CHICKENHAWK by Robert Mason (hier online bestellen)
The story:
Author's Note
This is a personal narrative of what I saw in Vietnam and how it affected me. The
events all happened; the chronology and geography are correct to the best of my
knowledge. The names of the characters, other than the names that are famous, and
unimportant characteristics of all the persons in the book have been changed so that
they bear no resemblance to any of the actual people in order to preserve their
privacy and anonymity.
I'd like to put in an apology to the grunts, if they resent that term, because I have
nothing but respect for them and the conditions under which they served.
I hope that these recollections of my experiences will encourage other veterans to
talk. I think it is impossible to know too much about the Vietnam era and its effects
on individuals and society.
Instead of dwelling on the political aspects of the war, I have concentrated on the
actual condition of being a helicopter pilot in Vietnam in 1965-66. The events, I
hope, will speak for themselves.
I want to thank Martin Cruz Smith, Knox Burger, Gerald Howard, Constance
Cincotti, Jack and Betty Mason, Gerald Towler, Bruce and Susan Doyle, and Jim and
Eileen Helms for their generous aid and encouragement.
I am particularly indebted to my wife, Patience, for her unflagging support in
difficult times, both in the writing of the book and in the life that it's about.
Extract from book:
Some of the pilots had been to Vietnam. They told us that you could get a stereo in
Saigon for about a third of what it cost in the States. That's what I knew of Vietnam:
It was a good place to buy stereo equipment. Many of those pilots had flown in
support of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in a nine-to-five war
whose objective was to gain control of the South Vietnamese in the face of Ho Chi
Minh's popularity. The Vietnamese Communists in the South-the Vietcong, or VC, as
they were called-hadn't stopped fighting since President Diem had refused to hold the
scheduled free elections in 1956. I didn't know these facts then, but I did know that
these pilots talked of the ARVNs as reluctant warriors in an American operation.
They had used helicopters to lift the ARVNs to battles they almost always lost.
Meanwhile, the VC continued to gain strength.
Three weeks after arriving, I received orders to report to Fort Benning, Georgia.
The orders were not accompanied by explanations.
"What the fuck is at Fort Benning?" I asked a friend who had received the same
orders.
"I hear they're forming up a big, new division. Probably we're going to Vietnam."
"Huh?"
About the author:
Buchdaten:
CHICKENHAWK by Robert Mason
Broschiert - 476 Seiten - Penguin Books
Erscheinungsdatum: September 1984
Auflage: Reprint
ISBN: 0140072187
Preis: € 12,50
More works from the same author:
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