Customer Reviews

Death Valley: The Summer Offensive, I Corps, August 1969

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

 

 

First, this book was published in 1987, not 1984 as one of the other reviewers mentioned. Second, the Marine units (5th and 7th Marine Regiments) in this book were part of the 1st Marine Division not the 3rd Marine Division. Third, this is Nolan's third book, not his first ("Battle for Hue" and "Into Laos, Operation Dewey Canyon II/Lamson 719" were his first two books). I enjoyed this book immensely primarily because I was serving as an 0331 machine gunner with Mike 3/5 during the summer of 1969 and I vividly recall our company actions in Arizona Territory, Que Sons Mountains, Go Noi Island, Liberty Bridge, and Hills 10, 22, 65 . Nolan's description of "The Arizona Territory" in 1969 as the "war's bloodiest arena" is apt as my unit spent many long weeks humping that hideous area and lost many Marines to snipers, booby-traps, incoming, ambushes, and sapper attacks. I appreciate Nolan writing about combat during the Vietnam War that occurred after Tet '68 as many books and media accounts apparently thought the war ceased to exist after 1968. Nolan's motivation to write "about the war as the soldier saw it" and what the "average grunt experienced in Vietnam" is clearly expressed in his writing and I, as one of those summer of '69 "grunts," appreciate his efforts to show us as good Marines and soldiers caught up in a crappy situation who performed as well as any American "grunt" from past wars. I highly recommend this book and all of Nolan's subsequent books about the Vietnam War. Nolan books honor those of us who served as infantrymen in Vietnam at a time when so many others reviled our sacrifices and attempted to dishonor our service through exagerration, hyperbole, and tired cliche.

Keith Nolan documents and highlights the events that occured during August, 1969 in the area of Hiep Duc District of Quan Tin Province, commonly referred to by the American forces there as the Que Son Valley. The major US Army unit involved was 4/31st Inf., 196 Light Infrantry Brigade of the Americal Div. The book details the battle with a regiment or larger sized NVA force that moved into the area south of LZ West, 4/31st battalion firebase. The book maintains a more or less "traditional" military history format, unfolding in chronological order, with side trips to recap previous events and personal anecdotes leading up to the conflict. This book is very specific to this action, and will be of greatest interest to those who were there or had connections to the units involved. It is quite exhaustively researched and written. Maps and photos are included. Provides some history about American units that received little publicity during the war.(Review by 4/31st member DEROS July 1969)

Research is accurate and detailed. I was a member of one of the participating units; and it happened as written. Intense and spellbounding book covering a dramatic fight for their lives of Army and Marine Corps units. Marine Corps Vietnam vets will think it should be mandatory reading. Semper Fi

I know the author and the previous publisher seems sad that a good book did not even try to correct errors from the first publication. It was a truly great early study of Vietnam but fails to add the additional facts since discovered.

I was there.........

Joe "Doc" Kralich 4/31, 196th LIB 1969-1970

This is William Keith Nolan's first Vietnam War book, published in 1987 when he was in his mid-twenties. Do not expect the smooth writing style that characterizes other Nolan works, such as "Ripcord" and "Into Cambodia." The prose is often choppy and the narrative disjointed, making "Death Valley" a bit of a tough read. Moreover, there are too few maps, and what maps there are do not help the reader much, as he tries to follow the deployment and movement of the various Army and Marine units involved. Nevertheless, Nolan does a fine job of chronicling events, especially when it comes to providing a grunt's eye view of the firefights and ambushes endured by elements of the hapless Americal and 1st Marine Divisions. The NVA were strongly entrenched in tree lines and along ridges, while American units continually and tragically tried to root them out of the Hiep Duc Valley under a boiling sun and in stifling humidity. It gets depressing after awhile, reading how under-strength companies, exhausted and pushed to the limits of human endurance, get cut up again and again by hardcore NVA that know at all times where the Americans are and to where they're headed. All they had to do was lie in wait for just the right moment to open fire. After Tet of '68, North Vietnamese Army tactics shifted from concentrating on ARVN units to inflicting casualties on the Americans. They were playing to the American media and public opinion. There is tremendous heroism here among the citizen-soldiers who did not evade the draft but chose to do their duty. They endured for the sake of their buddies. If there is anything uplifting in the history of the battles described, it is the camaraderie of the soldiers that fought, bled, and died there.

Nolan's book intrigued me from the start because I was with the Marines he writes about during 1969. Unfortunately my experience and detailed notes do not always correspond with Nolan's perception of the Marines during this era of the War in Vietnam. To be specific, I was a machinegunner with Bravo Company, 1st Batallion, Seventh Marines, 1st Marine Division. I joined Bravo Co. in the first week of May, 1969 and was shot November 17, 1969. It is my assumption that Nolan is working from After-action Reports, or some other documents and not from first hand sources. The author almost ignores our Company and especially the key role we played in the Battle of August 12 through 14, in Arizona Territory. I also have difficulty reconciling some of the dates given with the events I experienced: Specifically the death of Lt. Colonel Dowd, our Batallion Commander. Prior to that event I witnessed the death of our Company's radio man, John Constein who was killed on August 12th. In my experience they were killed the same day. Somewhere, someone has made a mistake and Nolan did not research the facts well enough, at least from my perspective, to lend veracity to these two events and to his work as a whole. However, if it turns out that I am incorrect then I will offer my apologies. At this point I stand by what I know and experienced.

As a young 1st Lt. flying "Huey Cobras" that participated in this historical battle, I commend Mr. Nolan for his accuracy in telling this story. His ability to convey the hardships of day to day combat and the seemingly never ending battles these men of the 196th LIB and USMC had to endure is classic. It is a story that every American should be required to read... Why you ask ? As the kids at home in the "real world" were living the week long Woodstock Experience, half a world away in the steamy jungles of Vietnam, US troops were fighting for their lives in what historians called the most bloody battle of 1969. Personally, I'd like to meet Mr. Nolan and shake his hand and tell him "he got it right" !

I was there and knew many of the players. I was with Fox 2/7 and I'm very happy to be alive to read this account. I'll miss my friends who didn't make it out. Thanks to the author for straightening out a few things for me.

It helped clarify some things for me, from another person's perspective.

Thanks.

"a truly great early study of Vietnam" is what I said in my first review; the two stars were for the publisher - as we now have access to the battle area and actual NVA participants. In the spirit of Were Were Soldiers Once.. I'd have wished for more....but I do realize that spending weeks in Vietnam was infeasible.. JMK