Customer Reviews

Body Count

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I thought I'd read them all, all that were any good that is...Then I picked up BODY COUNT. Notice it was published in 1974: right between the "peace treaty" and the full-scale final communist invasion of South Vietnam. So maybe this is one of the first post-Vietnam novels. Yet it is still hot from the years of heaviest fighting by U.S. troops. My Dell edition doesn't give infomation on the author, but the story is so authentically written that he must have first hand experience on his subject. This is the ultimate platoon diary. There is dirt, sweat, and blood on these pages. There is the tedious labor of day to day survival in the bush to the excessive gratifications of long awaited RnRs. The author is not content to simply relate the events of the platoon; he builds his story and the characters may grow, die, or stubbornly do neither. Since this is almost a contemporary piece, social problems like racism are accurately dealt with believable results. The death of two characters in their listening post is at once horrific and beautiful-you'll have to read the book to understand what I mean. BODY COUNT is now at the top of my list of Vietnam novels. It is far better than most of the better known authors books on the war, so find it if you can.

William Kelly Turner Huggett, 65, died in Miami, Florida, August 31, 2004. He was graduated from Emory University with a double major in history and political science, joined the Marines because he wanted to serve his country, and was awarded the bronze star for heroism in Vietnam as a 2nd Lt. His book "Body Count", published by Putnam in 1974, was based on his personal experiences in the Marines and in Vietnam, and was written while he was in law school at the University of Florida. I first met "Bill", or "Huggett" as he was called by friends, during a small dinner at a friends home in 1977. When he found out that I had served three tours in "Nam", he went out to his car, and came back in with a copy of "Body Count" which he autographed for me. I still have the book. He was married with two children, and practiced Admirality and Maritime law in Miami. Huggett was among the most energetic and magnetic personalities I ever had the pleasure to know. Semper Fi.

What an eye opener. I have read this book twice. The first time I read it was an eye opening experience for me. Being born in '63, I wasn't really aware of the war going on in Vietnam. My parents never allowed me to watch the news and to be honest- I wasn't much interested in the news. I knew that my favorite uncle went away and came back a long time later but didn't understand why. The day he came back I remember hearing him and my parents talking after I was suppose to be asleep. I heard words like "tunnel rat" and mortars and someting about a hill. When I asked where he had been my mom cut me off and changed the subject. To this day, I am not allowed to ask him any questions about his time in Vietnam. I did know that he was a Marine (whatever that meant). I have since learned through my mom that he was involve in Hill 881, but no details are forthcoming. Since reading "Body Count" the first time, I have read and studied many writings on the Vietnam War. This book is wonderfully written. The details are so graphic that I feel as if I was there with the soldiers through it all. Mr. Huggett followed Captain Hawkins through his "green" stage and we saw him become a fabulous leader and example to his men. It gave me a tiny window into the uncle that I love so very much. As I read this book, the face I saw was my uncle. The second time I read it,( I just finished it this morning), I gained new insight into the Marines. I became so involved in the book that last night I had dreams of being there with Captain Hawkins, Chief, Wilson, Big John and all the heroic characters of this wonderful book. I was deeply in my dreams when my 3 year old son woke me satnding by my bed. I sat bolt upright looking for the enemy and trying to figure out where I was. For a brief moment when my eyes focused on my son, I wasn't sure who he was and why he was there. (It did not help that he was wearing a black sleeping shirt.) That gave me an eye-opening experience. If the book affected me this way, then what must the guys who actually experienced the battles and the war feel like. This book really "takes you there" in a way that some may find enlightening and some may find terrifying. Go there and experience it for yourself. Want to understand your family memebers that were there? Read it once-then read it again. You will never be the same. The first reading was my "jumping off" point. It was my real inroduction to the war. After reading it a second time--I feel like I can go and talk to my uncle and have an understanding and respect that was not there before. I will definately say thank you and respect HIS wishes if he doesn't want to talk about it. Thank you Mr. Huggett for opening my eyes. My life has never been the same since reading this and I hope the enlightenment it has brought to me can be passed on to any and everyone that was in the "in-between" generation. Thank you to all our Vets--America owes you gratitude and admiration for everything you did in a very difficult time.

This book digs into the lives of some of the soldiers of the Vietnam War. It shows the hardships and what some of them did to cope with the harsh life in Vietnam. This is a very heart pounding novel that is about as good as it gets.

As a former Marine who spent the majority of his career in a Grunt Battalion, every time I read this book it takes me back to my time in the Corps. The author has developed amazing characters in this novel, so vivid that I swear I've known many of them, his recreation of day to day life in the corps had me was right on the money. Anybody who has ever wondered what life in the Marine Corps was like before "Political Correctness" came along this is a must read.

Let tell you, this is one of the best novels I have ever read about war. Let me tell you it is increadibly realilistic (exept for a few parts) it is mind blowing in the war scenes. The last battle is amazing. The book is about some guys ina platoon during the Veitnam War. The main charicter is Hawlkins the new 2nd Letuinent of the platoon. It is also about Cheif an american indian who is fighting d'nam as they call it. Also they tell the story of two black men Carsyle and Wilson who are at the oposing ends of Black Power. The book tells of all their "adventures" in war, the rear, and R&R. Its increadibly interesting. Read this, if you can find it in a Used Book Store. It is WONDERFULL!

Back in the 1970's as the Viet Nam War was winding down for us. A lot of the veterans wrote of their experiences in the ill fated war. This book was one of the better efforts of these men. ( A Marine Veteran of that war was kind enough to lend me his copy before I joined the Army. Thanks Lloyd!)

In this book, one got a feel with the Authors telling details of his experiences as a Junior Officer in a Marine Line Company. For example the power struggle with the Senior Sgt. in his Platoon, the overwhelming heat and the plain hard work needed to just survive let alone the fighting an elusive and talented enemy. That and gaining the trust of his men in the platoon was a major effort for the Lt. All in all a very well written book that the Author can take pride in.

I did not go to Vietnam, but my childhood friend of 45 years did. He recommended the book to me and told me it was pretty representative of the whole situation. I think it was well written, and having "coming of age" in that era, it gave me more insight into the politics of war.

This is the second time I read this book and I wish the author had put some details about his life as an afterward in the book. I too fought in Viet Nam as a 2nd Lt in the Marines and the first time I read this I concluded the author had to have been there as a Marine Officer and this book was based on his experiences.

His decriptions of life for a combat Marine are "spot on" - funny and tragic at the same time.

His description of what life was like during the monsoon was so real I felt the water dripping off my helmet down the back of my neck once again. This book is one of the top four of what life was like for "me". The other three are Rumour of War by Phil Caputo, Fields of Fire by James Webb, and just recently Matterhorn by Karl Mallentes.

I'm sorry to hear the author passed away in 2004. A must read for students of Viet Nam history.

Semper Fi

John Booth

Business Executive (retired)

Colonel USMCR (Retired)

I first encountered the very well written BODY COUNT back when I was a lad during the early 1980s when Vietnam War Message Movies still weren't quite the rage just yet, probably in my sophomore year in high school ... everyone thought I was crazy and today you'd probably end up on someone's watch list for reading a book called BODY COUNT. That it was about the Vietnam War probably wouldn't help.

Nonetheless it had a pretty profound impact on me and one of the reasons is that the book puts into very easy to understand terms some of the words & visions about the American war in Vietnam that would soon become more populist thanks to films like PLATOON, FULL METAL JACKET, and HAMBURGER HILL, which this book actually reminds me a lot of now after reading it again as an adult due to some interesting attempts to address the racial dynamic that were at play during the later stages of our time there.

The story more or less follows the exploits of a whitebread middle American soldier boy who volunteered for Officer Candidate School and examines his transformation from a "green" Shake & Bake officer to a grizzled veteran of combat ... though the transformation is a bit abrupt, and the one weakness of the approach is that the supporting cast of characters manages to stay more or less the same while he changes, grows, and learns things. Nonetheless it's gripping, entertaining reading that covers not only the battlefield highs & lows but gives the reader a glimpse of life at "the rear", takes you on R&R to Tokyo, an obligatory visit to a prostitute, the drugs, the disillusionment, the aforementioned issues of racism, even a heartwarming impromptu visit to an interrogation hut with a VC prisoner being tortured. After a while you sort of expect the author to trot out a scene where someone finds a picture of a family in a fallen enemy's wallet.

And that's why I don't give it the full five start treatment: It's about two shakes of a stick shy of a cliche, with an almost pandering approach to explaining what the lingo & specifics of a given meaning are. But it's a very interesting read none the less and I'd recommend this to anyone over the age of 17 who maybe is just starting out on their quest to figure out what the Vietnam War & the men who fought there were all about. They were people just like us, and this book does an admirable job at putting a human face back on the American soldiers who served there.