Vietnam War Biography

Curt Stocker began smoking pot in October of 1966, more than a year before he went to Vietnam. In fact, the rumor about the incredible superiority of Vietnamese pot was the only positive aspect about his pending tour. Upon being drafted in 1967, Curt enlisted for an extra year, in order to secure a position in Armed Forces Radio. The plan was to further his broadcasting career, while guaranteeing that he would never be in the infantry.

“A delightful and entertaining book about one of America’s greatest humorists.”—Seth Meyers This “absorbing, illuminating” (Jon Meacham) biography of the legendary political humorist reveals the life behind his must-read Washington Post columns, featuring never-before-published...

For fans of Unbroken and Hacksaw Ridge comes the powerful true story of a Medal of Honor recipient who faced more than his fair share of battles—and overcame them through perseverance and faith. “What Gary Beikirch did to receive his medal is unforgettable—and the story of what he...

An inspiring and astounding look at the extraordinary courage and contribution of Australian nurses and medics during the Vietnam War. From the best-selling author of Bush Nurses and Nurses of the Outback comes this collection of compelling and moving stories of our heroic nurses in the Vietnam War. Being a nurse always requires a cool head, a steady hand and an open heart. But if you're working in a war zone, the challenges are much harder.

A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....

In 1967, Joe Putnam, fresh out of officer training school, is shipped overseas to Vietnam as part of President Johnson’s American Adviser program. Putnam would be one of the American soldiers advising the South Vietnamese Army on how to conduct a war against the North Vietnamese Army and their allies in the south, the Viet Cong. This plan would supposedly keep the Communists at bay without actually getting the U.S. into full-fledged war in Southeast Asia.

Uniquely adopting a third-person omniscient point of view, Nightingale eschews the "I" of memoir in favor of multiple perspectives and a larger historical vision that afford equal time and weight to ally and enemy alike. Examples of the many perspectives based on real-life characters include: Hu, a VC "informant" whose false information led the Rangers straight into the jaws of a ferocious ambush; General Tanh, the COSVN commander; Major Nguyen Hiep, the 52d Ranger Commander; and Ranger POWs later returned by the North.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Senator John McCain tells the story of his great American journey, from the U.S. Navy to his electrifying campaign for the presidency in 2000, interwoven with heartfelt portraits of the mavericks who have inspired him through the years. After five and a half years as a...

Reflections on America and the American experience as he has lived and observed it, by the bestselling author of The Greatest Generation. In this beautiful memoir, Tom Brokaw writes of America and of the American experience. From his parents’ life in the 1930s, on to his boyhood along the...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Deval Patrick, “an inspirational figure guided by optimism and hope who presaged the rise of President Obama” (The Boston Globe), recounts his extraordinary journey from the South Side of Chicago to the governorship of...

Hal Moore, one of the most admired American combat leaders of the last 50 years, has until now been best known to the public for being portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie We Were Soldiers. In this biography, we finally learn the full story of one of America's true military heroes. A 1945 graduate of West Point, Moore's first combats occurred during the Korean War, where he fought in the battles of Old Baldy, T-Bone, and Pork Chop Hill.

These are the details of every day events that happened during combat in Vietnam, as told to me by my husband and his comrades, many of whom I have met over the last 19 years. You will hear about how he and I have dealt with PTSD. We have been to his unit reunions every year for the last 19 years and have became good friends with the men of C/1/5, and also the wives and family members of those who were killed over 50 years ago.

A powerhouse fusion of pathos and humor, brutal realism and intimate reflection, Flying Through Midnight is a landmark contribution to Vietnam War literature, revealing previously top-secret intelligence on the 606's night missions. Fast-paced, thrilling, and bitingly intelligent, Halliday's writing illuminates it all: the heart-pounding air battles, the close friendships, the crippling fear, and the astonishing final escape that made the telling of it possible.

Vietnam Abyss: A Journal of Unmerited Grace is the inspiring true story of Michael J. Snook, a Vietnam veteran, who served in the US Army and after returning home from the war descended into the darkness of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He experiences multiple confinements in a Veterans Administration psychiatric ward. Later after encountering an “angel” and through PTSD counseling sessions and with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Michael fully recovers and becomes a born-again Christian and a certified minister. He comes out of the dark abyss and begins to shine for his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

From award-winning journalist and children’s book author Mary Cronk Farrell comes the inspiring and fascinating story of the woman who gave a human face to the Vietnam War. Close-Up on War tells the story of French-born Catherine Leroy, one of the war’s few woman photographers, who documented some of the fiercest fighting in the 20-year conflict. Although she had no formal photographic training and had never before traveled more than a few hundred miles from Paris, Leroy left home at age 21 to travel to Vietnam and document the faces of war.

The old battle tactics were useless for the U.S. soldiers in Vietnam, who were fighting a guerrilla war on foreign soil for the first time in American history. With the depth and honesty of Steel My Soldiers' Hearts, SEAL Warrior sheds light on the operations of the SEAL teams in Vietnam and shows how the SEALs laid the foundation for the modern guerrilla warfare that is used today.

Eighteen-year-old Marine recruit William V. Taylor, Jr. and his brother Marines are assembled into a new reaction force that is immediately tested in the fire of a bloody conflict known as Operation Beaver Cage. After a traumatic first fight, they push through back-to-back operations with little time to rest or reflect. Those who survive will return home ensnared by everlasting memories of a real but entirely surreal nightmare. Now, after more than 50 years of holding everything in, Taylor shares his experience in explicit—and often horrific—detail.

Chief Warrant Officer Gary O'Neal is no ordinary soldier. For nearly 40 years, he has fought America's enemies, becoming one of the greatest Warriors this nation has ever known. Part Native American, O'Neal was trained in both military combat and the ways of his Native people, combining his commitment to freedom with his respect for the enemy, his technical fighting skills with his fierce warrior spirit.

Amity Whitford dared to stake her own claim on the endless plains of Western Kansas. She built her homestead, Dove's Nest, with her bare hands. But the ravages of the sun and drying winds took their toll.

In the 70s and 80s, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to the United States, all in search of a new place to call home. Decades later, their experiences remain largely unknown. Kao Kalia Yang was driven to tell her own family's story after her grandmother’s death. The Latehomecomer is a tribute to that grandmother, a remarkable woman whose spirit held her family together.