From the Pages - Search and Destroy

Recognized as the U.S. Army's most battle-honored unit, the 1/1 Cav furthered their stellar reputation in combat during their tenure in Vietnam. An integral outfit in General Westmoreland's war of attrition, the 1/1 Cav was recognized as one of the most aggressive and professional outfits in the entire American military -- earning a Medal of Honor, four Distinguished Service Crosses, and thousands of Silver Stars, Bronze Stars, and Purple Hearts.

In the following exclusive excerpt from Search and Destroy:The Story of an Armored Cavalry Squadron in Viet Nam, late-author Keith Nolan describes the 1/1 Cav's experiences during Tết from January–February 1968.

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The war usually shut down during Tết, a holiday of great religious and familial significance that ushers in the Lunar New Year. In this instance, General Westmoreland canceled the holiday cease-fire in I Corps on January 29, concerned as he was about the encirclement of the marines at Khe Sanh in the northwest corner of the country: the view at MACV was that the communists, pushed to the hinterlands and on the verge of defeat, were planning in their desperation a spectacular recreation of the siege of Diện Biên Phu.

Unbeknownst to Westmoreland, the communists hoped not only to take Khe Sanh—presuming that the siege was not simply a ruse—but had been planning since the summer of ’67 to use the 1968 Tết cease-fire as cover for an unprecedented wave of attacks designed to topple the regime in Sài Gòn. The onslaught would be known to a shocked world as the Tết Offensive.

Emerging from the jungle, the enemy planned to strike for the first time the urban centers of the country and win the war in a single decisive moment: surely, the ARVN would shatter under the blow of a hundred sledgehammers striking a hundred towns and cities, the urban masses would rally to the revolution, the government would fall, and the United States would be left with no option but to negotiate a withdrawal from South Việt Nam.

Jumping the gun, certain enemy units attacked five cities in the northern part of the country shortly after midnight on January 30, the first day of Tết, and a full twenty-four hours before the offensive was scheduled to begin. Other, smaller flare-ups included a brief attack on Thăng Bình ten kilometers northwest of Hill 29 on Highway 1. Government troops drove off the VC even before a reaction force arrived from C Troop of the 1-1 Cavalry. Elsewhere, the festivities began on schedule with feasts and firecrackers. At the time, half of Sài Gòn’s army was home on leave.

New Release - Naked in Da Nang

When was the last time a Vietnam memoir truly touched your heart...and made you laugh out loud? Or when did you last read a book or see a film that vividly captured the broad spectrum of human emotions? And how often has one man’s inspirational story made you want to stand up and cheer? Naked In Da Nang does all that...and much more. Few combat memoirs have ever painted a more compelling portrait of the hopes, fears and motivations of the average American GI. Naked In Da Nang successfully reaches out to all branches of the military, all living veterans, and civilian audiences, as well, male and female alike.

Like the wildly successful "We Were Soldiers Once…And Young," Naked In Da Nang is helping to redefine America's perception of her Vietnam veterans. Armed with the biting wit of MASH, the historical accuracy of We Were Soldiers, and the innocent nostalgia of TV’s The Wonder Years, Naked In Da Nang presents a main character who is likeable, sardonic and courageous, usually in spite of himself.

The bitter, brooding, traumatized soldier who finds solace in drugs, alcohol or insanity is not now - and never was - the norm, as underscored by the fundamental decency of Naked In Da Nang. The book's accurate yet warmly colorful portrayal of the Vietnam GI has struck a nerve across America and throughout all branches of the military. In fact, Naked In Da Nang inspired Operation Welcome Home, the nationwide "welcome home" celebration for America's veterans of Southeast Asia, which took place across America in 2005, culminating in a huge Las Vegas, NV event over Veterans' Day weekend last year.

Military Snapshots - The German A7V tank

The A7V was the only German tank to make it into production during World War I. Twenty-four A7Vs were built compared to the roughly 8,000 tanks built by the British and French in that conflict. Photo courtesy of Patton Museum of Armor and Cavalry, from Tanks by Michael Green & James D. Brown

Military Snapshots - Aerial view of Betio during World War II

The western half of Betio (i.e., the invasion area) as seen from a B-24 during a bombing mission in October 1943. The invasion beaches are at the top of the photo (north) and run from left (west) to right: Red-1, Red-2, and Red-3 (obscured by smoke). Some barbed-wire barriers, trenches, and roadways can be seen. The T-shaped structures along the beaches are overwater latrines. Official Signal Corps Photo, from Tarawa and the Marshalls: A Pictorial Tribute by Eric Hammel

From the Pages - Hell Hawks!

As gifted as the pilots of the 365th Fighter Group were in air-to-air combat, these aviators were perhaps best known for pioneering many air-to-ground combat techniques. From Normandy to Germany, the men known as the "Hell Hawks" would wreak insurmountable havoc upon German troops, armor, airfields, and supply lines. In the following excerpt from Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht, authors Robert F. Dorr and Thomas D. Jones describe several of the Hell Hawks' harrowing experiences attacking the retreating German troops across France in September 1944.

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As the German army fled to the relative safety of their own frontier, scourged by flights of merciless Thunderbolts, Lightnings, and Typhoons, the Hell Hawks raced into the arms of newly liberated Paris. Trucked to the base of the Eiffel Tower, the first wave of men found the streets full of women eager to please Americans. Wrote Johnson, “It was impossible to go more than a block without being propositioned several times. Few of the men spent much time on their feet while in Paris.”

A 386th intelligence officer later wrote of the experience: “Beautiful, friendly Paris, with its lovely and fascinating, and wicked women, was the downfall of practically the entire squadron, officers and men alike. Only by tremendous efforts of willpower were most of us able to drag our frayed and worn out bodies homeward long enough to make a half-hearted attempt to carry on the war—and to recuperate for yet another orgy.”

Military Snapshots - The Barracks at Stalag XII A

For POWs being held at Stalag XIIA in Limburg an der Lahn, Germany, basic survival was a daily struggle. For Jewish-American POW Ivan Goldstein, that struggle came with added dangers. Shown in this photo is the barracks of Stalag XII A -- a cold, dirty barn housing American prisoners, including Goldstein. Photo courtesy of The Granger Collection, New York, from Surviving the Reich: The World War II Saga of a Jewish-American GI by Ivan Goldstein.

From the Pages - War Stories of the Battle of the Bulge

The 84th Infantry Division formed part of the American Ninth Army, based north of the Ardennes, and was transferred to the First Army a few days after the German attack began. The battle-tested 334th Infantry Regiment, which Albert Garland belonged to, was the first into Belgium and held its place in the front lines with heavy artillery support. In the following excerpt from War Stories of the Battle of the Bulge, Garland describes serving on the front lines during the initial German attack and American response.

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On the morning of December 20, 1944,I was a first lieutenant commanding Company L, 334th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division. For the past month, we had been in almost continuous action as part of the U.S. XIII Corps, Ninth U.S. Army, in and around the north German towns of Prummern, Beeck, Wurm, and Lindern. (For part of that month, we were under the operational control of the British XXX Corps, then commanded by Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks.) Our primary objective from the beginning was the Roer River, and we were getting close to it despite strong German resistance and miserable conditions.

I had been told the previous evening that our battalion—the 3rd Battalion—was being pulled out of the lines for a short stay at the division’s rest center at Eygelshoven, a small Dutch town that lay just across the border some ten to twelve miles from our present location. I had also been told that my mess crew and its equipment was going there right after it had delivered a hot breakfast on the 20th, and that I could expect a number of two-and-a-half-ton trucks to reach me shortly after the mess crew departed. These trucks would take my company to Eygelshoven, at which time I would release them to their parent unit. (If I remember correctly, these trucks belonged to a quartermaster truck company, one of several such units then supporting the division.)

Military Snapshots - Japanese "Nells" over Rabaul

The first Japanese attack on Rabaul was made by Navy Type 96 land attack aircraft (Mitsubishi G3M "Nells") from Truk on January 4, 1942. Although nearly obsolete by Japanese standards, the bombers were untouched by Australian antiaircraft guns or interceptors. Photo courtesy of Ron Werneth, from Fortress Rabaul: The Battle for the Southwest Pacific, January 1942-April 1943 by Bruce Gamble