Military Vietnam

Every war has its "bridge" - Old North Bridge at Concord, Burnside's Bridge at Antietam, the railway bridge over Burma's River Kwai, the bridge over Germany's Rhine River at Remagen, and the bridges over Korea's Toko Ri. In Vietnam it was the bridge at Thanh Hoa, called Dragon's Jaw. For seven long years hundreds of young US airmen flew sortie after sortie against North Vietnam's formidable and strategically important bridge, dodging a heavy concentration of anti-aircraft fire and enemy MiG planes. Many American airmen were shot down, killed, or captured....

The stories that I write and tell are about the extraordinary men of SOG, MACVSOG, Ailitary Assistance Command, Vietnam, Special Operations group, code-named The Studies and Observation Group. SOG was the best kept secret of the vietnam war, so secret that it was labeled a “black” operation, meaning that its very existence was concealed, even denied by the United States government. This top secret unit existed for only eight years; January 1964 through May 1972.

Tiger Bravo’s War follows a band of young paratroopers, from the same battalion in the elite 101st Airborne Division portrayed in Stephen Ambrose’s World War II best seller Band of Brothers, during their first year in combat in the Vietnam War - from a bayonet charge in War Zone D and street fighting during the 1968 Tet Offensive, to a rescue mission of a surrounded platoon and rock and roll in the company mess hall, and much more.

This could be the most important audiobook you'll listen to this year. It isn't another war story. It is an audiobook about people, and it contains the personal stories of 100 Vietnam veterans who served there.

In 1971 William Reeder was a senior captain on his second tour in Vietnam. He had flown armed, fixed-wing OV-1 Mohawks on secret missions deep into enemy territory in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, on his first tour. He returned as a helicopter pilot eager to experience a whole new perspective as a Cobra gunship pilot. Believing that Nixon's Vietnamization would soon end the war, Reeder was anxious to see combat action. To him, it appeared that the Americans had prevailed, beaten the Viet Cong, and were passing everything over to the South Vietnamese Army so Americans could leave.

Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, this authoritative history of the Vietnam War examines its people, politics, events, and lasting effects from a global perspective. A Short History of the Vietnam War is both an all-encompassing showcase of every aspect of the conflict, from the struggle for civil rights to the treatment of prisoners.

Sent into the deadly Central Highlands of Vietnam, a true story of my dad and the skytroopers of Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry from 1966 to 1967. My father is Wilbur E. Bowe. He was living on his family’s farm when he was drafted in 1965 and assigned to Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Calvary. This is their story, told in great detail from their time spent training together at Fort Carson - through their historic journey across the ocean aboard the USNS Gaffey, where they would encounter a massive typhoon and eventually, their final patrol.

Noam Chomsky dismisses efforts to resurrect Camelot - an attractive American myth portraying JFK as a shining knight promising peace, foiled only by assassins bent on stopping this lone hero from withdrawing from Vietnam. Chomsky argues that US institutions an political culture, not individual presidents, are the key to understanding US behavior during the Vietnam War.

Following their fallen brothers home, Andy Carter and Jim Anderson struggle to carve out a normal life post-combat. Dead-end jobs are the least of the insults they must endure. Instead of the hero’s welcome they’d expected, they’re greeted with contempt or apathy by those waiting back home. Betrayed by those they fought to protect and burdened with the guilt of surviving, the friends make the only choice that feels right—they reenlist. After all, who’s going to help protect the soldiers left behind?

A former brother-in-arms has done the unforgivable—Carter and the others must do whatever it takes to survive and find justice. A prisoner, transported to a plane for a court-martial in the States, will face an almost certain death penalty. This promise of justice is a small comfort for Carter and his squad. But a fortuitously timed rocket attack sees the prisoner freed, and he slips away into the Vietnamese jungle. Carter, Morrison, Anderson, and Miller are pulling security detail at a firebase in the Truong Son Mountains when they hear the news.

The year is 1969. Private Andy Carter serves in Quang Ngai Province with his brothers in arms. While any one of them would die for each other, a vocal draftee in their squad constantly stirs up trouble. Ramsey, a former anti-war protestor and enemy sympathizer, believes they’re on the wrong side of the war. His stance angers his fellow soldiers and leaves them wary of him. When a routine recon mission uncovers an enemy tunnel, Carter suspects there’s more than meets the eye. This mission will leave Carter questioning the value of a soldier’s life and the madness of war.

The American war in Vietnam has left many long-lasting scars that have not yet been sufficiently examined. The worst of them were inflicted in a tiny area bounded by the demilitarized zone between North and South and the Ho Chi Minh Trail in neighboring Laos. That small region saw the most intense aerial bombing campaign in history, the massive use of toxic chemicals, and the heaviest casualties on both sides.

A powerhouse fusion of pathos and humor, brutal realism and intimate reflection, Flying Through Midnight is a landmark contribution to Vietnam War literature, revealing previously top-secret intelligence on the 606's night missions. Fast-paced, thrilling, and bitingly intelligent, Halliday's writing illuminates it all: the heart-pounding air battles, the close friendships, the crippling fear, and the astonishing final escape that made the telling of it possible.

In 1967, at age 19, John Stillman - refusing to wait for the draft - voluntarily enlisted in the Army to aid his fellow countrymen in one of the most opposed involvements in our nation’s history: the Vietnam War. Written with John’s daughter, Lori Stillman, Jumping from Helicopters is a vivid and moving memoir that unearths 50 years of repressed memories with stunning accuracy and raw details.

This groundbreaking book provides the first systematic comparison of America's modern wars and why they were won or lost. John D. Caldwell uses the World War II victory as the historical benchmark for evaluating the success and failure of later conflicts. Unlike WWII, the Korean, Vietnam, and Iraqi wars were limited, but they required enormous national commitments, produced no lasting victories, and generated bitter political controversies.

In 1972, America was completing its withdrawal from the long and divisive war in Vietnam. Air power covered the departure of ground forces, and search and rescue teams from all services and Air America covered the airmen and soldiers still in the fight. Day and night these military and civilian aircrews stood alert to respond to "Mayday" calls. The rescue forces were the answer to every man's prayer, and those forces brought home airmen, sailors, marines, and soldiers downed or trapped across the breadth and depth of the entire Southeast Asia theater.

In this collection of true stories, decorated war veteran Major General Ian Cardozo recounts what really happened during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, piecing together every story in vivid detail through interviews with survivors and their families. The book also seeks to commemorate the lives of those who were killed and wounded in this war, which took place fifty years ago.

Vietnam, 1968—United States Air Force reconnaissance photos appear to show a newly built POW camp close to the DMZ. Special Forces Captain Mack Gerber and Master Sergeant Anthony B. Fetterman are sent into the jungles of North Vietnam to take a closer look. Instead of a POW compound, they discover a Soviet-run training camp for the NVA. American military officials believe a Russian presence could severely undermine the US war effort in Vietnam. The only option is to launch a raid into North Vietnam. Gerber's men now have a new mission: go in with guns blazing . . . and get out alive.

Following the myths and legends about Nazis recruited by the French Foreign Legion to fight in Indochina, Eric Meyer's new book is based on the real story of one such former Waffen-SS man who lived to tell the tale.

The story of the indomitable American POWs who endured "Alcatraz," the Hanoi prison camp where North Vietnam locked up its most dangerous and subversive prisoners, and the wives who fought to bring them home. As these men suffered in Hanoi, their wives launched an extraordinary campaign that would ultimately spark the POW/MIA movement. When the survivors finally returned, one would receive the Medal of Honor, another became a U.S. Senator, and a third still serves in Congress.