Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was raised by a Navy brat, and had been around the military long enough to know that some of the soldiers were not the sharpest knives in the drawer. I was not officially in the military yet, but I had raised my right hand and taken the oath of allegiance. #2 At Fort Polk, the army processed us quickly. We were given haircuts, uniforms, and immunizations. The whole process took about thirty minutes. #3 The Army trained us to climb onto the back of trucks and move to our training company. We were then instructed to line up and do pushups, with our duffel bags in front of us. Some trainees didn’t understand and moved too slow for the drill sergeant. #4 The exercise and tirade went on for an hour. We were all smoked by the end of the ordeal. We were told to pick up the contents of our duffel bags, which had been dumped on the ground for contraband inspection. Three other drill sergeants came into the barracks.

Undaunted Valor recounts the battle that took place on Firebases 5 and 6 in Dak To that resulted in two men receiving the Medal of Honor.

In the spring of 1972, North Vietnam launched a massive military offensive designed to deliver the coup de grace to South Vietnam and its rapidly disengaging American ally. But an overconfident Hanoi misjudged its opponents who, led by American military advisers and backed by American airpower, were able to hold off the North's onslaught in what became the biggest battle of a very long war. Dale Andrade rescues this epic engagement from its previous neglect to tell a riveting tale of heroism against great odds. Originally published in cloth in 1995 as Trial by Fire and drawing upon recent Vietnamese-language sources, this new paperback edition will finally allow a true classic on the war to reach the wide readership it deserves.

A biography of a British World War II secret agent who escaped the Buchenwald concentration camp. One of the most determined and courageous secret agents of the Second World War, Harry Peulevé joined the BEF in 1940 before volunteering for F Section of the Special Operations Executive. On his first mission to occupied France to set up the SCIENTIST circuit, he broke his leg on landing and, after numerous close calls, made a heroic crossing of the Pyrenees on sticks in December, 1942. Imprisoned, he escaped and eventually returned to England in May, 1943. He formed a close friendship with Violette Szabo before setting out to train a Maquis group in central France. Despite the Gestapo’s repeated attempts to catch him, he built a secret army of several thousand resistance fighters. Eventually betrayed and captured, he was tortured at Avenue Foch but never broken. By coincidence, he and Violette met while in captivity before Harry was sent to Buchenwald where he not only avoided execution but also managed to escape, reaching American lines in April, 1945. Sadly, Peulevé never fully recovered from his wartime traumas, but nothing can detract from his outstanding courage and contribution.

A member of Light Attack Squadron 212 s "Rampant Raiders," A-4 pilot Stephen R. Gray writes about his experiences flying combat sorties from the deck of an aircraft carrier during one of the most intense periods of aerial combat in U.S. history. From the perspective of a junior naval aviator, Gray reveals the lessons he learned first at the Naval Aviation Training Command and then in actual combat flying the Skyhawk from USS Bon Homme Richard in Vietnam. Training strengthens commitment, Gray points out, allowing ordinary men like him to fly dangerous missions. Readers will discover how circumstances created heroe--heroes who managed to overcome their personal fears for a greater cause--and how, despite the lack of public support for the war, the men remained committed to one another. The book addresses how men react to service during contentious political times to offer lessons relevant today.

For many years, the eastern part of the Laotian panhandle was used by North Vietnam as a corridor for the infiltration of personnel and war materiels into South Vietnam and Cambodia. In addition to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the eastern panhandle contained many logistic installations and base areas. To disrupt the flow of enemy personnel and supplies into South Vietnam, a ground attack was launched across the Laotian border against this enemy hub of activity on 8 February 1971. Operation LAM SON 719 was conducted by I Corps with substantial U.S. support in firepower and helilift but without the participation of U.S. advisers with those ARVN units fighting in Laos. As a test of Vietnamization, this operation was to demonstrate also the progress achieved in combat effectiveness by the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces. The author, a General office in the Republic of Vietnam Army presents a critical analysis of all aspects of LAM SON 719 from the planning stage to the withdrawal from lower Laos.

Nobody completely escapes the effects of Viet Nam?ǪThere was more than one enemy in Viet Nam. There was Charlie, who wanted to punch your helicopter full of holes with his AK-47 and bring you and the aircraft crashing down to the ground, down to your death. There was your own malfunctioning equipment, like the faulty flare that went off inside your helicopter, knocking you out and almost sending your whole aircraft and its crew to a fiery death.EMPTY TUBES AND BACK SEAT MEMORIES is the fascinating and true tale of Russ Warriners year and a half tour in Viet Nam serving as Crew Chief and Door Gunner on an M3 Rocket System equiped Huey in the U.S. Army Aerial Rocket Artillery (ARA).It is a fascinating chronicle of the day by day activity of a young soldier who comes from a conventional life in a small town in Massachusetts, but who wants to serve his country and ends up doing so and being awarded a Purple Heart, more than a dozen Air Medals, and three Army Commendation medals for his heroism in battle.It is a story of unconventional life in a controversial war.As Russ Warriner says: The permanent physical injuries from this war will always be apparent, but Russ shows us in his vivid narrative way the mental injuries can go unnoticed for years. These injuries are better know as PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).