Books

WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE and YOUNG
by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret) and Joseph L. Galloway
Harper Torch, ISBN 0-06-050698-9

Submitted by: Ronald W. Mackedanz
About the men of the 7th Air Cav. and the battle of the La Trang Valley.
I read the book, and then, on the recommendation of Phil Greenwell, I saw the movie. The movie was very well done, but it was just too real for me at the time. Use your discretion on this one.
Submitted 4/26/03

Seven Firefights in Vietnam, by John A. Cash, John Albright and Allan W. Sandstrum, ISBN 0553268759

In the early fall of 1967 Bandido Charlie spent a several months on the Riverine. A battle from that period is detailed in this book.

The book is online and can be access by clicking here.

Combat Chaplain: A Thirty-Year Vietnam Battle, by James D. Johnson, ISBN 1574411330

Chaplain Jim Johnson broke all the rules to be with his men. He chose to accompany them, unarmed, on their daily combat operations, a decision made against the recommendations of his superiors. During what would be the final days for some, he offered his ministry not from a pulpit but on the battlefields - in hot landing zones and rice paddies, in hospitals, aboard ship, and knee-deep in mud. He even found time for baptisms in the muddy Mekong River.

Book Review from Biblical Recorder

AMERICAN SOLDIER, by General Tommy Franks
Regan Books, copyright 2004, ISBN 0-06-073158-3

Review Submitted by: Curtis Hatterman
Written by Tommy Franks describing his life from the time he was a young boy in Oklahoma until his retirement at CENTCOM in Tampa, Florida. Throughout the entire book Tommy Franks reflects back on his life with his parents, his time in Vietnam with Bandido Charlie Company and the 5th Battalion 60 Infantry Regiment, his friendship with Lee Alley, and the leadership learned from Eric Antila - 5th Battalion Commander in Vietnam. If you want to know what kind of leader Tommy Franks was, just purchase the book and look at the photo on the page facing ppg 367. That photo says it all. And you will learn about the accomplishments made during the initial fighting in Iraq that was not reported on television. At times in the book it sounds a little over-bragging on Tommy Franks part, but then again he has earned the right to brag about what he has accomplished - rising from the very bottom as a Private all the way to very top as a four-star General in the United States Army. Read the book.
Submitted 10/20/04

NO MORE VIETNAMS, by Richard M Nixon
Library of Congress Cataloging Publication
ISBN O-87795-668-5, 1985

Review Submitted by: Al Herrera
The book is a very comprehensive narrative of our longest war by one of the men who made that history, Richard Nixon. He dispels the myths of Vietnam, to show why we failed in Vietnam, and to contribute to the development of policies that will help avoid such failures in the future. After the war ended in 1975, many Americans relieved at having this searing, disruptive experience behind them, have avoided thinking deeply and critically about it. In the ensuing intellectual vacuum a variety of myths about Vietnam-our motives, our actions, our failures, our successes-have taken hold. Mr. Nixon completely and lucidly dispels each of these myths. I highly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone, especially Vietnam veterans.
Submitted 6/23/04

THE KHAKI MAFIA, by Robin Moore (who also wrote The French Connection)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-168317, 1971

Submitted by: Al Herrera
The reason I read this book is because in 1965 a group of US Army NCO's became corrupt and became extremely wealthy during the Vietnam war. The events actually happened, and unfortunately to many of us, the NCO's were predominately First Infantry Division men. In fact, The Sergeant Major of the Army was in the group. The facts are true and many in the service, me included, can recall of the incidents involving these men, who were eventually tried, convicted, and separated from the service. I was made aware of this book by an individual who was selling material to the NCO clubs while in Germany before the group of men came to Vietnam in 1965. This individual left the army but went to Korea as a civilian to continue dealing with these men in Vietnam while he was in Korea. I cannot, nor will I relate here, who this individual is, but to this date, he is very well off, even wears a gold Rolex.

The book, The Khaki Mafia, parallels the incidents which actually happened. As one reads the book, the NCOs that are described, completely become a reality. It is upsetting to know that the corruption existed so blatantly in our division. And to know that fellow soldiers that went to clubs had to deal with these men.
Submitted 6/23/04

THE FACES BEHIND THE NAMES, by Don Ward
The Memorial Press, ISBN 0-9654964-0-6

Submitted by: Ronald W. Mackedanz
This is a book of remembrances and tribute to Minnesotans who died in the Vietnam Conflict.
This book was given to me by my good friend, John Longman (also a Nam Vet.) My cousin, Lyle Everett Mackedanz, MIA 21 Apr. 68 is listed on page 251. A high school classmate of mine. Donald Dale Maki is on page 254. Donnie was severely burned in an explosion, on 10 Oct. 67, while serving as aviation ordinance man on the USS Coral Sea, off the coast of Vietnam. He died on 7 Dec. 67 as a result of his injuries.
Submitted 4/26/03

NO ONES EVER CRIED FOR ME, by Dave Roever
Roever Communications, Fort Worth, Texas, Date Published: 1992 ISBN: 09648811

Submitted by: Ronald W. Mackedanz
After returning from Vietnam and recovering from his wounds, Dave Roever dedicated his life to helping people throughout the world. With his evangelism, he has returned to Vietnam many times to help orphaned children. These two books by Dave Roever are well worth the time to Vietnam he comes back to us with a very positive message.
Submitted 4/26/03

LEST WE FORGET, by William G. Meacham
Ivy Books/Random House, ISBN 0-8041-1917-1

About the 101st Avaiation Battalion, 1968
This is about the air assault operations near the A Shau Valley during 1968. The main reason that I read this book is that my cousin, Lyle Mackedanz, who was shot down on 21 Apr. 68, is mentioned in this book (see page 114). He was listed as MIA but there is evidence that he was held for a time in a Viet Cong prison camp. No word of him has ever been released.
Submitted 4/26/03

HOUSE TO HOUSE: Playing the Enemy's Game in Saigon, May 1968 , by Keith Nolan, March 2006, Zenith Press,
ISBN 978-0760323304

Keith Nolans research, his comprehension of the political as well as the military actions, his careful concern for those who were there, and most of all, his writing, are superb. Stephen AmbroseDuring the first days of May, 1968, several regiments of Viet Cong fighters quietly infiltrated the South Vietnamese capital city Saigon.With no chance of actually capturing the city, it was a suicide mission aimed at the already-battered hearts and minds of the American people whod been rocked by the Tet Offensive just three months earlier.The story of what followeda week-long battle in which the 9th Infantry Division drove the Viet Cong out of the capitalis told in all its gritty and gut-wrenching detail in House to House. Keith Nolan chronicles one of the most brutal engagements of the entire warthe U.S. Armys only house-to-house battle of Vietnamand reveals the hard-won lessons of Saigon, with their echoes resounding in the streets of Baghdad today.

Back from War: A Quest for Life After Death, by Lee Alley and Wade Stevenson, June 2006, Exceptional Press, ISBN 0976732939

The book offers a first-hand account from Lee Alley and his men about the war and how it has affected them since. 1st Lt. Lee Alley was company commander of Company C, 5/60th Infantry, 9th Division during the battle of fire base Jaeger and in Tet 1968.