MWSA Review

Saigon Guns by John Thomas Hoffman is an interesting and thought-provoking story of one soldier’s tour of duty during the final year of the Vietnam War. The story that John Hoffman tells has apparently never been told before, and his readers should be thankful that John made the effort to tell this story despite the wishes by some in our government that it never see the light of day.

Author Hoffman tells his story of a young enterprising man who works his way through college doing the types of jobs that many of us only dream of doing. Aa a fireman, a policeman, and a bartender, he did it all in order to pay his way. With all this work, he had little time for the normal social life of a college student. Still somehow, he managed to work hard enough that he was appointed the cadet commander of his ROTC detachment. The patriotic son of a military pilot, the author aspired to serve his country, just as his father was doing. For reasons that are not completely clear in the book, the author is directed to testify before Congress while still a student at university. In many ways, this one event shapes the author’s initial career in the Army.

Once commissioned, the author goes on a strange and wonderful odyssey in the Vietnam era American Army. As a new second lieutenant, he attends Ranger training and earns his tab. He then becomes a military policeman and is sent to helicopter training, where he excels. After earning his helicopter pilot wings, he is sent to Vietnam where he spends the last year of the war in service to his country, but under circumstances that deny him recognition of that service.

Hoffman tells the story of his participation in the Vietnam War during a period of time in which the government of the United States was actively denying that soldiers were still serving there. This is the true story of a real American hero. The story deserved to be told, and now it finally can be, thanks to John Hoffman.

Review by Larry Sharrar (July 2023)
 

Author's Synopsis

Few Americans know the facts about the final year of US combat operations in South Vietnam. As political will to sustain the fight in South Vietnam shrank and the US withdrew most of their ground forces, the Soviets and North Vietnamese sought battlefield success to strengthen their negotiating position at the Paris Peace talks. In March of 1972, North Vietnam invaded the south with five armored divisions, massive artillery support, and modern Soviet anti-aircraft weapons, intended to sweep any remaining US military aviation support to South Vietnam from the skies. But the Soviets and their North Vietnamese proteges had miscalculated. The remaining US Army aviation forces still supporting the South Vietnamese, along with US Air Force and US Navy and Marine aviation assets, would not be easily removed from the battle. For the US Army forces still in-country, this is an untold story of heroism, dedication, and refusal to yield the battlefield despite being largely considered by US political leaders as “expendable.”

Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle

Review Genre: Nonfiction—History

Number of Pages: 424

Word Count: 142344