The Boys of '67: Charlie Company's War in Vietnam (General Military)

The Boys of '67: Charlie Company's War in Vietnam (General Military)

by Andrew Wiest (Author), Andrew Wiest & (Author)

Synopsis

compelling... a fine blend of military and social history, sympathetic, well-written but analytically rigorous' (Professor Gary Sheffield, BBC History Magazine Best Books of the Year 2012) In the spring of 1966, while the war in Vietnam was still popular, the US military decided to reactivate the 9th Infantry Division as part of the military build-up. Across the nation, farm boys from the Midwest, surfers from California and city-slickers from Cleveland opened their mail to find greetings from Uncle Sam. Most American soldiers of the Vietnam era trickled into the war zone as individual replacements for men who had become casualties or had rotated home. Charlie Company was different as part of the only division raised, drafted and trained for service. From draft to the battlefields of South Vietnam, this is the unvarnished truth from the fear of death to the chaos of battle, told almost entirely through the recollections of the men themselves. This is their story, the story of young draftees who had done everything that their nation had asked of them and had received so little in return - lost faces of a distant war.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 376
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Published: 20 Sep 2012

ISBN 10: 1780962029
ISBN 13: 9781780962023
Book Overview: Following on from the stunning success of the novel 'Matterhorn' as well as Osprey's own 'Tonight We Die as Men', this book follows the trials and tribulations of a group of Vietnam draftees from basic training to the rice paddies of Vietnam.

Media Reviews
Wiest's use of personal interviews and letters home put a personal touch on the book. I felt a growing sense of attachment to the men of Charlie Company as the book progressed, felt a sense of their heartache when their brothers died, and I sympathized for many of them who struggled with PTSD following the war. Wiest addresses the ugliness and humanity of war, but also the loving bonds that are created between men who experience war together and the indelible marks it leaves on their minds. Abigail Pfeiffer, Armchair General The Boys of 67 is an exceptionally well researched and well told story of an exceptional US Army infantry company in Vietnam. Andrew Wiest sheds light and understanding on the human and psychological dimension of war and the aftermath of war. It is a story of courage, comradeship, tribulation, suffering, and perseverance. Brigadier General H. R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty Thoughtful and richly detailed, this outstanding account of the early phase of the War in Vietnam takes us into the forbidding Mekong River Delta with the men of Charlie Company, to witness their harrowing firefights and their fleeting victories, to appreciate the singular combat experience haunting their dreams and those of their country. Hugh Ambrose, Author of The Pacific This is a story of men at war in the tradition of A Band of Brothers. It is a remarkable book written by a master storyteller and meticulous historian. I cannot recommend it strongly enough, particularly for fellow Vietnam veterans and their families, military historians, and anyone interested in what American soldiers went through in the Vietnam War. James H. Willbanks, PhD, is a Vietnam veteran and author of Abandoning Vietnam and The Battle of An Loc The Boys of '67 follows a single infantry company in a single year of the Vietnam War . It ia a story of men who routinely put their lives into each others' hands. It is a story of fear and heroism; of waste, confusion, boredom--and their impact on those who return home. Wiest's empathy and perception make the book as emotionally compelling as it is intellectually penetrating, impossible to read with a detached mind or dry eyes. Dennis Showalter, author of Hitler's Panzers In the final analysis, this book is a superb story of a US Army company in combat... The Boys of '67 is simply a story about war, the things men do in war and the things war does to them. The saga of the American soldier remains an important story that deserves to be told. Readers are in Wiest's debt for making Charlie Company's story accessible to the American public. Col. Cole C. Kingseed, USA Ret. A powerful account of conflict, Andy Wiest's The Boys of '67 provides what is all-too-rare, a 'face of battle' account that is at once scholarly and well-written, perceptive and engaging. Jeremy Black, author of War since 1945 ...this book is a superb story of a US Army company in combat ... The Boys of '67 is simply a story about war, the things men do in war and the things war does to them. The saga of the American soldier remains an imoprtant story that deserves to be told. Readers are in Wiest's debt for making Charlie Company's story accessible to the American public. ARMY Magazine (May 2013) Vietnam has been the subject of countless books: this is one of the best. Exhaustively researched and expertly written, it allows us a glimpse of the intense bonds of comradeship forged by soldiers in the white heat of combat. Saul David, BBC History Magazine (January 2013) This is a compelling and intimate look at one unit's wartime experience, filled with loss, excitement, humor, and pain that readers of wartime memoirs will especially want to share. Library Journal (October 15, 2012) This intimate, hardback book is illustrated with 25 color and 10 black and white illustrations. Its publication coincides with the 45th anniversary of Charlie Company's tour of duty in Vietnam. The Boys of '67 delivers the unvarnished truth about the men's experiences from the chaos of combat to the challenges they have faced reintegrating into society. Toy Soldier & Model Figure (January 2013) This book is a superb story of a U.S. Army company in combat. As with Marine Lt. Phil Caputo's memoir, A Rumor of War, The Boys of '67 is simply a story about war, the things men do in war and the things war does to them. The saga of the American soldier remains an important story that deserves to be told. Readers are in Wiest's dept for making Charlie Company's story accessible to the American Public. COL Cole C. Kingseed, Army Magazine I recommend this book to any person who served, or who knows someone that did serve in Viet Nam, or to anyone who wants to know what it is like to be in a combat zone during a firefight in the Viet Nam war. This book is not for the feint of heart, as it contains some rather graphic descriptions of wounds and casualties, and is heart-wrenching in its story that will affect the young and the old. Richard Mataka, www.mataka.org (June 2013) ...Wiest concentrates on the human side of the conflict ... [he] spent three years interviewing sixty-one officers and men of Charlie Company, 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry. He tells their stories well and emphatically... Marc Leepson, Vietnam Veterans of America (September/October 2012) ...a powerful Vietnam testimony that's a 'must' for any military collection! James A. Cox, The Midwest Book Review
Author Bio
Andrew Wiest, Ph.D. is Professor of History at the University of Southern Mississippi. Also the founding director of the Center for the Study of War and Society, Wiest was born in Chicago, but raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. After attending the University of Southern Mississippi for his undergraduate and Master's degrees, Dr. Wiest went on to receive his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Chicago in 1990. Specializing in the study of World War I and Vietnam, Dr. Wiest has served as a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst in the United Kingdom and as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Warfighting Strategy in the United States Air Force Air War College. Since 1992 Dr. Wiest has been active in international education, leading a study abroad program on World War II to London and Normandy each summer, and developing the award-winning Vietnam Study Abroad Program. Dr. Wiest has published 14 books on various topics in the field of Military History, including Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN (New York University Press), which won the Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Award; America and the Vietnam War (Routledge Press); Rolling Thunder in a Gentle Land (Osprey Press); and Passchendaele and the Royal Navy (Greenwood Press). Additionally Dr. Wiest has appeared in and consulted on several historical documentaries for the History Channel, Granada Television, PBS, the BBC, and for Lucasfilm. Dr. Wiest lives in Hattiesburg with his wife Jill and their three children Abigail, Luke and Wyatt.