Vietnam, An Epic Tragedy

by Max Hastings

  ‘Wastefully, expensively’ Pentagon Papers New York Times edition p.558

  ‘the Americans fight’ Elliott, David P. & Mai Platoon of the 514th Battalion RAND Corporation 1969 available online p.1030

  ‘Current strategy’ USAHEC Wheeler Papers Box 2

  ‘differing opinions’ Tuan Vol. III p.287

  ‘Aside from the’ ibid. p.282

  ‘concentration of maximum’ ibid. p.284

  ‘Our government has’ USAHEC Wheeler Papers Box 2

  ‘Then the Vietnamese explained’ Palmer p.57

  ‘It … became perfectly clear’ ibid. p.74

  ‘On the main street’ West p.25

  ‘If ever there was’ AI Boomer 2.3.16

  ‘you can get into’ McNamara to Sissons 23.3.67

  ‘We were looking’ AI Boomer 2.3.16

  ‘As for rations’ Finlayson, Andrew Killer Kane McFarland North Carolina 2013 p.114

  ‘underpants bred crotch’ AI Williams 16.9.16

  ‘Everything rotted’ Caputo p.247

  ‘No single piece’ USAHEC Vietnam War Documents Box 2 Folder 15

  ‘The best way to get’ Finlayson Rice Paddy Recon p.115

  ‘In Judde Kinne’s platoon’ AI Kinne 2.10.16

  ‘Reg Edwards became’ Terry p.7

  ‘If you weren’t humping’ O’Brien, Tim The Things They Carried Flamingo 1990 p.33

  ‘creates emotional pressures’ Caputo p.315

  ‘Concussed, he recalled’ AI Shyab 11.11.16

  ‘You cryin’ cause’ Terry p.41

  ‘Feeling sorry’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 6 File 4

  ‘His nose is’ An memoir p.49

  ‘Australian animal-lovers’ O’Brien, Michael Conscripts and Regulars: With the Seventh Battalion in Vietnam Allen & Unwin 1995 p.39

  ‘so they knew’ AI Thorne 7.2.16

  ‘keeping my men’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 18 Folder 10

  ‘Yea, though I’ Del Vecchio p.503

  ‘he never forgot’ AI Sutton 12.11.16

  ‘As tired and bored’ USMCA Hardwick MS A/30/J/5/1

  ‘We felt pretty’ AI Rogers 6.3.16

  ‘Simply by speaking’ Caputo p.13

  ‘The only blood pools’ Finlayson Killer Kane p.185

  ‘Poor fire discipline’ USMCA Hardwick MS A/30/J/5/1

  ‘In one case’ USMCA Tenney MS A/25/B/5/1

  ‘in one that lasted’ Caputo p.243 patrol in Sept.1965

  ‘and I swear’ Santoli p.190

  ‘who just didn’t’ AI Shyab 11.11.16

  ‘went into shock’ ibid.

  ‘the emotional attraction’ USAHEC Company Commanders’ Oral Histories Box 18 Folder 2

  ‘part of that was’ Nolan Bastards p.53

  ‘They carried too many’ AI Pham Phu Bang 7.10.16

  ‘Soon all of us’ Finlayson Killer Kane p.134

  ‘Just a few years’ McNamara letter to Sissons 23.3.67

  ‘really proud’ AI Graham 6.3.16

  ‘Please, God’ Whitt, Jacqueline E. Bringing God to Men: American Military Chaplains and the Vietnam War University of North Carolina Press 2014 p.171

  ‘They brewed instant’ Del Vecchio p.199

  ‘He soaked up’ Finlayson Killer Kane p.197

  ‘when I couldn’t find’ Terry p.30

  ‘For many soldiers’ Del Vecchio p.106

  ‘The average age’ O’Brien, Tim Things p.35

  ‘I always stayed’ Nolan Sappers p.93

  ‘Too many men’ USMCA Tenney MS A/25/B/5/1

  ‘Wayne Miller sometimes’ AI Miller 13.11.16

  ‘In October 1962’ Chivers p.272 et seq. The following account derives chiefly from Chivers

  ‘He admitted some’ ibid. p.290

  ‘The gun’s historian’ ibid. p.316

  ‘Some men wrote’ AI Spencer 12.2.16

  ‘Capt. Gerry Turley’ AI Turley 2.3.16

  ‘Walt Boomer said’ AI Boomer 2.3.16

  ‘Likewise, Judd Kinne’ AI Kinne 2.10.16

  ‘Enthusiasm for the rival’ Luan p.267

  ‘Sir, what exactly’ AI Graham 6.3.16

  ‘Stop griping’ Philadelphia Inquirer 17.9.67

  ‘Between the VC/NVA and myself’ McNamara to Sissons 23.3.67

  ‘I was confused then’ AI Graham 6.3.16

  ‘Slowly and almost disbelievingly’ AI Bang 7.10.16

  ‘they killed more than 250’ Luan p.362

  Chapter 17 – Our Guys, Their Guys: The Vietnamese War

  ‘As we passed’ Ramsey MS p.I A 40

  ‘We learned to run’ AI Khiem 13.9.16

  ‘I was successful’ AI Nguu 20.9.16

  ‘A fellow-driver said’ AI Johnny Underwood 11.10.16

  ‘The scene that presented’ Tang p.110

  ‘a man who afterwards’ ibid. p.101

  ‘even after Tang was’ ibid. p.261

  ‘Our line of march’ Ramsey MS IV F10

  ‘The peasants want nothing’ Wyndham MS p.17

  ‘Creighton Abrams characterised’ Abrams Tapes 23.8.69 p.252

  ‘earthly hell’ West p.52

  ‘A soldier of the NVA’s’ Than p.124

  ‘At each end’ Finlayson Killer Kane p.140

  ‘The best of the VC’ Ramsey MS IV A65

  ‘There were truly’ ibid. IV B14

  ‘Thoi ke me no?’ Elliott Mekong Delta Vol. II p.868

  ‘Why do they’ Dang Thuy Tram Last Night I Dreamed of Peace Harmony 2007 20.8.68 p.46

  ‘One comrade falls’ ibid. 22.4.68 p.12 & 31.5.68 p.23

  ‘My heart has banished’ ibid. 11.10.68 p.59

  ‘Could anything make’ ibid. 20.10.68 p.61

  ‘Pledge Resolutely’ ibid. 19.3.69 p.101

  ‘North Vietnam’s leaders’ Langguth, A.J. Our Vietnam Simon & Schuster 2000 p.668

  ‘With regard to Vietnam’ quoted Lind p.178

  ‘after just a few puffs’ Bao Ninh The Sorrow of War Vintage 1998 p.9

  ‘Politics continuous’ ibid. p.5

  ‘the Ernest Hemingway’ AI Bang 7.10.16

  ‘Once as we marched’ An memoir p.62

  ‘But, oh God’ Ninh p.5

  ‘But when you had’ AI Pham Phu Bang 7.10.16

  ‘One day in 1967’ Nguyen Van Tanh cited in Luan p.308

  ‘Every night, hundreds’ An memoir p.95

  ‘Quite often rain’ AI Bang 7.10.16

  ‘Perhaps nothing is sadder’ Tram 27.4.69 p.111

  ‘We trudge up’ ibid. p.112

  ‘The first sign’ Tang p.128

  ‘like hunted animals’ ibid. p.157

  ‘a rubbery substance’ ibid. p.159

  ‘The concussive whump’ ibid. pp.167 & 168 & 177

  ‘the enemy apparently’ Howse, Hamilton Vietnam: An Epilogue Association of the US Army July 1975 pp.1–2

  ‘If you compared’ AI Ramsey 22.9.16

  ‘The Vietcong asserted’ Tran Bach Dang, Tet offensive review conference Military History Issue 2 1988 p.59

  ‘I was awed’ AI Hoi 18.9.16

  ‘I knew how cunning’ ibid. 17.9.16

  ‘No, cannot do’ Bonville p.336

  ‘Of course it was’ AI Sutton 12.11.16

  ‘homesickness, unwillingness’ Sorley, Lewis ed. The Vietnam War: An Assessment by South Vietnam’s Generals Texas Tech 2010 p.32

  ‘I never thought about’ AI Si 21.5.16

  ‘How can we fight?’ Sorley Vietnam’s Generals p.53

  ‘I saw infantry school’ Dong Van Khuyen ibid. p.61

  ‘More than a few American’ Tang p.160

  ‘was appalled to see’ AI Breen 7.3.16

  ‘Thus, according to’ Young p.30

  ‘When you listen’ West p.37

  ‘We are not defeated’ Tram 24.7.69

  Chapter 18 – Tet

  ‘Talks will begin’ Truong Cong Dong quoted Gaiduk p.142

  ‘If you wanted’ MP interview Tran Tong Trung

  ‘glory will smi
le’ Elliott Mekong Delta Vol. II p.1083

  ‘Giap’s associates carried’ Huy Duc p.156

  ‘He acquiesced’ ibid. p.159

  ‘Tet General Offensive’ Pribbenow, Merle ‘General Vo Nguyen Giap and the Mysterious Evolution of the Plan for the 1968 Tet Offensive’ Journal of Vietnamese Studies Vol. III Issue 2 2008 pp.1–33

  ‘produced a brilliantly’ see Wirtz passim

  ‘campaign to kill’ Tong Ho Trinh The 1968 Tet Offensive in the Tri-Thien-Hue Theatre Ministry of Defence Hanoi 1986 (trans. Bob Destatte & Merle Pribbenow for US Army Center for Military History) p.21

  ‘The word is out’ Wirtz p.183

  ‘They appeared fresh’ Ramsey MS IV F9

  ‘This is Khe Sanh’ USMCA Fulkerson MS A/30/7/5/1

  ‘raw as a wound’ West p.56

  ‘Receiving no reply’ Huy p.57

  ‘The two NVA divisions’ this account is partially based on Nguyen Huy Toan & Pham Quang Dinh The 304th Division Vol. II Chapter 2 People’s Army Publishing House Hanoi 1990

  ‘to generate enough’ Wirtz p.81

  ‘The probability of’ Hoang Ngoc Lung pp.354–5

  ‘A7 to A404: D-Day’ Dang, Tran Bach Life and Memories Tre Publishing House Ho Chi Minh City 2006 p.158

  ‘They were astonished’ ibid. p.158

  ‘No one could understand’ Than p.130

  ‘The situation is extremely critical’ ibid. p.131

  ‘Resolution! Attack!’ Dang memoir p.165

  ‘Tet operations, said’ Gen. Tran Do, 1968 Tet offensive review conference Military History Issue 2 1988 p.56

  ‘Mount a general offensive’ Gen. Tran Van Quang ‘Hue: 25 Days and Nights’ address to Hanoi anniversary conference, reported Military History Issue 2 Hanoi 1988 p.26

  ‘On the afternoon’ this account is based on VC cadre Tong Ho Trinh p.30

  ‘I’m going to bed’ USAHEC Vietnam Document Collection Box 2 Folder 13

  ‘Charlie came into’ Scotton p.226

  ‘Ngo Thi Bong’ Young pp.35–7

  ‘Twenty-six-year-old’ this account from Wiest, Andrew Vietnam’s Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN NYU 2008 p.101 et seq.

  ‘if we wanted the masses’ Trinh p.67

  ‘We only had to’ Krohn, Charles A. The Lost Battalion of Tet Naval Institute Press 2008 pp.3, 5

  ‘Some four hundred’ ibid. p.66

  ‘We had spoken’ ibid. p.69

  ‘The NVA had better’ ibid. p.51

  ‘You are hot’ AI Harrison 14.3.16

  ‘Are you the long noses’ AI Destatte 12.9.16

  ‘I realized I was’ Nichols & Tillman p.40

  ‘I thought I was living’ AI Wendt 14.11.16

  ‘The morning was’ USAHEC Vietnam War documents Box 3 Folder 5 Speedy narrative

  ‘It was like somebody’s’ Terry p.122

  ‘I suggest you get’ AI Wendt 14.11.16

  ‘How could any’ Braestrup, Peter Big Story: How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 Anchor 1978 p.118

  Chapter 19 – The Giant Reels

  ‘There’s a lot’ AI Tan 21.9.16

  ‘For now, let’s’ Elliott Mekong Delta Vol. II p.1098

  ‘Events during the first’ Than p.133

  ‘I am a student’ AI De 9.7.16

  ‘I knew when I’ Michael O’Brien p.124

  ‘The marathon started’ USAHEC Medical Personnel Oral Histories

  ‘The situation is’ Hammond p.345

  ‘after years of fighting’ New York Times 2.2.68

  ‘This is really a fantastic’ USMCA Chaisson papers

  ‘I was very conscious’ AI Harrington 4.3.16

  ‘Suddenly a lot of them’ AI Harrison 3.3.16

  ‘of that Viet Cong blowing’ Santoli p.185

  ‘In the click of’ Ky p.265

  ‘that group of buzzards’ USMCA Chaisson letter of 2.2.68

  ‘awfully wrong’ Wall Street Journal 6.2.68

  ‘Little Big Horn’ Washington Post 6.2.68

  ‘Westmoreland told the Pentagon’ USAHEC Wheeler Papers Westmoreland MAC 1614 message to Wheeler 4.2.68

  ‘In this time of’ USAHEC Abrams letter copy 23.2.68 Westmoreland Papers

  ‘Some of them did’ USAHEC Weyand Oral Histories interview

  ‘The suburbs are’ Than p.146

  ‘Although I feel’ USAHEC Westmoreland Papers Box 3

  ‘intends to make Khe Sanh’ ibid. MAC 1901

  ‘But then the general’ Westmoreland, William A Soldier Reports p.338

  ‘one man in five’ Rear Services Operations during the Route 9–Khe Sanh Campaign Hanoi 1988 p.281

  ‘The regiment had suffered’ Huy Duc memoir p.62

  ‘One bomb exploded’ ibid. p.74

  ‘jolted like jelly’ USMCA Fulkerson MS A/30/7/5/1

  ‘never believed that’ AI Anthony 13.11.16

  ‘Its morale-boosting’ Toan & Dinh p.115

  ‘including an alleged’ ibid. p.100

  ‘the tall, heavy, slow’ ibid. p.94

  ‘problems … in the thinking’ ibid. p.96

  ‘lack of offensive spirit’ ibid. p.122

  ‘A senior cadre later’ Gen. Tran Van Quang address to Tet anniversary conference, reported Military History Issue 2 Hanoi 1988 p.30 & Hai address to 1986 conference p.24

  ‘Everyone was afraid’ An memoir p.88

  ‘These things were made’ Abrams Tapes 2.1.71 p.516

  ‘An American who’ Bowden, Mark Hue 1968 Grove Atlantic 2017 p.143

  ‘My darling’ ibid. p.353

  ‘Nobody knew what was’ AI Harrington 4.3.16

  ‘The man who lived there’ Young p.39

  ‘Also murdered was’ Oberdorfer, Don Tet! The Turning Point in the Vietnam War Johns Hopkins 2001 p.229

  ‘One can understand’ McNeill, Ian The Team: Australian Advisers in Vietnam Hippocrene 1984 p.152

  ‘They yielded far too’ Hammond p.387

  ‘It is undeniable’ ibid. p.388

  ‘the battlefield had temporarily’ Tuan Vol. IV (1969–72) p.18

  ‘There was no time’ Huynh Cong Than p.157

  ‘We learned that’ MP interview Tran Trong Trung

  ‘A divisional commander said’ Julian Ewell in Abrams Tapes p.208 12.6.69

  ‘Tet clearly changed’ audiotape transcribed in 1986 Hanoi conference proceedings p.47

  ‘Many of our people’ An memoir p.91

  ‘We had made’ USAHEC Weyand Oral Histories

  ‘Look at Khe Sanh’ Abrams Tapes p.33

  ‘After Tet, we felt’ AI Anthony 13.11.16

  ‘smoke was billowing’ Sorley, Lewis ed. A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam Harvest 1999 p.29

  ‘We must decide’ NBC 3.3.68

  ‘The ball game’ Scotton p.226

  ‘At great cost’ AI Scotton 18.9.16

  ‘I’ve seen those’ USAHEC Weyand Oral Histories transcripts

  ‘Just 3 per cent’ Hammond p.372

  ‘Dear Son’ USAHEC Vietnam War Document Collection Box 3 Folder 15

  ‘political cowardice’ Schlesinger Journals 3.4.68 p.286

  ‘an atrocious marriage’ ibid.11.11.71 p.144

  ‘To me it seems obvious’ Berman Tragedy p.153

  ‘It was a brilliant political’ Charlton & Moncrieff p.121

  ‘no other evaluation’ Tran Bach Dang address to anniversary conference, reported in Military History Issue 2 Hanoi 1988 p.58

  Chapter 20 – Continuous Replay

  ‘“Rest in peace’ Than p.136

  ‘bring the flames’ ibid. p.137

  ‘We went into the’ ibid. p.139

  ‘we recognised that’ ibid. pp.141–2

  ‘[People] argued that’ Luan p.328

  ‘a magnificently organized’ Haponski, William An Idea, and Bullets Combatant Books 2016 p.330

  ‘It’s kind of a sad thing’ Abrams Tapes 6.7.68 pp.15 & 17

>   ‘You find yourself’ AI Anthony 13.11.16

  ‘Sometimes you’d hit’ AI Stevens 9.11.16

  ‘The unit had its share’ the account that follows derives from author interviews with participants Brig. Gen. Bill Weise, Maj. Gen. James Livingston & Col. Jim Williams; Keith Nolan’s 1994 book The Magnificent Bastards; a 2014 US Marine Corps documentary film narrative of the battle; USMC records of the 1st Amtrak Battalion PR/F/4/2; and Vietnamese histories as detailed below

  ‘we were just’ Nolan Magnificent Bastards p.11

  ‘You can maybe find’ AI Williams 16.9.16

  ‘There were so many things’ AI Weise 5.3.16

  ‘All you Marines’ AI Williams 16.9.16

  ‘On the night of’ Nolan Magnificent Bastards p.12 et seq.

  ‘We were worn out’ ibid.

  ‘This proved a bad’ ibid. p.16

  ‘It was without doubt’ ibid. p.21

  ‘They completed digging’ Battles of Vietnamese Artillery during the War of Liberation Vol. II Hanoi 1990 p.8 et seq.

  ‘Shoot one of them’ Nolan Bastards p.42

  ‘Wounded Marines’ ibid. p.59

  ‘We were so close’ Livingston, James E. with Colin D. Heaton & Anne-Marie Lewis Noble Warrior Zenith Press 2010 p.47

  ‘No goddamn sailor’ AI Williams 16.9.16

  ‘they had a good’ Nolan Bastards p.87

  ‘Bravo had been suffering’ ibid. p.80

  ‘Everybody just freaked’ ibid. p.82

  ‘Somebody went and’ ibid. p.84

  ‘at this stage’ History of the 320th Lowland Division Hanoi 1984 p.75 et seq.

  ‘We’re in a world’ Nolan Bastards p.77

  ‘Bill Weise was’ ibid. p.133

  ‘The troops were on’ ibid. p.92

  ‘There was a lot’ ibid. p.104

  ‘The NVA triumphantly’ History of the 320th Division p.76

  ‘I had a very’ AI Livingston 3.3.16

  ‘We blamed’ Nolan Bastards p.146

  ‘Those kids … had’ ibid. p.136

  ‘The day was still’ ibid. p.169

  ‘I bled pretty good’ AI Livingston 3.3.16

  ‘They destroyed us’ Nolan Bastards p.195

  ‘We too had suffered’ Battles of the Vietnamese Artillery Vol. II p.16

  ‘They wouldn’t give up’ AI Livingston 3.3.16

  ‘The entire US battalion’ History of the 320th Division p.81

  ‘In a single afternoon’ ibid. p.84

  ‘It was absolutely’ Nolan Bastards p.305

  ‘I don’t believe’ AI Weise 5.3.16

  ‘I wonder if’ Abrams Tapes 2.8.69 p.238

  ‘After three very’ USMCA 1st Amtrak Battalion PR/F/4/2

  ‘I kind of believe’ AI Weise 5.3.16