Leo T. reviewed Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines' Finest Hour in Vietnam on + 1775 more book reviews
The author has good chops in journalism, including some work as an investigative reporter that he uses with effect in this book that includes a great many interviews with those who were there. They also were willing to read the draft of a chapter and that promises authenticity. The endnotes are often explanatory
As is usually the case for them, the USMC was stationed in a horrible place, far inland when the North Vietnamese were seeking a knock out blow in early 1968. Thus this is arguably one of the most significant battles of the war. There are four films and several previous books. Mr. Jones also rummaged through the archives in Quantico and elsewhere. He even found USMC interviews done on the battlefield the next day. I wonder if anyone has had access to the North. The 1990s were very rewarding for scholars investigating Stalin after the fall of the USSR.
There are a few paragraphs about LBJ and Secretary of Defense McNamara in the USA as the latter took his leave as battles raged in VN and reinforcements were flown in. This remains disgusting for me to read as I, when a high school junior and still fifteen years old at the start of December 1962, realized that JFK was taking us down the wrong path (someone had a Canadian newspaper emphasizing the fact that it was a Catholic regime and a Buddhist populace in South Vietnam). While my generation had to bear the butcher's bill, fifty years later the nation has to bear the rapidly mounting claims for VA benefits. It is a shame that we have let the national debt climb so high.
Little credit is given to the post-First World War Republican administrations that resolutely paid down the debt from the Great War, making it possible for FDR to raise the money needed for the New Deal. As a seventh grader I remember how upset DDE was when he ran a deficit. RR did not pay for the 600 ship navy, the second President Bush did not pay for the 2nd Gulf War, and President Trump is running a trillion dollar deficits. While Andrew W. Mellon was glad to help his class, the national debt was being paid down smartly.
Eight maps, Index.
As is usually the case for them, the USMC was stationed in a horrible place, far inland when the North Vietnamese were seeking a knock out blow in early 1968. Thus this is arguably one of the most significant battles of the war. There are four films and several previous books. Mr. Jones also rummaged through the archives in Quantico and elsewhere. He even found USMC interviews done on the battlefield the next day. I wonder if anyone has had access to the North. The 1990s were very rewarding for scholars investigating Stalin after the fall of the USSR.
There are a few paragraphs about LBJ and Secretary of Defense McNamara in the USA as the latter took his leave as battles raged in VN and reinforcements were flown in. This remains disgusting for me to read as I, when a high school junior and still fifteen years old at the start of December 1962, realized that JFK was taking us down the wrong path (someone had a Canadian newspaper emphasizing the fact that it was a Catholic regime and a Buddhist populace in South Vietnam). While my generation had to bear the butcher's bill, fifty years later the nation has to bear the rapidly mounting claims for VA benefits. It is a shame that we have let the national debt climb so high.
Little credit is given to the post-First World War Republican administrations that resolutely paid down the debt from the Great War, making it possible for FDR to raise the money needed for the New Deal. As a seventh grader I remember how upset DDE was when he ran a deficit. RR did not pay for the 600 ship navy, the second President Bush did not pay for the 2nd Gulf War, and President Trump is running a trillion dollar deficits. While Andrew W. Mellon was glad to help his class, the national debt was being paid down smartly.
Eight maps, Index.
