Shelby L. Stanton. The Rise and Fall of an American Army: U.S. Ground Forces in Vietnam, 1965-1973. Noyato, California: Presidio Press, 1985.
Scott C. S. Stone and John E. McGowan. Wrapped in the Wind’s Shawl: Refugees of Southeast Asia and the Western World. San Rafael, California: Presidio Press, 1980.
Harry G. Summers, Jr. On Strategy: A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War. Novato, California: Presidio Press, 1982.
Harry G. Summers, Jr. Vietnam War Almanac. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1985.
Molyda Szymusiak. The Stones Cry Out: A Cambodian Childhood, 1975-1980. (Translated by Linda Coverdale.) New York: Hill and Wang, 1986.
Thomas Taylor. Where the Orange Blooms: One Man’s War and Escape from Vietnam. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989.
Teeda Butt Mam and Joan D. Criddle. To Destroy You Is No Loss: The Odyssey of a Cambodian Family. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1987.
Torture in the Eighties. London, England: Amnesty International Publications, 1984.
Truong Nhu Tang, with David Chanoff and Doan Van Toai. A Vietcong Memoir: An Inside Account of the Vietnam War and Its Aftermath. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985.
The Vietnam Experience. (A 20-volume series.) Boston: Boston Publishing Company, 1981-1986.
Vo Nguyen Giap. People’s War, People’s Army: The Viet Cong Insurrection Manual For Underdeveloped Countries. New York: Bantam Books, 1962.
F. J. West, Jr. The Village. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
Donald P. Whitaker et al. Area Handbook for the Khmer Republic (Cambodia). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1973. (DA Pam 550-50.)
Herman Wouk. War and Remembrance. New York: Pocket Books, 1978.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THIS BOOK WAS ORIGINALLY intended as a story about American veterans of the Viet Nam War which would also include segments on Viet Namese and Cambodian soldiers and their families. The Cambodian section took on a life of its own about three years into the writing. I would like to thank all those many people who assisted me in reaching an understanding of the American experience. The original story has not been abandoned—only temporarily put on hold.
In addition I would like to thank Sisomouth Bilavarn, F. C. Brown, Jim Catlin, David Chandler, Ronald E. Cowart, Sam Deibbler, Frank Del Vecchio, Ahmed Delvean, the Venerable Maha Gosshananda, Harry Hayes, Thanvy Kouk, Mike Kukler, Ben Cai Lam, Bill Laurie, Ned Leavitt, Marcus Leddy, Bob Ledlelaytner, Ron Mullins, Ven Nguyen, Doug Peacock, Bob Platte, Elena Rusnak, Ed Ruminski, Al Santoli, Mary Scully, Teddy Shpak, Mel Simensky, Shelby Stanton, and Tom Taylor.
I would also like to thank F. X. and Rebecca Anne Flinn for their inspiration.
And a very special acknowledgment to Jeremiah who was there every day, through every word of every rewrite, until the very last.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John M. Del Vecchio was drafted in 1969 shortly after graduating from Lafayette College with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and a minor emphasis in Civil Engineering. In 1970 he volunteered for Viet Nam where he served as a combat correspondent for the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile); in 1971 he was awarded a Bronze Star for Heroism in Ground Combat.
Del Vecchio is the author of The 13th Valley, For the Sake of All Living Things, Carry Me Home, and Darkness Falls, along with numerous articles and papers including the widely quoted “The Importance of Story,” the forward for Wounds of War, and the afterword for Code Word: Geronimo. His books have been translated into four languages and published worldwide. He has lectured extensively on the history of the Viet Nam War in the U.S. and the United Kingdom, and has appeared on FOX News as a military/political commentator.
Del Vecchio is currently working on screenplays based on his novels, a book about resilience in the fourth quarter of life tentatively titled Exit Strategies, and an expose on the financial crisis from a street-level perspective tentatively titled From the Bottom Looking Up.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook onscreen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint from previously published material:
While Six Million Died: A Chronicle of American Apathy by Arthur D. Morse. Copyright © 1967, 1968 by Arthur D. Morse. First published in 1983 by The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. www.overlookpress.com
The Prestige Press and the Christmas Bombing by Martin Herz, copyright 1980 by Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, D.C.
Cambodia: Starvation and Revolution by Gareth Porter and George C. Hildebrand, copyright © 1976 by George Hildebrand and Gareth Porter, reprinted by permission of Monthly Review Foundation, New York, NY.
Copyright © 1990 by John M. Del Vecchio
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