Vietnam War Bibliography:

U.S. Soldiers on the Ground

Carl S. Adams, Remember the Alamo: A Sentry Dog Handler's View of Vietnam from the Perimeter of Phan Rang Air Base. Fort Bragg, CA: Lost Coast Press, 2003. vii, 261 pp. An Air Force sentry dog handler from March 1967 to October 1968.

Lee Alley, Back from War: A Quest for Life After Death. Midlothian, VA: Exceptional Publishing, 2006. 264 pp. pb Back from War: Finding Hope & Understanding In Life After Combat. Midlothian, VA: Exceptional Publishing, 2007. 264 pp. Introduction by General Tommy R. Franks. The early chapters cover Alley's service as a 1st Lieutenant in D Company, 5/60 Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, approximately 1967.

Arthur J. Amchan, Killed in Action: The Life and Times of SP4 Stephen H. Warner, Draftee, Journalist, and Anti-war Activist. McLean, VA: Amchan Publications, 2003. 155 pp. Warner, an anti-war activist, was drafted out of Yale Law School in 1969, and sent to Vietnam as a public information specialist. He was killed in Quang Tri province in February 1971.

Artillery Trends ( -1968); The Field Artilleryman (1969-1972); The Field Artillery Journal (1973-1987); Field Artillery (1987- ). Fort Sill, Oklahoma: U.S. Army Field Artillery School. This journal published a considerable number of mostly short articles about the war, both while it was going on and retrospectively. For further information see Artillery Trends, The Field Artilleryman, The Field Artillery Journal, and Field Artillery in the section "Army Journals".

John C. "Doc" Bahnsen, Jr., with Wess Roberts, American Warrior. Foreword by H. Norman Schwarzkopf. Kensington, 2007. 448 pp. Bahnsen, West Point `56, eventually a brigadier general, served two tours, 1966-67 and 1968-69, with the 118th AHC, the 11th Armored Cavalry, and the 1st Armored Squadron.

Kenneth W. Baker, Alone in the Valley. Pompano Beach: Exposition Press, 1967.

Thomas F. Bayard, No Cats in Vietnam: The Memoir of a Straightleg Engineer. Xlibris, 2007. 266 pp. Two chapters (pp. 57-112) cover Bayard's service with the 66th Engineer Company, a cartographic unit at Long Binh, September 1967 to September 1968.

Lt. Gen. Julius W. Becton, Jr., Autobiography of Becton, a soldier and public servant. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008. 336 pp. Becton served in the 101st Airborne Division 1967-68, first commanding the 2/17 Cavalry, then the 3d Brigade.

Latrell Bellard, Fear & Reality! A Vietnam War Diary. iUniverse, 2004. 172 pp. Bellard served as a military policeman with the 101st Airborne and the 1st Cavalry Division, 1966-1967, Central Highlands.

Charlyne Berens, Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006. viii, 223 pp. There is one chapter on Hagel's 1967-68 tour with the 2/47 Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, in the Mekong Delta.

Eric M. Bergerud, Red Thunder, Tropic Lightning: The World of a Combat Division in Vietnam. Boulder: Westview, 1993. xix, 328 pp. Slightly more than half of this very useful work is oral history--interviews with veterans of the 25th Infantry Division.

F. Clifton Berry, Chargers. Illustrated History of the Vietnam War, no. 12. New York: Bantam, 1988. 158 pp. About the 196th Light Infantry Brigade.

Colonel Sidney B. Berry, Jr., USA, "Observations of a Brigade Commander, Part I." Military Review, January 1968 (vol. XLVIII, no. 1), pp. 3-21. Colonel Berry commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam, from June 1966 to February 1967, in the area in and between War Zones C and D. "Part II." February 1968, pp. 54-66. "Part III." Military Review, March 1968 (vol. XLVIII, no. 3), pp. 31-48.

Carl W. Bradfield, The Blue Spaders--Vietnam: A Private's Account. Lakeland, FL: ASDA Publishing, 1992.

Alfred S. Bradford, Some Even Volunteered: The First Wolfhounds Pacify Vietnam. Westport: Praeger, 1994. xii, 191 pp. Bradford, now a professor of ancient history, served with the 1/27 Infantry, part of the 25th Infantry Division, September 1968 to August 1969. The main focus is on operations in Tri Tam District, south of Dau Tieng. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Bobby Briscoe, The Jungle Warriors: A True Story, 2d ed.  Castroville, TX: J.T. Advertising and Graphics, 2000.  152 pp.  Briscoe became 1st Squad leader, 1st Platoon, B Company, 3/1 Infantry, 11th Light Infantry Brigade, when the 11th was activated in Hawaii in 1967.  He was in Vietnam December 1967 to December 1968, based at LZ Bronco near Duc Pho.  The 11th was part of the Americal for most of this time.

F.C. Brown, Delta Advisor: The War at the Rice Roots Level: Chau Doc, Vietnam, 1969-70. Merriam, 1990.

Fred Leo Brown, Vietnam War Diary, 2d ed. Palos Heights, IL: Combat Ready Publishing, 1998. 513 pp. A previous edition was published in 1973 as Call Me No Name. Brown arrived in Vietnam in November 1967, was assigned to the 198th Light Infantry Brigade (Americal Division), served until wounded by a booby trap in October 1968. For part or all of that time he was with D Company, 1/6 Infantry. Oddly written; much of it is an account in which he refers to himself in the third person.

John M.G. Brown, Rice Paddy Grunt: Unfading Memories of the Vietnam Generation. Lake Bluff, IL: Regnery, 1986. Brown served with the 1st Infantry Division beginning September 1967; he later joined the anti-war movement.

John C. Burnam, Dog Tags of Courage: The Turmoil of War and the Rewards of Companionship.  Fort Bragg, CA: Lost Coast Press, 1999.  ix, 305 pp.  Burnam arrived in Vietnam in March 1966, and was assigned to Company B, 1/7 Cavalry.  He left Vietnam with a bad punji-stake wound  in July 1966.  In March 1967 he returned to Vietnam for a second tour, was assigned to 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, and promptly volunteered to join the 44th Infantry Platoon Scout Dogs as a dog handler.  He was there until March 1968.

John C. Burnam, A Soldier's Best Friend: Scout Dogs and Their Handlers in the Vietnam War. Carroll & Graff, (2003?). 384 pp. The description I have seen of this makes it look very similar to the item above.

Joseph W. Callaway, Jr., Mekong First Light. New York: Presidio (Ballantine), 2004. viii, 256 pp. Lt. Callaway arrived in Vietnam in December 1966 as a platoon leader in C Company, 2/60 Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. After briefly serving in the Bear Cat/Long Binh area, and then in the Rung Sat, the unit was based at Tan Tru in Long An Province. In June 1967, he was sent to Thailand to become an adviser to a Thai Army unit, which was deployed to Vietnam in September. In December, Callaway joined the 5th Special Forces Group at Nha Trang; he was there until he left Vietnam in mid 1968. His story of his experiences in the years after he got out of the Army is also interesting, notably for the political atmosphere, and attitudes to the war, at Boston University.

Tom Carhart, The Offering. Pb New York: Warner, 1988. (Hb Morrow 1987?) Memoir by a 1966 West Point graduate who arrived in Vietnam at the end of 1967, and served first with the 101st Airborne, later as an advisor. Possibly fictionalized in places.

John A. Cash, John Albright, and Allan W. Sandstrum, Seven Firefights in Vietnam New York: Bantam, 1985. 191 pp. Reprint of 1970 U.S. Army publication, but this private-sector reprint has some maps and illustrations different from those that appeared in the version published by the Army. Each of the seven chapters is by one author; in the cases of chapters 1, 2, and 7, the author had been in some way involved with the action described. Chapter 1, by Cash, is on the battle at Landing Zone X-Ray, November 14-16, 1965. Chapter 2, by Albright, is about an incident of November 11, 1966, in which the VC 274th (Dong Nai) Regiment ambushed a large portion of the 1st Squadron of the 11th Armored Cavalry on Highway 1 between Long Binh and Xuan Loc. Chapter 7, by Cash, covers an action by U.S. Army helicopter gunships on the outskirts of Saigon, May 5, 1968. The text of the version the Army published has been placed on-line by the Army, with all maps and illustrations but no index.

David Christian and William Hoffer, Victor Six. hb apparently New York: McGraw-Hill, 1990. pb New York: Pocket Books, 1991. Ads for this book say that David Christian was at one time the youngest, and later the most decorated, U.S. officer in Vietnam. He served 1968-69. He was a LRRP, and commanded a platoon of the 1st Infantry Division, and was involved in operations into Cambodia before the overt U.S. invasion of Cambodia. The books seems clearly to have been written by Hoffer, on the basis of what Christian told him; it always refers to Christian in the third person.

James E. Crum, Pigman - Vietnam 1968-1969. Canal Fulton, OH: Privately published, 1988. 186 pp.

Tyrone T. Dancy, Serving Under Adverse Conditions: Wars and the Aftermath. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2005. xvii, 84 pp. Dancy served rather briefly in 1969 (before being seriously wounded) in D Company, 2/3 Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade, in III Corps.

Frederick Downs, Jr., The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War. New York: Norton, 1978. 240 pp. pb New York: Berkley, 1983. 271 pp. pb New York: Norton, 1993. 240 pp. pb with a new afterword New York: Norton, 2007. 270 pp. Very good account by an infantry lieutenant who served in central Vietnam (partly in populated areas near the coast--in Quang Ngai and Quang Tin provinces, I think--and partly in the highlands) with the 1/14 Infantry, 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, from September 1967 to early January of 1968. A good picture of the way average American units operated.

Frederick Downs, Jr., Aftermath. New York: Norton, 1984 (paperback Berkley, 1985). Continuation of the above: story of Downs' recovery after having his arm blown off by a booby trap January 11, 1968. Includes a few interesting facts about his previous combat service that hadn't gotten into his first book.

Tracy Derks and James G. Holland, "The Battle of Bong Trang," Vietnam Magazine, October 2007, pp. 36-39. Holland commanded 1st Platoon, Company C, 1/2 Infantry, in this battle in Binh Duong province, August 25, 1966.

Jack Eager (pseudonym?), Better Him than Me!  A True Story of the Horror of Vietnam and One Veteran's Struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  Kansas City, MO: Truman Publishing, 1999.  256 pp.  Eager claims to have served with the 196th Light Infantry Brigade, beginning early in 1968, but serious questions have been raised about the authenticity of the book.

James R. Ebert, A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam,1965-1972. Novato: Presidio, 1993. xiv, 406 pp. Based on a lot of interviews, but not a straight oral history.

Bernard Edelman, ed., Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. New York: Norton, 1985. Paperback New York: Pocket Books, 1986.

Col. David G. Fitz-Enz, Why a Soldier? A Signal Corpsman's Tour from Vietnam to the Moscow Hot Line. New York: Ballantin, 2000. 404 pp. Fitz-Enz arrived in Vietnam with the 69th Signal Battalion late in 1965, a 1st Lieutenant combat photographer, airborne qualified. He was assigned to the 173d Airborne Brigade.

General Tommy Franks, with Malcolm NcConnell, American Soldier. New York: Regan Books (HarperCollins), 2004. xvii, 590 pp. This mostly deals with recent events in the Middle East and Southwest Asia, but the chapter (pp. 63-109) on Franks' October 1967 to October 1968 tour in Vietnam is very interesting. An artillery 2LT, Franks served initially with the 5/60 Infantry (Mechanized) at Binh Phuoc (southern Long An province), as a forward observer attached to C Company of the 5/60. Then as XO of D Battery, 204 Artillery, a helicopter-mobile unit of M-102 105mm howitzers that fired from metal platforms that a CH-54 Skycrane could land in a swamp. Then as aerial observer in on O-1 Bird Dog. Then as the artillery liaison officer of the 5/60; it was in this job that he targeted artillery and air strikes in the Battle of the Y Bridge, on the southern approaches to Saigon during "Mini-Tet" in May 1968. Finally he served on an OH-6 Loach, the low bird in a Pink Team.

Maj. G.E. Galloway, Jr., "A Historical Study of United States Army Engineer Operations in The Republic of Vietnam, January 1965 - November 1967." Master's thesis, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, 1968. xix, 326 pp. ADA361989. full text is available online through STINET.

Thomas P. Galvin, Bong Trang, 25 August 1966: An Individual Perspective on the Beginning of the Battle. Lititz, PA: 26th Infantry Regiment Association, 1997. 19 pp. Battle in Binh Duong province.

Ltc. Albert N. Garland, ed., Infantry in Vietnam: Small Unit Actions in the Early Days, 1965-66. Nashville: Battery Press, 1967; pb New York: Jove, 1985. 298 pp.

Ltc. Albert N. Garland, ed., A Distant Challenge: The US Infantryman in Vietnam,1967-1972. Nashville: Battery Press, 1983.

James T. Gillam, War in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, 1968-1970: An Historian's Experience. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006. viii, 331 pp. Gillam was drafted in 1968. He arrived in Vietnam in September 1969, and served as a sergeant in B Company, 1/22 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. The book includes Operations Putnam Wildcat, Putnam Power, Hines, and Putnam Paragon, and the Cambodian Incursion of 1970.

Roy Gleason and Wallace Wasinack with Mark Langill, Lost in the Sun: Roy Gleason's Odyssey from the Outfield to the Battlefield. Sports Publishing, 2005. 239 pp. Gleason, a professional baseball player, was drafted, arrived in Vietnam December 1967 to serve in Company A, 3/39 Infantry, 9th Infantry Division.

Russell W. Glenn, Reading Athena's Dance Card: Men against Fire in Vietnam.  Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000.  xii, 214 pp.  Particular attention is devoted to the S.L.A. Marshall thesis about reluctance to fire, and to the effects of the tour system.  Glenn looked in his research especially but not exclusively at the 1st Cavalry Division.

Robert J. Gouge, "These Are My Credentials": The 199th Light Infantry Brigade in the Republic of Vietnam, 1966-1970. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse, 2004. xiv, 155 pp. Based to a large extent on interviews with veterans.

Robert J. Graham, "Vietnam: An Infantryman's View of Our Failure." Military Affairs, 48:3 (July 1984), pp. 133-139. Graham served in the 4th Infantry Division in the Central Highlands, 1969-1970, as a squad leader and then platoon sergeant. Quite interesting on a number of issues, including free fire zones. If you browse the Internet through an institution that has subscribed to JSTOR, you can access the text directly or go through the JSTOR Military Affairs/Journal of Military History browse page.

Col. David H. Hackworth and Julie Sherman, About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. 875 pp. (A condensed edition has been published under the title Brave Men. New York: Pocket Books, 1993.) A memoir by a man who, according to the dust-jacket, was the youngest full colonel in Vietnam and America's most decorated living soldier. Among other things, he was given command of the 4/39 Infantry, a very bad battalion in the 9th Infantry Division, early in 1969. He left the Army in 1971 after publicly denouncing American policy in Vietnam.

David H. Hackworth and Eilhys England, Steel My Soldiers' Hearts: The Hopeless to Hardcore Transformation of the 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, United States Army, Vietnam. pb New York: Touchstone, 2002. xiv, 444 pp. Hackworth commanded the 4/39 (9th Infantry Division) in the Mekong Delta, 1969.

Captain Ed. Y. Hall, Valley of the Shadow (Spartanburg, SC: Honoribus Press,1986). Hall served as an advisor to the ARVN in III Corps and the Rung Sat, 1966-1967.

Roger Hayes, On Point: A Rifleman's Year in the Boonies: Vietnam, 1967-1968.  Novato, CA: Presidio, 2000. pb New York: St. Martin's, 2001. xxii, 248 pp. Hayes served with C Company, 1/5 Infantry (Mechanized), 25th Infantry Division. The Presidio edition is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Jack Head, Selective Memories of Vietnam, 1969-1970. 1stBooks. Head, a draftee, was rushed through training to be sent to Vietnam approximately January 1969, and assigned to the 11th Light Infantry Brigade, Americal Division.

Robert Hemphill, Platoon: Bravo Company. Fredericksburg, VA: Sergeant Kirkland's Press, 1999. 252 pp. Reprinted Pittsburgh: RoseDog Books, 2006. xv, 186 pp. Hemphill commanded (late 1967 to early 1968) Company B, 3/22 Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, the company portrayed in the movie "Platoon."

Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, Soldier. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. 497 pp. Memoir by a pretty competent officer who didn't get along with his superiors, and got canned.

Phil Hirsch, ed., Vietnam Combat: Brutal stories of men fighting a dirty war. New York: Pyramid, 1967. 173 pp. Articles originally published in Man's Magazine 1963-66.

Richard Hogue, We Were the Third Herd. Morrison, Colorado: Richlyn Publishing, 2003. Hogue served in the 25th Infantry Division northwest of Cu Chi, from July 1969 until he was seriously wounded in January 1970.

David Holdorf, "Interview with David Holdorf." Oral history interview, conducted by Stephen Maxner, March 28, 2001. 39 pp. Holdorf was drafted in 1967, became a vehicle mechanic, and served with a battery of 8-inch self-propelled howitzers in II Corps. He arrived in Vietnam in April 1968. The text is copyright by, and has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.

David S. Holland, Vietnam, a Memoir: Saigon Cop. New York and Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2005. xi, 225 pp. Lt. Holland (see also under Airborne and Airmobile for his time in the 173d Airborne Brigade) served in Saigon in A Company, 716th Military Police Battalion, from August 1966 to September 1967.

David S. Holland, Vietnam, a Memoir: Mekong Mud Soldier. New York and Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2006. xxv, 253 pp. Covers Holland's service as a staff officer, March to August 1968 (interesting for his comments on how little real work there was for him as battalion S-2 in the 173d Airborne Brigade, pp. 18- ), and in the Mekong Delta November 1968 to March 1969, with MAT-104, in Kien Phong province, advising the 64th RF Battalion.

Michael J. Horton, DEROS: A Year in Vietnam. 1996. An electronic publication, available at the author's web site. Horton served March 1967 to March 1968 as a pay clerk for the 14th Engineer Battalion (Combat) at Dong Ba Thin, close to Cam Ranh.

Swanson N. Hudson, "Deadly Struggle in the Eagle's Claw." Vietnam Magazine, June 2000, pp. 38-44. A big battle--107 US personnel were killed--in the Kim Son Valley, southwest of Bong Son during Operation Masher/White Wing, February 1966. The author was wounded serving in A Company, 1/5 Cavalry ("Black Knights").

James F. Humphries, Through the Valley: Vietnam, 1967-1968. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1999. xii, 335 pp. Humphries was a company commander and operations officer in the 3/21 Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade in I Corps, but this is not just a memoir; it apparently reflects extensive research.

Edward Hymoff, Fourth Infantry Division: Vietnam. New York: Lads.

L.D. James, Unfortunate Sons: A True Story of Young Men and War. Washington, Delaware: Cambridge Dent, 2005. 288 pp. A battle at Hoc Man, March 2, 1968, in which C Company, 4/9 Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, suffered very heavy casualties.

Richard E. Killblane, Circle the Wagons: The History of US Army Convoy Security. Global War on Terrorism Occasional Paper 13. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, (2006?). iv, 89 pp. Most of this is on Vietnam.

William R. Kimball, Vietnam: The Other Side of Glory. pb Ballantine. Kimball served briefly as a mortarman with the 1st Air Cavalry in 1968. He is now a minister, works with Vietnam vets. This is not his story, but the stories of 14 other vets. One of these, David Shaffer, was dropped from later editions of the book after his account had been found to have been falsified (see Stolen Valor, by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley, for details).

Dennis Kitchin, War in Aquarius: Memoir of an American Infantryman in Action Along the Cambodian Border During the Vietnam War. ix, 206 pp. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1994. Kitchin served with 2/27 Infantry (Wolfhounds), 25th Infantry Division, probably Dec 68 to Dec 69. Returned disillusioned.

Tom Lacombe, Light Ruck: Vietnam 1969. Fort Valley, VA: Loft Press, 2002. x, 230 pp. Lacombe served January to December 1969, with B Company, 3/12 Infantry, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, in the Highlands mostly not too far from Pleiku. Looks good.

Michael Lee Lanning, The Only War We Had. New York: Ivy Books, 1987. 293 pp.  Reprinted Texas A&M University Press, 2007. 304 pp. Account by a lieutenant who commanded a platoon of C Company, 2/3 Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade, April-October 1969, in III Corps.

Michael Lee Lanning, Vietnam, 1969-1970: A Company Commander's Journal. New York: Ivy Books, 1988.  311 pp.  Lanning commanded B Company, 2/3 Infantry, October 1969 to January 1970.  Stayed with the 2/3 as a training officer until he left Vietnam in April 1970.

Michael Lee Lanning, Inside the Crosshairs: Snipers in Vietnam. New York: Ivy, 1998. viii, 278 pp.

Jack Leninger, Time Heals No Wounds. New York: Ivy, 1993. xviii, 317 pp. Leninger served with the 1/12 Infantry Battalion, in the 4th Infantry Division, September 1968 to August 1969.

John Maberry, Waiting for Westmoreland. Alexandria, VA: Eagle Peak Press, 2007. 243 pp. Covers Maberry's whole life, not just his Vietnam service with the 7/9 Artillery, based at Bear Cat. He turned against the war and became a Buddhist after returning to the U.S.

David William McCormick, A Walk on the Sidewalk. Authorhouse, 2003. 244 pp. McCormick was a radio operator with B Company, 1/27 Infantry ("Wolfhounds," 25th Infantry Division, III Corps).

Cherokee Paul McDonald, Into the Green: A Reconnaissance by Fire. New York: Plume (Penguin), 2001. xii, 255 pp. McDonald, a 2d lieutenant, arrived in Vietnam early in 1968, served in II Corps as an artillery forward observer for almost a year, then was evacuated to Japan with malaria. His parent unit was Battery A, 3/6 Artillery, but he spent his time in the field, attached to various units of the 173d Airborne Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, 3d ARVN Armored, and Special Forces. Most names have been altered.

Anthony A. McIntire, "The American Soldier in Vietnam." Ph.D. dissertation, History, University of Kentucky, 1996. 404 pp. DA 9630696. Argues that the failure of morale was not caused by lack of small-unit cohesion.

Steve Maguire, Jungle in Black. New York: Bantam, 1992. Maguire commanded a recon platoon in the 9th Infantry Division until blinded by a mine, Mekong Delta, November 1969. Book is mainly about the aftermath; only a little on his actual period in combat.

David Maraniss, They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003. xiv, 560 pp. This book juxtaposes two incidents: the battle of Ong Thanh, October 17, 1967, in which the 2/28 Infantry (Black Lions) of the 1st Infantry Division had heavy losses in an ambush about 20 km north of Lai Khe, west of Route 13 in the Long Nguyen Secret Zone, and the anti-war demonstration (a protest against on-campus recruiting by the Dow Chemical Corporation) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, that turned into a riot on October 18, 1967.

S[amuel] L[yman] A[twood] Marshall, Battles in the Monsoon. New York: William Morrow, 1967. Also Nashville: Battery Press, 1967. Three battles in the Central Highlands, summer 1966.

S.L.A. Marshall, Ambush and Bird. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, n.d. A book club publication combining what were originally two books: Ambush (Nashville: Battery Press, 1969) dealing with the Battle of Dau Tieng in November 1966, and Bird (Nashville: Battery Press, 1968) dealing with an action on Christmas Day 1966.

S.L.A. Marshall, West to Cambodia and The Fields of Bamboo. Garden City, NY: Nelson Doubleday, n.d. A book club publication combining what were originally two books: West to Cambodia (Nashville: Battery Press, 1968) and The Fields of Bamboo (New York: Doubleday, 1971).

Eric Mawson, Oil and Vinegar: A Conscripted Soldier in the Vietnam War. iUniverse, 2006. 52 pp. Mawson served as a personnel specialist in a unit that apparently had discipline problems.

Mike Mercer, "Interview with Mike Mercer." Oral history interview, conducted by Kim Sawyer, January 12, 2001. 58 pp. Mercer arrived in Vietnam in March 1967 and was assigned to the 557th Light Equipment Company, 168th Combat Engineer Battalion; the company war running a rock crushing facility at Di An, in III Corps. The text is copyright by, and has been placed on-line by, the Vietnam Project at Texas Tech University.

William E. Merritt, Where the Rivers Ran Backward. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1989 (pb New York: Doubleday, 1990). The author arrived in Vietnam August 1968, and served with the 25th Infantry Division near Cu Chi. A brief glance suggests the possibility the book may be somewhat fictionalized.

George Montgomery, Till We All Die. New York: Carlton, 1991. 124 pp. Montgomery served in the 1/35 Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, 10/68 to 10/69.

Paul B. Morgan, K-9 Soldiers: Vietnam and After. Central Point, OR: Hellgate, 1999. Morgan served with a Ranger unit in early 1965, was commanding B Company, 716th MP Battalion in Saigon by early 1966, and was with Rangers in Tay Ninh province early in 1970. The book describes his use of dogs in those jobs, and in the US in various jobs after the war.

Keith W. Nolan, Death Valley: The Summer Offensive, I Corps, August 1969. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1987. New York: Dell, 1988. xiv, 381 pp.

Keith W. Nolan, House to House: Playing the Enemy's Game in Saigon, May 1968. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith (MBI Publishing), 2006. 368 pp.

Keith W. Nolan, Into Cambodia: Spring Campaign, Summer Offensive, 1970. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1990. pb New York: Dell, 1991. xxii, 566 pp.

Keith W. Nolan, Into Laos: The Story of Dewey Canyon II/Lam Son 719; Laos 1971. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1986. The ARVN effort to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail by an invasion of the Laotian panhandle in 1971, and the U.S. operation in the northwest corner of South Vietnam that supported the ARVN effort.

Keith W. Nolan, The Magnificent Bastards: The Joint Army-Marine Defense of Dong Ha, 1968. 1994. 2/4 Marines and 3/21 Infantry against 320th PAVN Division, April-May 1968.

Keith W. Nolan, Sappers in the Wire: The Life and Death of Firebase Mary Ann. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995. pb New York: Pocket Books, 1996, xiv, 289 pp. The 1/46 Infantry (Americal), night of March 27, 1971, Quang Tin province.

Sgt. John E. O'Donnell, None Came Home: The War Dogs of Vietnam. 1stBooks Library, 2001. 182 pp.

Howard Olsen, Issues of the Heart: Memoirs of an Artilleryman in Vietnam. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1990. 335 pp.

Lt. Gen. William Pagonis, with Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, Moving Mountains: Lessons in Leadership and Logistics from the Gulf War. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. A few pages of this memoir discuss Pagonis' two tours in Vietnam: riverine war in the Mekong Delta 1967-68, and with the 101st Airborne 1970-71.

Vic Pakis, Immigrant Soldier: From the Baltics to Vietnam.  Central Point, OR: Hellgate, 1999.  Pakis, from Latvia, served two tours in Vietnam.

Charlie Palek, Tattletale: A Two-Tour Vietnam Veteran's Combat Experiences on the Ground and in the Air. Lightning Source, 2001. 303 pp.

Robert Peterson, Rites of Passage: Odyssey of a Grunt. Oregon, WI: Badger Books, 1997. 396 pp. pb, with an index added, New York: Ballantine, 2001. viii, 564 pp. Peterson served in the 1/14 Battalion, part of the 25th Infantry Division but serving in the Central Highlands, from October 1966 until he was seriously wounded by fire from a fixed-wing gunship in August 1967. He died in 1994; it is not clear to what extent the manuscript may have been posthumously edited.

Ray Pezzoli, Jr., A Year in Hell: Memoir of an Army Foot Soldier Turned Reporter in Vietnam, 1965-1966. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2006. viii, 255 pp. Pezzoli was in Vietnam July 1965 to June 1966 with B Company, 1/18 Infantry, 2d Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. Initially at Cam Ranh Bay, later in III corps. He is sometimes wrong about historical facts that can easily be checked; one hopes he is more accurate when describing his personal experiences. Names have been changed.

Colonel Lloyd J. Picon, USA, "Artillery Support for the Airmobile Division" Military Review, October 1968 (vol. XLVIII, no. 10), pp. 3-12.

Ivan Prashker, Duty, Honor, Vietnam: Twelve Men of West Point Tell Their Stories. Pb New York: Warner, 1990, 358 pp. Hb apparently New York: Morrow, 1988.

David Puckett, Memories. New York: Vantage, 1987. xii, 145 pp. Sergeant Puckett served in the 1/26 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, 1966-67 (this book does not deal with a later 1969-70 tour in Vietnam).

George Ragsdale, Ben Hai: 211 Alpha. Orlando, Florida: UnKnownTruths.com, 2005. 400 pp. An Army warrant officer working as a radar repairman along the DMZ, 1969-70. Apparently a lot about indiscipline, command incompetence.

Franklin D. Rast, Don's Nam. Universal Publishers, 1999. 399 pp. Rast served with the "Orient Express" (7th Transportation Battalion) in III Corps, 1969-1970.

David Reed, Upfront in Vietnam. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1967. By a journalist working for Reader's Digest.

Dale Everett Reich, Rockets Like Rain: A Year in Vietnam. Central Point, OR: Hellgate Press, 2001. xii, 142 pp. Reich, a draftee, arrived in Vietnam in June 1968, and was initially assigned to D Company, 4/3 Infantry, 11th Brigade, Americal (23d) Division. For the later part of his tour he was in the Public Information Office of the 11th Brigade.

Christopher Ronnau, Blood Trails: The Combat Diary of a Foot Soldier in Vietnam. New York: Presidio (Ballantine [Random House]), 2006. 304 pp. Ronnau arrived in Vietnam in January 1967 and was assigned to C Company, 2/28 Infantry (Black Lions), 1st Infantry Division, based at Lai Khe, north of Saigon in III Corps. He was evacuated after having been seriously wounded in a pretty bloody battle near Phu Loi in April 1967. Some names have been changed.

Norman L. Russell, Suicide Charlie: A Vietnam War Story. Westport: Praeger, 1993. 216 pp. Russell was a mortarman in C Company, 4/9, 25th Infantry Division, late 1968 to late 1969. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Bernard Rustad, Not to Reason Why: A Daily Diary of an Experience in Vietnam. Privately printed, 1986. Author was an Army enlisted man in Quang Tri province, January to December 1971.

John Sack, "Oh My God! We Hit a Little Girl." Esquire, October 1966. Follows one company from training at Fort Dix into combat in III Corps (I think with either the 1st or 25th Infantry Division). Expanded to become the following item.

John Sack, M. New York: New American Library, 1967. 199 pp. Follows M Company from training at Fort Dix into combat in III Corps (I think with either the 1st or 25th Infantry Division).

Ches Schneider, From Classrooms to Claymores: A Teacher at War in Vietnam. New York: Ivy, 1999. 276 pp. Schneider, a teacher until drafted in mid 1969, arrived in Vietnam in December 1969, and joined Company D, 2/16 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. About the beginning of March 1970, he was transferred to B Company, 1/8 Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. He later got a REMF job, and returned to the US in November 1970.

Robert G. Scholten, Reflections on a Journey to War: Finding Hope Despite Yesterday's Shadow. Green Olive Tree, 2005. 160 pp. Illustrated. Scholten served ten months as a gunner on an M-42 Duster with the 4th AS/SP Battalion, 60th Air Defense Artillery.

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, with Peter Petrie, It Doesn't Take a Hero. New York: Bantam, 1992. Several chapters deal with Schwarzkopf's service in Vietnam, as an advisor to the ARVN Airborne Brigade (a very good unit) 1965-66; and then as commander of the 1/6 Battalion, 198th Infantry Brigade, 23d Infantry (Americal) Division, a very bad battalion that Schwarzkopf was able to improve a lot but not make really good, 1969-70, serving near Chu Lai and in the Batangan Peninsula.

Peter R. Senich, The Long-Range War: Sniping in Vietnam. Boulder: Paladin, 1994. Apparently quite technical, heavily illustrated.

John T. Senka, Wounded Body - Healing Spirit: An Arkport Soldier's Inspirational Journey as a Vietnam Combat Veteran. Binghamton, NY: Brundage, 2004. 281 pp. After OCS, Senka served 1968-69 with the 4/9 Infantry, 25th Infantry Division. He was badly wouded and ended up with PTSD.

Brig. Gen. James E. Shelton, USA (Ret.), The Beast Was Out There: The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh, Vietnam, October 1967. Chicago: Cantigny First Division Foundation, 2002. xxiv, 356 pp. Shelton was operations officer of the 2/28 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, which fought the VC 271st Regiment 10/17/1967, at Ong Thanh in the Long Nguyen Secret Zone on the border between Binh Duong and Binh Long provinces.

Jim Stewart, The Ghosts of Vietnam: A Memoir of Growing Up, Going to War, and Healing. iUniverse, 2005. 197 pp. Stewart served in the military police (1966-68?) in Saigon, Long Binh, and vicinity. Participated in Operation Cedar Falls in early 1967. Later returned as a civilian working in the PX in Saigon, to be with a Vietnamese woman who was pregnant with his daughter.

Carsten Stroud, Iron Bravo: Hearts, Minds and Sergeants in the U.S. Army. New York: Bantam, 1995. 326 pp. The story of Dee Crane, who was with the 1st Infantry Divison in Vietnam. Only a small part of the book deals with Vietnam.

Leroy TeCube, Year in Nam: A Native American Soldier's Story. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999. xix, 261 pp. TeCube, a Jicarilla Apache, was in Vietnam from January 1968 to January 1969, with B Company, 4/3 Infantry, 11th Brigade, Americal Division. As part of Task Force Barker, this company was a blocking force the day of the My Lai massacre.

Robert Tonsetic, Warriors: An Infantryman's Memoir of Vietnam. New York: Presidio (Ballantine), 2004. x, 198 pp. Tonsetic was in Vietnam October 1967 to October 1968, a captain assigned to the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (Redcatchers). He was initially assigned to the S-3 staff. Interesting description of an operation by a mediocre ARVN Ranger battalion that he accompanied as an observer (pp. 19-27). Then briefly ran a camp to train RF companies. Then at the beginning of January 1968, took command of C Company, 4/12 Infantry (Warriors) at FSB Nashua north of Bien Hoa. The battalion had suffered serious casualties the previous month. The bulk of the book covers his company command, which lasted until late June, by which time he was badly overstressed, in very bad psychological condition. Includes Tet and the May Offensive. There is very little about his year in Thailand with the Special Forces, just before his tour in Vietnam; about his months as battalion S-3 Air, July-October 1968; or about his later tour, 1970-71, as an adviser to ARVN units first in IV, later III Corps.

Robert L. Tonsetic, Days of Valor: An Inside Account of the Bloodiest Six Months of the Vietnam War. Philadephia: Casemate, 2007. xvi, 288 pp. A more detailed account of the events covered in the preceding item.

CSM Glenn H. Towe [Ret'd], Tour of Duty: Action in WWII, Korea & Vietnam. Plainville, CT: Woodstock Books, 2004. 214 pp. Towe's Vietnam tour June 1968 to June 1969 as Command Sergeant Major of 3d Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, is covered in pp. 173-192.

Nathaniel Tripp, Father, Soldier, Son: Memoir of a Platoon Leader in Vietnam.  South Royalton, VT: Steerforth, 1997.  Tripp was with the 1st Infantry Division, 1968-69.

Turner Publishing Company Staff, 1st Infantry Division: Vietnam.  Turner Publishing Company, 1993.  184 pp.

Samuel Vance, The Courageous and the Proud. New York: Norton, 1970. 166 pp. Subtitle on the dust jacket but not the title page: "a black man in the white man's army". Vance arrived in Vietnam in October 1965 as a sergeant in the 2/2 Infantry (1st Infantry Division). He soon became a platoon leader, and was in the Battle of Bau Bang.

Bill VandenBush, If Morning Never Comes: A Near-Death Experience in Vietnam. Old One Hundred and One Press. 238 pp. VandenBush, serving in the Americal Division, was very badly wounded in a friendly fire incident April 17, 1969.

James Scott Wheeler, The Big Red One: America's Legendary 1st Infantry Division from World War I to Desert Storm. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007. xiv, 594 pp. Three chapters (pp. 412-508) deal with the division's service in Vietnam.

Joseph J. White, Ebony and White: The Story of the K-9 Corps. Wilsonville, OR: Doral, 1996. xiv, 168 pp. Despite the subtitle, this appears primarily to be a memoir of White's service in Vietnam; Ebony was his dog.

George C. Wilson, Mud Soldiers: Life Inside the New American Army. New York: Scribner's, 1989. Mostly about the Army of the 1980s, but one chapter describes a battle fought in April 1966 by units of the 1st Infantry Division, as comparison.

James R. Wilson, Landing Zones: Southern Veterans Remember Vietnam. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1990. On oral history.

Dave Wright, Not Enough Tears. AuthorHouse, 2004. 251 pp. Wright served in Company A, 1/26 Infantry, 1st Infantry Division.

Rick Young, Combat Police: U.S. Army Military Police in Vietnam. Farmingdale, NJ: Sendraak's Writings, 1997 (copyright 1994). 259 pp. Young arrived in Vietnam July 1968, and served in the military police first as a dog handler in III Corps and then riverine in the Qui Nhon area, but much of this book is based on archival research. Extensive appendices.

 

Army Unit Documents

The Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University, is placing online a huge quantity of U.S. Military documents. A small sample of those relating to the activities of regular U.S. Army ground combat and support units in South Vietnam:

 

Armor and Armored Cavalry

Armor Magazine

Dwight W. Birdwell and Keith William Nolan, A Hundred Miles of Bad Road: An Armored Cavalryman in Vietnam 1967-68. Novato: Presidio Press, 1997. Birdwell, a Cherokee, served on an M48 tank in the 3/4 Cavalry, 25th Division, beginning Sept. 1967; includes Tet Offensive in Saigon.

LTC (Ret) Burton S. Boudinot, "A Sheridan Memoir: The Early Days," Armor, Jan-Feb 1997, pp. 14-15. See also "More Sheridan Memoirs" (letters to the editor by COL Frank E. Varlgen (Ret) and COL George E. Mauser (Ret)), May-June 1997, pp. 38-39.

Toby L. Brant, Journal of a Combat Tanker: Vietnam, 1969. New York: Vantage Press, 1988. 134 pp.

Maj. Edward J. Chesney, USA, "The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in Vietnam, January 1969 through June 1970." Masters thesis, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Levenworth, Kansas, 2002. viii, 106 pp. The text has been placed on-line in the Virtual Vietnam Archive of the Vietnam Project, at Texas Tech University.

Dave Decker, "The Grim Reaper," Armor, May-June 1998, p. 32. A short description, with photos, of an M48A3 of 3rd Platoon, B Company, 2/34 Armor, 1st Infantry Division, in 1969, with a 7.62mm minigun mounted on it by the crew (later confiscated by "an irate high-ranking officer") and multiple .50 caliber machineguns, in addition to the tank's normal armament.

Simon Dunstan, Vietnam Tracks: Armor in Battle, 1945-75. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1982 (also Osprey, 1982). 191 pp. Covers use of armor by all forces involved, not just U.S.

Kenneth W. Estes, Marines under Armor: The Marine Corps and the Armored Fighting Vehicle, 1916-2000. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2000. xvi, 267 pp.

Oscar Gilbert, Marine Corps Tank Battles in Vietnam. Casemate, 2007. 304 pp.

Larry Haworth, Tales of Thunder Run: The convoys, the noise, the ambushes... stories of QL 13, the Route 66 of Viet Nam. Eugene, Oregon: ACW Press, 2004. 190 pp. Haworth served two tours as a chaplain in Vietnam. This book says relatively little about the first, 1967-68, at Soc Trang with the 11th Combat Aviation Battalion. Mostly it is about his 1969-70 tour at the rank of Captain with the 11th Armored Cavalry (Blackhorse) in III Corps.

Len Maffioli, with Bruce H. Norton, Grown Gray in War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1996. pb New York: Ivy, 1997. Master Gunnery Sergeant Maffioli served in WWII, Korea, and Vietnam (1967-68, with the 1st Tank Battalion near Danang).

Michael D. Mahler, Ringed in Steel: Armored Cavalry, Vietnam 1967-68. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1986. Major Mahler arrived in Vietnam August 1967 and became a staff officer for the 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division. In December he was transferred to the 3/5 Armored Cavalry Squadron, part of the 9th Infantry Division (though Mahler is maddeningly coy about all the above unit identities). The squadron was sent north to I Corps in February 1968 and attached to the 1st Cav.

Gary McKay and Graeme Nicholas, Jungle Tracks: Australian Armour in Viet Nam. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2001. xx, 325 pp.

Andy [Col. Andrew P.] O'Meara, Jr., Accidental Warrior: The Forging of an American Soldier. Oakland, Oregon: Elderberry Press, 2003. 294 pp. O'Meara was an adviser to the ARVN 1st Cavalry Regiment, and served with the U.S. 11th Armored Cavalry. I have not actually seen the book; I learned of it from a letter to the editor he wrote in the Washington Times, April 5, 2003. The letter was inaccurate enough to leave me wondering how accurate the book will turn out to be.

Andy [Col. Andrew P.] O'Meara, Jr., Only the Dead Came Home: Vietnam's Hidden Casualties. Oakland, Oregon: Elderberry Press, 2003. 184 pp. Discusses his PTSD, and may have further detail on his Vietnam service, beyond what appeared in the previous volume.

Robert E. Peavey, Praying for Slack: A Marine Corps Tank Commander in Vietnam. St. Paul, Minnesota: Zenith Press (MBI Publishing), 2004. 304 pp. Peavey served a February 1968 to March 1969 tour with B Company, 5th Tank Battalion. He arrived by sea aboard the Thomaston. Part of the time he was with the 1st Marine Division, and part of the time with the 3rd Marine Division.

Bill Squires, Find the Bastards . . . Then Pile On.  Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Co., 1997.  224 pp.  Squires was Regimental Sergeant Major of the 11th Armored Cavalry (Blackhorse) 1968-69, but this is not a memoir; it is a history of the service of the 11th in Vietnam, 1966 to 1972.

General Donn A. Starry, Armored Combat in Vietnam. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1980. xii, 250 pp.  Starry had commanded the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam 1969-70.

LTC Kris P. Thompson, "Trends in Mounted Warfare, Part III, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm," Armor, Sep-Oct 1998, pp. 50-55.

Tran Quang Khoi, "Fighting to the Finish: The Role of South Viet Nam's III Armor Brigade and III Corps Assault Force in the War's Final Days." Armor, March-April 1996, pp. 19-25. Includes a biographical sketch of BG Khoi, who commanded III Armor Brigade.

LTC (Ret) Jim Walker, "Vietnam: Tanker's War?," Armor, May-June 1997, pp. 24-30.

Paul D. Walker, Jungle Dragoon: The Memoir of an Armored Cav Platoon Leader in Vietnam. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1999. xiii, 230 pp.  Walker commanded a mixed platoon of tanks and ACAVs in the 1/4 Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, 1966-67. The full text is available online to paid subscribers of Questia.

Peter L. Walter, ed., The Blackhorse Regiment in Vietnam, 1966-1972. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt Publishing Co. and 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia, 1997. xii, 402 pp. Most of the volume is accounts by men who served in the unit.

1SG Christopher P. Worick, "The Battle of Suoi Tre: Viet Cong Infantry Attack on a Fire Base Ends in Slaughter When Armor Arrives," Armor, May-June 2000, pp. 23-28. Fire Support Base Gold, Tay Ninh province, March 21, 1967, during Operation Junction City.

Ralph Zumbro, foreword by James F. Walker, Tank Sergeant. Novato, CA: Presidio, 1986. pb New York: Pocket Books, 1988, 253 pp. Zumbro joined the Army in 1957, left it, and re-enlisted to serve in Vietnam, with Company A, 1/69 Armor. At the time he arrived, the 1/69 was part of the 25th Infantry Division, but on loan to the 4th Infantry Division. The battalion served with various units while he was in it, ending June 1968.
 

Documents: Army Armored Cavalry, Marine 1st Tank Battalion

The Virtual Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University has placed online a considerable variety of reports from armor and armored cavalry units. The listing that follows is probably incomplete:

Some other relevant books can be found under The Big War, 1964-1972.

U.S. Army Publications

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Copyright © 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, Edwin E. Moise. This document may be reproduced only by permission. Revised September 4, 2008.