Dustoff by Steve Vermillion

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MWSA Review

Author and former Dustoff helicopter pilot, Steve Vermillion, writes from his personal experience the real history of the men who crewed on those unarmed helicopters that made an art out of medical evacuations in combat. "Dustoff" which was the official radio call sign originated in Vietnam for those Army helicopters that picked up the wounded in the combat zone. Most often they came under fire and without guns - could not return any fire. There mission was clear--go in and get the wounded and be damned about everything else. When you read their stories you can see why there are several Dustoff pilots who have been awarded the Medal of Honor. If the truth be known, there could have been dozens more who certainly earned that honor and were never recognized. 

Villmillion tells his story, and that of his unit, with lots of background history on how the unit formed and a lot of insider information. This whole book is a remarkable tale of heroes, death, fellowship and courage. 

I flew in Nam as a crew-chief door-gunner on a Huey - and we had a pair of M-60 machine guns blasting away from the ship as we landed in those hot LZs. The Dustoff crews had a rotary wing and a prayer! Nothing but God and luck prevented most all of them from being killed or wounded. My hat has always been off to them--they are all my heroes! 

The author himself is a decorated pilot with a Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and a load of other awards. This book is all about those fearless men that flew in that elite company of aviators. I cannot more strongly encourage you to read this history and discover how real men in the worse of times showed so much class and courage. The book is well written and researched and is suitable for mature readers. 

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
Dustoff is a compliation of stories regarding my experiences flying a US Army unarmed medical evacuation helicopter in Vietnam during 1969. This book has a touch of history on the development of helicopter aeromedical evacuation system but primarily focuses on my experiences as a pilot as well as how we interacted as a crew. One of the stories is nearly a duplicate of one of the night non-secure hoist missions that we recorded using a cassette tape recorder connected into our avionics harness.

A Walk In Hell by Gregory A. Helle

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MWSA Review

Greg A. Helle takes us on a journey through an emotional and spiritual hell with his frank and gripping prose from his first book, “A Walk In Hell – The Other Side of War.”  This PTSD veteran of the Vietnam War deals with an issue that he could not even talk about for over 25 years to anyone — rape.  He was the victim of a physical rape but it also ripped his soul in the process.  Being raped by another soldier is a subject that no one ever wanted to hear about — it just brings up too much emotional baggage for others to deal with.  Without any emotional release or counseling, Greg tried to return to that life he had on the farm before he went Nam but he was damaged goods.  His life became a living hell within him.  He cried out for help and there was no one listening.

His prose deals with issues of PTSD that many men and women can relate to.  He is not afraid to open his heart up and expose his feelings.  It is an act of total courage as he makes himself vulnerable to being hurt by society again.  It is his faith and hope that there is something better in the future that pushes him onward.  He has formed a non-profit organization that helps other suicidal veterans and counsels others like himself who have PTSD problems.  To me, he shows so much class as he has turned a life crushing event into a platform for helping and assisting others. Buying his book will help him continue funding his organization and helping more people.  So buying his book and getting an enlightening reading adventure will also allow you to help fuel this rescue mission for others. (All proceeds benefit The PTSD Alliance)

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
A powerful, emotion packed trip through the mind of a Vietnam Vet disabled with PTSD. As with too many other young boys, he was sent to an unpopular war and experienced many traumas. Even though more than thirty years have passed, the realities of the war remain. Even with the best counseling and medications, the war is only kept at bay. There is no cure. At best there is only coping. The war will never be far away. It invades his days and nights. His poetic journal is sometimes dark. It is the reality of his war.

The Last Hookers by Carle E. Dunn

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MWSA Review

LTC Carle Dunn has written the most comprehensive book on what the whole Vietnam War was really about. His book is a study in history with the causes and effects of policy and conflicts. "The Last Hookers" is very scholarly written but reads like a novel. I learned things about our history that I never knew happened--like how we almost got ourselves into a nuclear war over Vietnam when the French were losing the battle for Dien Bien Phu. His book gives inside information on the CIA operations that took place in Asia and we get an inside look at how policy and war are what shapes future wars and battles. 

If you only could get your hands on one book about the history of the Vietnam War, this would be a good book to start with. You certainly get your money worth of information in 658 pages. The author shows his skills at putting together facts and data and connecting the dots to see the results on how it all fueled the fire for the decade's long problems in Asia. 

This book is a history classic already; make sure that you get to read it. 

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis

The Vietnam War catalyzed an entire generation of Americans, dividing them along pro-war and anti-war lines. Aviator turned author Lieutenant Colonel Carle E. Dunn spent three years researching recently declassified documents to provide details of how the United States became embroiled in Southeast Asia. He presents a candid look at United State’s leadership in his new book The Last Hookers (now available from 1stBooks Library)

Using fictional characters, Dunn, now retired, traces the roles of France, Great Britain, North Vietnam, and the United States in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, North and South Vietnam from 1938 to 1972. He details actual events such as Operation Vulture, President Truman’s plan to use atomic weapons against the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) at Dien Bien Phu. This plan called for the subsequent use of atomic weapons against Communist China and the USSR. President Eisenhower gave the plan serious consideration.

Colonel Dunn weaves a story of lies, deceit, espionage and romance based on historical events. Exciting, entertaining, and emotionally wrought, The Last Hookers is the most profound look into U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia since the war’s end.

From humble beginnings to honored war veteran, Colonel Dunn has spent most of his life in the military. Enlisting in the South Carolina National Guard, while working his way through college, he later served in the Army Reserve. Commissioned a second lieutenant, Dunn attended Field Artillery Officers Basic Course at Fort Still, Oklahoma. Upon graduation, the Army canceled Dunn’s orders to Korea. He stayed at Fort Still to teach gunnery, and was the first Second Lieutenant ever to teach that course. Next, he completed helicopter flight school and went on to serve during the Vietnam conflict. Highly decorated and widely published, Dunn now resides in South Carolina. The Last Hookers is his first full-length novel.

Never Trust A Man In Curlers by Tony Lazzarini

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MWSA Review

Review missing

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
Author Tony Lazzarini takes your emotions on a roller coaster ride with his short stories and anecdotes. Readers will laugh out loud about a crazy million-dollar idea and shudder at a chilling rescue mission from the jungles of Vietnam. Find out about Albert Einstein's favorite bar or what people from another planet are really like. Sixteen short stories of various lengths make it a great gift or carry around book. Perfect for airports, waiting rooms, bathrooms, night stands or living room tables.

Red Bird Down by Bruce E. Carlson

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MWSA Review

Author Bruce Carlson has written a real action packed novel about the air cavalry and aero-scouts in Vietnam. It will take you across the skies and the mountains and the rivers of Nam as you are transported back to the Vietnam helicopter wars of late 60's. It brings you all those colorful aviation characters that feel and sound like real people. In fact, the entire book's story line is based loosely on Bruce's old outfit and his own tour of duty. So it has that realistic sense of place and time that only a pilot could have written. 

In the story, you see this idealistic young officer who has visions of changing the world and helping the South Vietnamese people get a democratic government arrive in-country. In short order, his real education begins to reshape his outlook on the war and the country he is sent to help. In time, he becomes a hardened veteran whose goal is get everyone back safely and alive if possible. 

The reader will find that this story is well told and full of action. Bruce who is now an ordained minister has crafted a masterpiece of literature for military genre books. Well worth picking up and reading. 

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
Almost ten years in the writing, "RED BIRD DOWN" is a deeply moving Psychological/Emotional study of a young man's coming of age in Vietnam as an Aero-Scout helicopter pilot. These young pilots took the highest casualities of all the the helicopter pilots in Vietnam. Further, Army Warrant Officer Pilots took the highest casuality rates of all ranks in Vietnam. Yet, to the bitter end, even in LS 719 in support of Vietnames only, they lived by their credo -- "Leave no one behind."

The "hero" of "Red Bird Down" is typical of so many of these teenages and men in the early twenties. He struggles with the tumult of an unpopular war, his mission, the deaths of friends, and his growing love and respect for the young men with whom he serves. Eventually, he discovers a bond, formed in the fire and cold steel of combat. It ia a bond which cannot be broken.

This is not simply an action adventure book! The world has enough "Rambo" type works. While Kev, the hero, has plenty of action, adventure and misadventures, the reader will also laugh, cry, and learn to love the kids of Vietnam for who they were and all they accomplished.

Using incidents from my own time in Vietnam, I have woven them into a Novelized form. Through a running dialogue with a "fictional" home-town minister and a fictional relationship to my own alter-ego, I have looked at many of the political, theological, and emotional issues of Vietnam and the tumult of the late 60's.

My "hero" is a very human boy/man who occasionally soars to great heights and then quickly balances this soaring with "bone-head" mistakes. Through it all he "grows up," takes responsibility for himself, and learns to deal with life and death well beyond his years.

For those who want a serious read about the young men of the "Great Helicopter War," this is the book. In 490 pages, the reader will feel the emotional depth of one young man, who was so typical of so many. Be prepared to occasionally put the book down to ponder the depth of these young men and the heights to which they soared. In the end, you will understand their dedication, commitment to each other, and why they said, "Leave no one behind."

Grief Denied by Pauline Laurent

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MWSA Review

I was so touched by the reading of this book, that I cried like a baby for the first time since I returned back from Vietnam. I was there myself and knew many men, such as Pauline's husband. I just never realized how much grief and stress that those left behind had suffered. Pauline is an example of someone who has had to learn how to cope and deal with the death of her husband, without any road maps. She lead with her heart and let her emotions take her to places she had never visited before. She allows us to take that journey of her spirit, though the pages of this wonderfully, well written, book of her emotional expereinces. I could not put this book down once I began - not until I reached and read the final word on the last page. I highly recommend buying and reading of this book. It will move you in ways you thought possible.

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
 

Grief Denied is about healing: it is about coming to terms with the intimate pain and emotional violence that was unleashed by the Vietnam War. It is also a bittersweet love story in which a young girl meets a soldier-boy, a young bride loses her soldier-husband and how, on the 30th anniversary of their marriage, the mature woman is finally able to say good-bye to the man she will always love. Laurent tells her story with clarity and candor and a great deal of caring. There are vivid descriptions of her husband, Howard, who died in combat in Vietnam on May 10, 1968, when she was 22 years old and in the last phase of her first pregnancy. There are also sharp, tender portraits of her daughter Michelle, her parents, her friends and her lovers. The author doesn't seem to have held back anything or to have denied readers a full and complete view of her personality, including her dark side. So there are emotionally wrenching accounts of her depression, her suicidal feelings, her "insanity," as she calls it, as well as her therapy and recovery and rediscovery of prayer and faith. Grief Denied offers deeply moving passages from Howard's letters to Pauline shortly before his death. Laurent describes how Vietnam got to her, though she was thousands of miles away from the heat, the dirt and the mortars. If somehow or other you never did appreciate how Vietnam got to the heart of America, then this book ought to be at the top of your list of books to read. And if you are thinking of writing a memoir to express your seemingly inexpressible pain, then this book is also for you. "In writing I finally found a container which could hold my grief," Laruent writes. "the blank page wanted to hear it all--every last detail." -- The Press Democrat, August 29, 1999 by Jonah Raskin, Chairman of the Communication Studies Department at Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA.

I Served by Don C. Hall and Annette R. Hall

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MWSA Review

I felt really touched by the life story of Don Hall. It is one of those veteran memoirs that are also a great story about love, healing, faith, redemption, compassion, courage and friendship. This book has all those things that can make your heart break or warm up. It is a story of a young boy who endures many emotional and physical hardships in a lonely and cold hearted orphanage, long before he was on his way to Vietnam to face the NVA and VC. 

Knowing Don and Annette as I do, made this story even better because I can tell that what was in the book was really all about love. That romance is still alive and well today. The book explores their relationship but it also explores the world that a young Don found himself in during the Vietnam War. 

What Don faced in Nam and how he handles himself makes for a real action packed adventure sure to satisfy those readers who enjoy war genre books however, there is much more spiritual and emotional depth to the story line as you follow the unfolding of the man Don was to become. 

I highly recommend this book to all readers. I believe that women may find this a book that they can take to their hearts. This is not a combat book but a book about one man's personal journey through his life in search of meaning and love. 

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
 

I SERVED was written differently from most other Vietnam memoirs. Instead of being a chronological recitation of my experiences growing up in the orphanage and then going to Vietnam and serving with Co. F, 51st Long Range Patrol (Airborne) Infantry, I made its focus be the characters in the story. That is its greatest strength and what makes it such a good read. Because I focused so closely on character, you really get to care about the person Don Hall because you know what makes him tick, what is important to him, and what drives him. You are also engaged by the other people you meet in the story because they are so clearly drawn. You don't have to be a military buff to enjoy the book.

I SERVED is a factual story backed up by official U.S. Army records. Col. William C. Maus, the man who formed F/51st LRP, told me where to find that documentation. I also have copies of handouts we received when we went to Recondo School. Before he died, he told me how much he enjoyed reading the book. He praised me for having written such a great story about a unit he was proud to have commanded. He was a visionary who knew our unit was the vanguard for future U.S. Army military strategy and tactics. I remember his telling me at the time that F/51st LRP was making history. Being just a naïve 19-year-old staff sergeant, I didn't understand the significance of that statement. I do now.

We hope readers are so intrigued that they will order a copy of I SERVED when its available. The paperback version is a reprint of the original 1994 hardbound edition, with a revised preface and afterword, a new War Stories section (with stories from other men with whom I served), and new photographs.

Outlaws in Vietnam by David L. Eastman

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MWSA Review

Author David Eastman treats the reader to an insider view of one of the best aviation units in the Delta during the Vietnam War. This was a totally different kind of war and his historic look back at the 175th Aviation Company from 1966 through 1967 is a real snap shot of that special kind of helicopter warfare. His book, "Outlaws in Vietnam," is a masterpiece of writing. It loses nothing in the details and the historic reconstruction of memories. The author takes us along on the missions and we get to meet some of the men in the unit. 

The action is a real accounting of what it was like. This book will take you on a flight of adventure safely from your sofa but emotionally you will be with this group of men all the way from the beginning to the end. You will get your money's worth of this unit's story along with some black and white photos. 

David does a great job writing this historic memoir. The MWSA gives it highest rating to this book. 

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
 

Ride a Huey with the Outlaws of the 175th Aviation Company (AML) in the Mekong Delta and experience a first-hand, first Lieutenant's account, of a tour in Vietnam from 1966-1967. Eastman's lively prose reveals an exciting untold story of camaraderie, competence and fellowship. The aviation units were the sole combat element of the U.S. Army that kept their discipline and spirit.

The Cave by Sam McGowan

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MWSA Review

This is one of those adventure stories that you can picture yourself in as you read the book.  Sam McGowan delivers a riveting tale in his novel, “The Cave.”  This is not your normal atypical Vietnam War novel—this is a real adventure story.  It will keep you glued to the pages.  This is a great story from a master story teller.  The author crafts a wonderful weave of words and imagery to develop the story line and to keep the action moving.

I think most of us old aviation veterans, from whatever wars, all have had this personal question as to what it would be like to be  shot down and then scramble around hiding and evading.  I was shot down several times in Vietnam but only once did I have to escape and evade for longer than 6 hours.  I can personally tell you that the old heart gets to pounding so loud that you think every NVA or VC will hear it from a mile away.  This is that same kind of feeling in this book.  I could feel the hero’s heart beating as I turned the pages in this book!

Synopsis:

It's 1966 - 20-year old Toby Carter is flying as a C-130 crewmember on hazardous Blind Bat flare missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos and North Vietnam.  When the young Tennessean is shot down, he falls back on his boyhood experiences in the Tennessee woods and as a cave explorer to survive.  Knowing that Laos is a "karst" region where caves abound, he has prepared himself for the eventuality of finding a cave to hide in until he can be rescued.  But when he discovers that he is in a hotbed of enemy activity, which makes his chances of rescue unlikely, he sets out to explore the cave.  During his explorations Carter makes a surprising discovery that gives him the means to declare his own personal war against the North Vietnamese, particularly the gun crew that shot him down.

The Cave is an exciting story that puts the reader in the cockpit and in the back of a C-130 during one of the most continually dangerous missions of the Vietnam War during the first chapters.  Then it switches to the ground in Laos.  The Cave not only tells the story of the Blind Bat C-130 flareships, it also brings into it the role played by USAF photo interpreters and special operations MC-130 crews.

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis

The story of an Air Force enlisted man shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. A cave explorer and marksman, Samuel Tobin Carter discovers a cave and uses it as sanctuary from which to wage his own personal war.

Rattler One-Seven by Chuck Gross

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MWSA Review

Sometimes I read a good book that interests me, then on a very rare occasion, I pick up a great book that captures my fullest attention; such was the candid memoir from Huey helicopter pilot Chuck Gross. He has authored an historic book for the ages. One that takes us through the firestorms of some very "hot LZs" and pulls us directly into the action, as if we were getting a pilot's eye-view of the Vietnam War. The writing is vivid and painfully accurate at times. "Rattler One-Seven" is truly the best helicopter story by a pilot coming out of the Vietnam War. 

Chuck allows us to fly along with him and his unit, the Rattlers, where we get to meet their gunners, crew-chiefs and other pilots. Take it from someone who has been there and done that -- this is very close to having the real experience yourself from the safety of your sofa. The book is a good insider look at the world of Assault Helicopter units in Nam. 

Book Cover is an award winning art piece by Vietnam Veteran artist Joe Kline

The book also was a 2004 Distinguished Medal winner from the The Military Writer's Society of America

I give this book my personal recomemendation! It is a FIVE STAR BOOK but if I were able to give it more stars I would do so!!!!!

NOTE: In 2004, a Bronze Medal was called a Distinguished Medal.

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran.

When Chuck Gross left for Vietnam in 1970, he was a nineteen-year-old army helicopter pilot fresh out of flight school. He spent his entire Vietnam tour with the 71st Assault Helicopter Company flying UH-1 Huey helicopters. Soon after the war he wrote down his adventures, while his memory was still fresh with the events. Rattler One-Seven (his call sign) is written as Gross experienced it, using these notes along with letters written home to accurately preserve the mindset he had while in Vietnam.

During his tour Gross flew Special Operations for the MACV-SOG, inserting secret teams into Laos. He notes that Americans were left behind alive in Laos, when official policy at home stated that U.S. forces were never there. He also participated in Lam Son 719, a misbegotten attempt by the ARVN to assault and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail with U.S. Army helicopter support. It was the largest airmobile campaign of the war and marked the first time that the helicopter was used in mid-intensity combat, with disastrous results.

Pilots in their early twenties, with young gunners and a Huey full of ARVN soldiers, took on experienced North Vietnamese antiaircraft artillery gunners, with no meaningful intelligence briefings or a rational plan on how to cut the Trail. More than one hundred helicopters were lost and more than four hundred aircraft sustained combat damage. Gross himself was shot down and left in the field during one assault.

Rattler One-Seven will appeal to those interested in the Vietnam War and to all armed forces, especially aviators, who have served for their country.

Stealth Patrol by Bill Shanahan & John P. Brackin

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MWSA Review

This is the true story of Bill Shanahan and his two tours of duty in Vietnam.  Bill and his co-author John Brackin have created a book that gives the reader a fox-hole view on a unique kind of warfare.  In Vietnam at this period of time, the Army and the Marines were all engaged in large operations with big units going into battles.  Meanwhile, small Ranger units began to play by another set of rules with the enemy forces.  They would ambush and engage the enemy where and when they chose.  Sometimes the NVA and VC had greater numbers but these silent and invisible killing forces were able to pull success after success.

The authors give the reader some rich imagery through their wording and descriptions.  This story is well worth telling and it will inspire and entertain.  Bill was a real hero as were the men he fought with in his Ranger unit.  I believe that this book gives justice to what they did.

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
From Stealth Patrol:"He spoke in a sort of clipped cadence, his words tumbling out quickly, one on top of the other; and his voice was deep and throaty, the way a bear might sound, if he could talk, after a night of drinking. 'Basically I'm here recruiting guys for the Lurps.... We operate in teams of five, maybe six, members apiece. In the Lurps, every man counts-and that's why we only take the best.'"Just four months after he arrived in Vietnam in 1968, Bill Shanahan joined the LRPs (Long Range Patrol). The mission of the Lurps, as they were called, was dangerous: Five- or six-man teams were dropped into the dense forest behind enemy lines. With quiet stealth, they observed enemy troop movements and staged ambushes that often ended in fierce firefights. When their mission was accomplished, they called for quick helicopter extraction. Back on base, they debriefed and tried to sleep off the adrenaline. Two days later they were back in the brush. The missions changed from week to week, but every day the goal was the same-stay alive.

Highest Traditions by Tony Lazzarini

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MWSA Review

When I finished reading Tony's book I found it to be right on the money about that long ago life event; I felt I was back in my old helicopter company in Vietnam. Tony takes you back and shows you how it was to be a door-gunner, crew-chief or a pilot. For those who have been there it feels real and is authentic--to those who were not, it is an education in how it felt to be there. This is a must read book. It is okay for teenagers to read - it is not overly offensive and sticks to the story line. I rate this book among the best written in 2003 on the Vietnam War. 

This book is an easy read - it follows a logical path and can be read all at once or in pieces as time permits. It is an award winning book having received awards and recognition from various organizations including the American Authors Association and the MWSA. 

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
Fly in a UH-1D (Huey) helicopter in Vietnam as a door gunner when the average life span was an expected 20 seconds in combat. Learn about the equipment, men and missions. A different kind of war story takes the reader inside the author's mind during his 21 month tour of duty. Read how helicopter missions were flown and why. Fly with the 25th Aviation "A" Company "Little Bears", one of the most decorated helicopter units of the Vietnam War. Twelve full color pictures.

A Buffalo's Revenge by Bob Lupo

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MWSA Review

I found Bob Lupo's novel about the Vietnam War to be a real page turner. I couldn't put it down and read half the book at frist sitting. The descriptive images that the author used, made me feel like I was back in the jungles 35 year's ago, when I was a just a young man there myself.

Bob Lupo's novel is a good study in human relationships - in the most trying of situations. Although it deals with race relations - I found it was more about emotional and personal spiritual issues that at are basic to all men. I found myself thinking much deeper about the whole experience after putting down his book.

I highly recomend this book to veterans of any war - or to those who want to get a feel for what it might have been like. Although the story line is not one comon to anyone's experience that I have ever meet - it uses the situation as a way to reveal the inner warrior, that those who fought there might relate to.

This book would make a great movie, if it was ever discovered by the media. This book is well worth spending some time with. I rate it 5 Stars!

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
A Buffalo's Revenge, a Vietnam negative, explores the limits of a nation engaged in a struggle for freedom when the mirror reveals a fractured image. Racism is bundled in an interlocking grid of white and black and oriental hatred. The backdrop of the home front, the plague of assassinations, a spiraling anti-war movement, a sandwiched Media, and politicians and a military caught in the glare of appeasing conflicting demands underscores the plight of individuals fighting for their lives and their loves. Doc Lusane must overcome his need to die; James Jaggers his need to kill; Pee Wee Anson to hate.The home front explodes in a frenzy of hate and violence.The boys discover love beyond the peculiar cadence of language and dialect. They discover life beyond race or color. They discover themselves.America was at war thirty-five years ago and we are at war today. A Buffalo's Revenge is a snapshot of America, then and now.

Born in Brooklyn ...Raised in the CAV! by John Flanagan

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MWSA Review

Review missing

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
In 1966 John Flanagan was drafted into the Army at the age of nineteen. Upon graduating from flight school he went to Vietnam and served as a pilot and aircraft commander with the famous 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). This book is his personal account of that time. Retiring from the Army in 1986 as a Major, his awards and decorations include the Bronze Star (2 Awards), Distinguished Flying Cross (2 awards), Meritorious Service Medal (2 Awards), 54 Air Medals, and the Purple Heart. He is a Master Army Aviator and has logged over 3000 flight hours. John Flanagan is proud to be associated with USACares (www.usacares.org) as a virtual committee member since its inception in March 2003. USACares provides direct assistance to servicemembers and their families involved in the Global War on Terror. You are invited to view the web site and help these true American Heroes.

C. M. A. C. - A Vietnam era Trilogy by James J. Finnegan

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MWSA Review

Author James Finnegan has followed his other great book " The Sage of a Student Warrior" with a continuation of his warrior's -James Callaghan - adventures. This time, we are taken to Vietnam where the young Lieutenant finds himself in the heart of South Vietnam - Saigon; and deep in war.

The story is only fiction - but you become involved with the story, just as if it were happening to yourself. Well told tale - and well worth reading.

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
Radios, Rockets and Radar greatly influenced the life of Lieutenant James. A. Callaghan during his U.S. Government sponsored stay in Viet Nam. The Conflict, prior to his arrival in country, had spawned what was known to the world as the Tet Offensive, an extensive and well coordinated action launched by the Viet Cong on the Republic of Viet Nam. During the mayhem caused by the advance of the 13 regular regiments from the north it became obvious that there was a need for a coordinating command to insure the protection of Saigon. This was the birth of the Capital Military Assistance Command, C.M.A.C.. It was hastily setup in an old French Foreign Legion compound and was soon home for the new Radio Officer, Lieutenant James Callaghan. C.M.A.C. highlights his adventures.

Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order by Dan Dane

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MWSA Review

A no-holds barred insight into the military maelstrom of Viet Nam.

The author presents a JAG (Judge Advocate General) lawyer who represents soldiers accused of murder and drug offenses. And the censors are not allowed to lessen the brutal telling of the pitfalls.

This audio presentation brings the listener into the fray, allowing him to feel, taste, touch and react to military life in Viet Nam. Using the experiences of a non-career Army lawyer assigned during the last days of duty in Viet Nam, we discover that the justice served in the military is a fight in itself. 

At times that legal battle is influenced by high command input not necessarily beneficial to the lawyer’s role or to the meting out of justice to the defendant.

We listen to the lawyer protagonist fight his personal battle of bafflement and anger towards his immediate superior whose sole ambition is to promote himself. Thoughts of killing enter the lawyer’s mind. This mind frame is grown out of the futility felt due to Generals doing the opposite of the facts published to the American public. “I fight to stop a moron poising as an Army officer from screwing up the life of a soldier.”

The five CD’s of this moving presentation guide us through the daily experiences faced by the “grunts” which, of necessity, become the foundation of the ordeal of the defense counsel. Fortunately, where he finds innocence of the purported crime, our lawyer battles through the layers of military law to bring about a “not guilty” decision.

This is a “must listen to” story of little known area of the conflict in Viet Nam.

Reviewed by: Joe Fabel (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
 

Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order offers a glimpse of conditions around Bien Hoa during the last years of the war. Bill Blake encounters fragging, racism and heroin addiction while defending soldiers in court-martial trials as a young Army lawyer. Much like the soldiers he defends, Blake finds himself in conflict with his superior officers.

The story of a drafted, civilian attorney serving as an Army lawyer in Vietnam gives this book a unique perspective. Captain Blake's experiences accentuate many of the troublesome aspects of the war, including the draft, authority of Commanding Generals, domestic demand for troop withdrawal and in the end, the delivery of heroin to the American troops.

The historical fiction genre allows vets to recognize historically correct settings in Vietnam during 1971-1972 in this book. The fictitious characters and circumstances provide an entertaining read for those who lived through the era as well as those for whom Vietnam is only a curiosity out of the distant past.

Other books by Dan Dane include Fireflies in the Delta and Bloodlines of Tyranny.

The Two-Dollar Bill by Roger H. Soiset

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MWSA Review

The author graphically illustrates his experience of “The taste of fear and the knowledge of mortality.”  The incidents portrayed in “The Two-Dollar Bill (the 200th Brigade),” a fictional Army group, are based upon actual experiences in the camp life and the front lines in Viet Nam.

Roger Soiset immerses the reader in the vibrant fire zone of the “grunts.”  As he exposes each soldier’s reactions to “his taste of fear and the knowledge of mortality,” the reader vicariously becomes part of the patrol deep in the hostile jungle environment.  We are immersed in the daily challenges the combatants must deal with, some successfully, others with variations due to personalities.

Each “grunt” in the “hot zones” can be described as “You look the same and sound the same, but you have undergone some serious changes you really cannot adequately explain even to yourself.”

The author offers the reader an excellent insight into the fear ridden tour of the American fighting men in the Viet Nam conflict “who came from the house next door to yours.”

Reviewed by: Joe Fabel (2004)

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Author's Synopsis
 

Novel of the author's year in Viet Nam.

Marcel's Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man's Fate by Carolyn Porter

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MWSA Review

Carolyn Porter is a highly trained and successful graphic designer, but from early in her career she harbored a secret desire to design a font based on a real person’s handwriting. For years she looked for old letters in antique shops, hoping to find a sample that would catch her eye. In the months after the destruction of the World Trade Center, her interest in such a project intensified. Then in an out-of-the-way little shop in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, she found a letter whose beautifully scrolled handwriting took her breath away. Out of a pile of the unknown writer’s correspondence, she picked four letters that contained the capital letters and numbers she would need to begin construction of her font.

She had, of course, under-estimated the amount of work building a font from scratchy marks on deteriorating paper might take. She started with tracings and pencil sketches and taught herself to use font-designing software. Months and years passed as she worked on one letter’s shape at a time. The font-designing urge eventually gave way to the pressures of day-to-day life. Some ten years later, she came across the letters again and resolved to make a renewed effort to recreate this handwriting as a font.

The letters were in French, which she could not read. Her early efforts had focused only on the individual letter-forms. But this time, something was different. She concentrated on the beautiful signature of the writer—Marcel. A few recognizable words convinced her that Marcel had written a love letter. And now she wanted to know more about the writer. She hired a translator to provide an English version of just one of the letters.

It was a crucial decision—one that set her on a three-year journey to find the man with the beautiful handwriting—the man who had written these letters while a conscripted laborer assigned to a German tank factory during World War II. She moved from curiosity to wanting to know more. The desire to know more soon became a need to know. Then the need became a full-blown obsession. She neglected her other jobs, ignored her husband, family, and friends, forgot to eat, and gave up trying to sleep. She spent countless hours writing letters of inquiry, reading about the German occupation of France, digging deep into genealogical sites, and pursuing official records. She found more letters and developed new leads. But would she ever find Marcel himself? And would she ever finish his font?

This is Ms. Porter’s story as well as Marcel’s. She tells it honestly and with deep emotion. She manages to balance the several strands of her adventures—the history lessons, the details of creating a font, the inner workings of her marriage, and the clues that point to the eventual outcomes. The reader will rejoice with her when things go well and cry with her when she faces discouragement. It’s a great story.

MWSA Reviewer Carolyn Schriber (March 2018)

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Author's Synopsis

A graphic designer’s search for inspiration leads to a cache of letters and the mystery of one man’s fate during World War II. Seeking inspiration for a new font design in an antique store in small-town Stillwater, Minnesota, graphic designer Carolyn Porter stumbled across some old letters and was immediately drawn to the beautifully expressive pen-and-ink handwriting. She could not read the letters—they had been written in French—but she noticed they had been signed by a man named Marcel and mailed from Berlin to France during the middle of World War II. As Carolyn grappled with designing the font, she decided to have one of Marcel’s letters translated. Reading words of love combined with testimony of survival inside a German labor camp transformed Carolyn’s curiosity into an obsession, and she sought to find out why the letter writer, Marcel Heuzé, had been in Berlin, how his letters came to be for sale in a store halfway around the world, and, most importantly, whether he returned to his beloved wife and daughters after the war. Marcel’s Letters is the story of Carolyn’s increasingly desperate search to find answers to the mystery of one man’s fate, answers that would come from Germany, France, and the United States. Simultaneously, she would continue to work on what would become the acclaimed font P22 Marcel Script, immortalizing the man and letters that waited years to be reunited with his family. Keywords: Non-fiction, France, WWII, Biography, French Forced Labor, Service du Travail Obligatoire, Daimler, Labor Camp, Graphic Design, Font Design, Typography, Love, Father, Reunion, History-Mystery
 

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1510719330
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Creative Nonfiction, History, Memoir, Biography
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 352

Black Water by Neil Millar

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MWSA Review

Neil Millar takes on kidnappers, ex-KGB agents, cannibals, snakes, poisonous spiders, and even supernatural forces, as he takes an armed team to an island in the Bay of Bengal to try and rescue a woman.  His book, “Black Water – A Place of No Hope,” has all the suspense and action one would want in any action thriller.  The hero fights personal demons for his own sanity—which he medicates with alcohol.  The hero is flawed but it makes the story more interesting and complex.

A must read!

For good synopsis of this book and an excellent review that I cannot honestly add much to check out the New York Times Book Review:http://www.neilmillar.net/Black%20Water%20Review.htm

Description:

The decision not to pull the trigger on an arms dealer during a covert mission is haunting SAS Patrol Commander Mike Edwards.  Now, on a mission to find and free a kidnapped environmentalist he comes face to face with the man who caused his nightmare to begin.  But, in the perilous jungle of Kali Pani, he must deal with more than just the physical confrontation with his enemy.  Now he must deal with the emotional and spiritual issues inside himself that will either deliver or destroy him.  Enjoy the tale of a soldier in the military as well as a soldier in life and have your own moments of illumination amongst the wisdom, wisecracking and whizzing bullets of Black Water.

Reviewed by: Bill McDonald (2004)

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Author's Synopsis

The decision not to pull the trigger on an arms dealer during a covert mission is haunting SAS Patrol Commander Mike Edwards. Now, on a mission to find and free a kidnapped environmentalist he comes face to face with the man who caused his nightmare to begin. But, in the perilous jungle of Kali Pani,he must deal with more than just the physical confrontation with his enemy. Now he must deal with the emotional and spiritual issues inside himself that will either deliver or destroy him. Enjoy the tale of a soldier in the military as well as a soldier in life and have your own moments of illumination amongst the wisdom, wisecracking and whizzing bullets of Black Water.

my daddy is a sailor by Tahna Desmond Fox

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MWSA Review

my daddy is a sailor is an excellent book to share with the young children of deploying sailors.  It uses clear, rhythmic language to define to young children what sailors do in a way that will make the children proud of their parent.

I especially liked the way Tahna Desmond Fox paid tribute to fallen sailors from the copyright year, using almost an ""Easter-egg"" technique to recognize the sailors lost in the USS MCCAIN and USS FITZGERALD accidents, as well as a C-2 Greyhound mishap.  It's very appropriate, and serves as a reminder to all the sense of sacrifice that goes with service, without being at all morbid or ""dark.""

The illustrations are clean and support the story, and it will resound with any child who has a Daddy getting ready to ship out.  Similar to MY SAILOR DAD by Ross Mackenzie, this is a necessary work to help children understand why Daddy has to be gone.  Well done to the author.

Review by Rob Ballister (March 20118)

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Author's Synopsis

Learn the words Daddy knows about his ship and where he goes, in the Navy. Daddy is a sailor in the United States Navy. Learn the words Daddy knows about his ship and his mates. Join Ollie the Octopus and travel with Daddy as he sails on every sea in a great, big ship, watch what he does on board, and see the sights he sees. Due to the naval tragedies that occurred while creating this book in 2017, I paid tribute to our fallen sailors aboard the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56), the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), and the C-2A Greyhound (VRC 30). Each lost sailor is represented by a golden bird in flight or a star in the heavens, signifying they have passed from this world but their memories remain. My heart and love go out to the families, friends, and loved ones of these twenty sailors, and every sailor who never made it home.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-938505-34-8
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover
Genre(s): Picture Book
Review Genre: Children & Young Adult—Picture Book
Number of Pages: 38