“Forty years after leaving Vietnam, I found a box of letters I had written to my parents from Vietnam. Suddenly, I was interested in telling the stories I never told - the stories never told in the letters or otherwise - and started writing. On the 57th anniversary of the start of my tour in Vietnam, March 11, 1968, my book was published.”
This is a memoir of my tour of duty in Vietnam in 1968, a true account of a 19-year-old's journey from a quiet civilian life in Connecticut to an Army infantryman in Vietnam, first as a private and a point man, later as platoon sergeant. I describe the many face-to-face encounters I had with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army--experiences that required me to remain calm and focused--the hardships I encountered and friendships I developed along the way.
I was assigned to the U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division ("Tropic Lightning"), 9th Infantry Regiment, Fourth Battalion ("Manchus"). The Manchus operated primarily between Saigon and the Cambodian border, a key entry point into South Vietnam for North Vietnamese troops and supply caravans traveling along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. I used the letters I wrote to my parents during my tour of duty to frame my memoir, but my letters purposely omitted the details of the war I was experiencing. My letters were meant to calm my parents’ fears, as I didn't want them to worry. Years later, I discovered a box full of these letters in my parents' attic, the memories came flooding back, and I started to write. These are the stories I left out of my letters--the stories I did not tell.
Vietnam Stories I Never Told is available on Amazon