Death Angel: A Vietnam Memoir of a Bearer of Death Messages to Families [Paperback]

Harry Spiller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1992 | ISBN-10: 089950728X | ISBN-13: 978-0899507286

At 17 the author enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps with dreams of becoming a hero. Two years later, a disillusioned young man returned from a tour of Vietnam, his new assignment, recruiting: finding a "few good men" for the Corps--and soon, too often, delivering death messages to the families of those he had recruited. Here are gut-wrenching memories of a Marine's service in Vietnam, the grief of the parents, and the burden of guilt suffered by the bearer of the news. Sergeant Spiller's emotional turmoil was similar to that of many who first saw the war as an heroic opportunity and then lost heart.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Memoirs like Spiller's are in short supply. His story unfolds with his initiation into the Marines at age 17 in June 1963. He returns home over a year later, unable to connect with his family, and eventually reenlists. For the next six years he is assigned to the Cape Girardeau, Missouri Recruiting Office. His duty: to notify personally the relatives of wounded and dead soldiers, including some of his own enlistees. Spiller's unemotional narrative is effective here, and we are moved each time the predictable panic erupts in the face of a mother or father on the other side of the screen door as the "death angel" in uniform approaches their home. Told in the third person, Spiller's story is simple, unsophisticated, and detached. While the technical flaws are distracting (uneven indexing; the arbitrary placement of five photographs; and occasional trivial details), this work begins to flesh out an important aspect of Vietnam War history. Recommended for subject collections and for public and high school libraries.
- Pamela J. Peters, SUNY-SICAS Ctr., Oneonta
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"recommended" --Library Journal

"a well-written, often gripping account...vivid...intriguing...deeply emotional" --Military --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Mcfarland & Co Inc Pub (November 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089950728X
• ISBN-13: 978-0899507286
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,921,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I published my first story with True Detective magazine. And published numerous other stories after that until the company went out of business. My first book Death Angel a memoir of in country and delivering death messages to families after my first tour in Viet Nam was published in 1992 after five years of rejection. Since that time I have published 13 books of oral history about World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. I also have a series Murder In The Heartland of three books. I am presently working on the fourth and fifth book of that series and a oral history on the Iraq war. I served 2 tours in Vietnam, was Sheriff of Williamson County,Illinois, and a retired Associate Professor of Criminal Justice. I have also been involved in writing conferences and have spoken at many writing event.