Customer Reviews

Dai Uy Hoch: "A Legend In Remote Seas"

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

 

 

This is an incredibly interesting story about two real life heroes . . . guided by the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.

Wes Hoch manages to make his experiences in Vietname interesting, sad and funny . . . all in one book!!

One of the most interesting stories I have ever read!!!!

This is a must read for those who want to know about some of the "special" missions our troops go on. It paints a perfect picture of the challenges and hardships one faces on these missions. I lived through a very similar experience and it is amazing how well Hoch has captured it.

This is the tale of a young USN Lieutenant from Maine in South Vietnam in the early days of the conflict. He finds people in poverty, hunger and disease and determines that to do his job, build a fleet of junks to patrol the coast, he must help the people there. His efforts are re-enforced by his Vietnamese counter-part who estimates that 75% of the village has relatives in the VC or are apathetic to whatever government was in power in Saigon.

By helping the people he makes his fleet possible and pulls the people toward the cause of freedom.

His story should be read by everyone who goes to either Iraq or Afghanistan - it's the people stupid, not the politics.

On 29 April 1961, JFK authorized the Navy to begin advising South Vietname's "junk force." There were fewer than 3,000 Americans in Vietnam at the time and few prople took notice of the order. Lt. Hoch was one the first advisors assigned. When he arrived at his island of Phu Quoc, he was faced with almost unsolvable military and logisitcs problems. He lived in a thatched hut and became all too familiar with "chicken feet soup." HIs junkies had too few weapons, too many junks that did not operate because of mechanical problems and they had not been paid in months. At one point Saigon took machine guns away from the junkies for fear the VC would capture them. Saigon replaced the weapons with swords.

"Dai Uy Hock" tells how the naval officer was able to beg, borrow, bully and scronge the supplies he needed. How he became an amature doctor and dentist to thousands who had no access to any medical treatment, all the while being under the constant threat of attack by the VC.

But the book is much more than a war story. It contains very little "military jargon" which might confuse or frustrate readers. Its real strength is the story of how the Vietnamese and the American came to know one another, to trust each other and, in the end, love each other. This part of the "Veitnam experience" is rarely told. Hoch does it quite well.

The final few pages will bring tears as Hock comes to realize his time in Vietnam is ending. The Vietnamese with whom he had become so close will be there until the end of the maelstrom and beyond.

I have written a similar book called, "Shore Duty." It is the story of a small junk base at a time eight years later when more than half a million Americans were in Vietnam. Some things remained the same. Some did not.

A young USN Lieutenant assigned as an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy during the early phases of the Vietnam War thinks outside the box in completing his mission. Rather than a single focus on his military assignment, which tends to happen to most young military officers, Lieutenant Hoch recognizes the greater need to win the trust and support of the assigned Vietnamese military and the indigent population. This required more than equipping the military with boats and weapons; it required providing for the basic needs of an impoverished people.

Lieutenant Koch with his religious background and his passion for helping others was extremely effective in finding ways to help the community. He not only appealed to private companies and religious organizations for help, but also took it upon himself to learn the basic skills of medicine and dentistry to personally be involved in caring for the people. He was truly an extraordinary individual and extremely effective in executing his mission.

Although this is about a war that was fought over 40 years ago, it is still pertinent to the wars we are currently fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. If we fail to win the support of the people we are fighting for, we have lost regardless of the outcome.

This book was actually in the making for over forty years. Lt. Cmdr. Hoch died in 2004, thereby leaving his manuscript unpublished.

Thankfully, his legacy has been preserved in this wonderful book that was brought to life by Hoch's brother Dave, and his wife Isabel. Dave felt strongly that the book should be published, and we are richer for it.

Wes Hoch served in Vietnam as the Senior U.S. Navy Advisor to the Fourth Coastal Junk Force in Phu Quoc, for eighteen months. Hoch was a "strange mixture of soldier, sailor, dentist, mechanic, linguist (he spoke fractured Vietnamese) doctor and teacher." He was also a deeply spiritual man.

Senator Margaret Chase Smith read a letter into the Congressional Record which spoke of Hoch's accomplishments. In part it says "Wes Hoch is presently in charge of a fleet of junks manned by natives who adore their husky leader. He shares their somewhat primitive existence and all the experiences of a jungle land warfare which is both physically uncomfortable and perilous."

Lt. Cmdr. Hoch was instrumental in constructing a small hospital on the Island of Ph Quoc. The military personnel there, the villagers themselves and the men in Hoch's armed junk force, volunteered to work with a few sacks of cement and a donation from the local church. The result was a four-bed hospital to serve the eleven-hundred villagers. About four-hundred natives were treated on the first day the hospital was open.

Cmdr. G. Ashroft, senior junk force advisor, issued a statement on the installation saying "The concern and drive of Lt. Hoch was like a dream come true to the natives of An Thoi."

A Christian-raised man, Hoch attempted to fully understand and help the natives in their impoverishment. He wrote letters home to ask for medical supplies, used blankets and clothes for his Vietnamese Junk Navy and villagers on Phu Quoc.

He noted "A blanket sounds like a stupid thing to need in a country where the average temperature is eighty degrees ... but a blanket is the most useful thing a junkman has. He uses it to sleep on, to keep warm on cold, damp nights, as a shelter against the sun and a thousand uses. To give a blanket to a junkman is the same as giving him a house."

Lt. Cmdr. Hoch endeared himself to the Vietnamese people that he lived with. He won numerous awards, including A Medal of Honor First Class; bestowed by the Vietnamese Government, as well as a Bronze Star bestowed by the United States Navy, plus many more honors.

This is a terrific story about an outstanding individual who truly lived his Christian religion, made tremendous personal sacrifices, and had a lasting, positive influence on numerous lives. There are many different ways to win hearts, minds and wars.

This book provides great insight into an aspect of the Vietnam War that might have gone unappreciated and unnoticed. There are interesting pictures from that time in Vietnam too. A very worthy and inspiring read of a fascinating time in American History.