Vietnam in August 1966 to join the 1st Cavalry Division. Grady, a 1st Lieutenant, was XO of B Company.

Larry Gwin, Baptism: A Vietnam Memoir. New York: Ivy, 1999. xi, 353 pp. On arrival in Vietnam as a lieutenant, approximately the beginning of August 1965, Gwin was sent to Vi Thanh in the Mekong Delta as an advisor to the 3d Battalion, 31st Regiment, 21st ARVN Division. He spent just over a month with this unit, which seemed to have little interest in combat. The bulk of the book, pp. 55 onward, covers his service as executive officer, A Company, 2/7 Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, September 1965 through the end of June 1966. He was at Landing Zone Albany in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Some names have been changed.

Benjamin L. Harrison, Hell on a Hill Top: America's Last Major Battle in Vietnam. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2004. xix, 277 pp. The battle for Firebase Ripcord, abandoned by elements of the 101st Airborne Division (mainly the 2/506 Infantry) on July 23, 1970. Harrison commanded the 3d Brigade of the 101st. While researching this book, he visited Vietnam and interviewed PAVN Major General Chu Phuong Doi, who had commanded the PAVN 324B Division in the attack on Ripcord.

David L. Hartline, Vietnam: What a Soldier Gives. Summerville, Georgia: Espy, 1984. xiv, 234 pp. Hartline arrived in Vietnam in 1968 and was assigned to the 3/5 Cavalry, apparently just before that unit was transferred from the 9th Infantry Division, in III Corps, to the 1st Cav near the DMZ in I Corps. Later he served as a scout in the Mekong Delta.

David S. Holland, Vietnam, a Memoir: Airborne Trooper. New York and Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2005. 247 pp. Lt. Holland (see also under U.S. Soldiers on the Ground for other portions of his service in Vietnam) commanded a platoon in the 173d Airborne Brigade, September 1967 to January 1968, including the Battle of Dak To.

Edward Hymoff, The First Air Cavalry Division, Vietnam. New York: Lads, 1967. xiv, 153 pp.

Lawrence H. Johnson III, Winged Sabers: The Air Cavalry in Vietnam, 1965-1973. Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1990. xi, 180 pp. pb Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001. xi, 180 pp.

Kregg P.J. Jorgenson, Acceptable Loss. New York: Ivy Books, 1991. 243 pp. Jorgenson arrived in Vietnam in September 1969 as a nineteen-year old sergeant assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. He served as a Ranger/LRRP, and later in a Blue Team.

Kregg P.J. Jorgenson, MIA Rescue: LRRP Manhunt in the Jungle. Jorgenson, as a member of a 1st Air Cavalry Blue Team, participated in the rescue of survivors of LRRP team 5-2, which had suffered severe casualties encountering PAVN forces in Cambodia June 17, 1970.

Rod Kane, Veteran's Day: A Combat Oddyssey. New York: Crown, 1990. pb New York: Pocket Books, 1991. The author was a medic with the First Air Cavalry.

Charles M. Kinney, Borrowed Time: A Medic's View of the Vietnam War. Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford, 2003. x, 152 pp. Edited by Pamela Gillis Watson. Kinney became the senior aidman for C Company, 2/7 Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, in November 1965; served until November 1966.

David Kranig, "The Screaming Eagles at Trung Luong." Vietnam Magazine, April 2003, pp. 34-40. Kranig was a team leader in the 2/327 Infantry, 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. Badly wounded June 1966 north of Tuy Hoa.

Major Steven M. Leonard, "One Man's Vision: The Evolution of Airmobile Artillery", Field Artillery, JUly-August 1999, pp. 24-28.

John Leppelman, Blood on the Risers: An Airborne Soldier's Thirty-five Months in Vietnam. New York: Ivy Books, 1991. Leppelman joined the 173d Airborne Brigade in February 1967. Extremely bitter about what he regarded as lousy weapons and lousy officers, he transferred first to riverine forces, and eventually the Rangers.

Chuck Leshikar, ed., Delta Raiders: D Company, 2/501 Infantry, 101st Airborne (AMBL).  Southern Heritage Press, 1998.  328 pp.

Richard A. Luttrell, All Her Boys (Carlton Press), 192 pp. Memoir by a man who served with the 101st Airborne.

James McDonough, Platoon Leader. hb Novato, CA: Presidio, 1985. pb New York: Bantam, 1986. 173d Airborne Brigade, 1970-71.

Peter Maslowski and Don Winslow, Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005. 618 pp. Sergeant Hooper won the Congressional Medal of Honor for an action of February 21, 1968, near Hue; he was with D Company, 2/501 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.

Col. Kenneth D. Mertel, Year of the Horse - Vietnam. New York: Exposition Press, 1968; pb New York: Bantam, 1990. 328 pp.  Mertel arrived in Vietnam in 1965 as commander of the 1st Battalion, Airborne, 8th Cavalry, in the 1st Air Cavalry Division. (The book says virtually nothing about Mertel's previous tour, apparently 1962-63, in Vietnam.)

Pat Moffett, Fortunate Soldier. Garrison-Savanna, 2003. 300 pp. Moffett served in Vietnam 1968-1969 with the 101st Airborne, but apparently did not get into heavy combat very much.

Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore & Joseph L. Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young. New York: Random House, 1992. The battle of the Ia Drang, 1965. Moore was a battalion commander; Galloway witnessed the battle as a journalist.

Edward F. Murphy, Dak To: The 173d Airborne Brigade in South Vietnam's Central Highlands, June-November 1967. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1993. 384 pp.

John A. Nesser, The Ghosts of Thua Thien: An American Soldier's Memoir of Vietnam. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008. x, 197 pp. Nesser was in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division, May 1969 to July 1970, initially as a rifleman in the 2/501 Infantry, later as a door gunner on a Chinook.

Claude D. Newby, It Took Heroes: A Chaplain's Story and Tribute to Combat Veterans and Those Who Waited for Them.  Bonneville Book, 1998.  2d rev. ed.  Tribute Enterprises, 2000.  xi, 231 pp.  The bulk of this tells the story of Newby's first tour in Vietnam as an Army chaplain (Mormon), September 1966 to September 1967, with the 1st Cavalry Division.  He is the chaplain described under the pseudonym "Gerald Kirk" in the book Casualties of War by Daniel Lang, who helped bring to light a rape-murder committed by some soldiers of the 2/8 Cavalry in November 1966.

Frank Nicholas, "Interview with Frank Nicholas." Oral history interview, conducted by Steven Maxner, April 5, 2001. 41 pp. Nicholas joined the Army in January 1967, and arrived in Vietnam around September 1967, assigned to the 173d Airborne Brigade. The text is copyright by, and has been placed on-line by, the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University.

Keith W. Nolan, Ripcord: Screaming Eagles under Siege, Vietnam 1970.  Novato, CA: Presidio, 2000.  368 pp.  The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia. pb New York: Ballantine, 2003. xiv, 522 pp. The U.S. 101st Airborne Division established FSB Ripcord in western Thua Thien province in April 1970, but heavy PAVN pressure forced its evacuation in July.

Jon Oplinger, Quang Tri Cadence: Memoir of a Rifle Platoon Leader in the Mountains of Vietnam. McFarland, (1994?). 214 pp. Oplinger arrived in Vietnam June 1968, and commanded a platoon in D Company, 2/5, First Cav, for three months before being evacuated with serious wounds.

Lt. Col. Lloyd J. Picou, USA, "Operation Steel Horse" Military Review, October 1967 (vol. XLVII, no. 10), pp. 48-53. Artillery raids by the 1st Cavalry Division, in which typically four guns (usually 105mm moved by air, sometimes 155mm or 157mm guns moved by ground) would move to a temporary firing position within range of a target. Not enirely clear; p. 49 suggests the typical operation was over in an hour, but p. 53 says that most lasted about eight hours. It also is unclear how aerial rocket artillery fit into the concept.

James J. Schild, For Garry Owen in Glory: The True Account of an Airmobile Platoon Leader in Vietnam, 1968-1969. Florissant, MO: Auto Review Pub., 1989. vi, 194 pp.

Col. G. William Sefton, It Was My War: I'll Remember it the Way I Want To. Manhattan, KS: Sunflower University Press, 1994.

Benjamin S. Silver, Ride at a Gallop. Waco, TX: Davis Brothers Publishing, 1990. 404 pp. The development of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test)/1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), 1963-65, by an officer who participated as commander of the 228th Assault Support Helicopter Battalion (Chinooks).

William M. Spake, Vietnam and "Chaplain Hoppy": VietNam, 1968, Letters from a Chaplain: 101st Airborne Division - "The Screaming Eagles" W.M. Spake, 2000.

Richard Otto Stahl, APO 96490: Vietnam Redux. Infinity, 2002. 212 or 232 pp. Stahl's tour with the 1st Cavalry Division ended in January 1970.

Shelby L. Stanton, Anatomy of a Division: The 1st Cav in Vietnam. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1987.

Ed Swauger, Earning the CIB: The Making of a Soldier in Vietnam. Yellville, AK: Whitehall Publishing, 2005. 171 pp. Swauger served in the 173d Airborne Brigade, probably around 1968.

Richard Taylor, Prodigals: A Vietnam Story. Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2003. xviii, 331 pp. Taylor as a first lieutenant was an adviser to the 2d Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, ARVN 7th Infantry Division, in the Mekong Delta 1967-68. He was in the fighting in My Tho during the Tet Offensive. During his second tour, 1970-71, he initially commanded B Company, 1/7 Cavalry, 3d Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, then (pp. 268- ) was his battalion's intelligence officer.

Robert Lee Towles, "The Tears of Autumn: Air Assault Operations and Infantry Combat in the Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, November 1965." Ph.D. dissertation, Kent State University, History, 2000. 502 pp. AAT 9976645. Based on a lot of interviews.

Turner Publishing Company Staff, 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam. Turner Publishing Company, 1997.

George M. Watson, Voices from the Rear: Vietnam 1969-1970. n.p.: Xlibris, 2001. 322 pp. Watson was drafted after having completed his first year of graduate school. He arrived in Vietnam in June 1969, was sent to the 101st Airborne Division, and because of his educational background was assigned to the Personnel Records Branch of the 101st Administration Company. He was at Bien Hoa until late November, then shifted to Phu Bai.

Arthur Wiknik, Jr., Nam Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2005. xiv, 272 pp. Wiknik was drafted in May 1968, and went to Vietnam in April 1969 as a "shake-and-bake" sergeant. After a week of in-country training at SERTS at Bien Hoa, he served in A Company, 2/506 Infantry, and was at Hamburger Hill. Some names have been changed.

E. Tayloe Wise, Eleven Bravo: A Skytrooper's Memoir of War in Vietnam. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004. Wise was in Vietnam from May 1969 to April 1970.

Dominick Yezzo, A G.I.'s Vietnam Diary: 1968-1969. New York: Franklin Watts, 1974. 87 pp. Yezzo served in G-5 of the 1st Cavalry Division.

Unit Reports

The Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University has placed online a considerable variety of reports from airborne and airmobile units. A sample of the sorts of materials in this collection includes:

LRRPs in the Airborne

Helicopters

Return to Table of Contents

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only if this copyright notice is reproduced with it. Revised May 7, 2007.