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Dmz Diary: A Combat Marine's Vietnam Memoir

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TJ Kelly's DMZ Diary is a stunning account of his Vietnam service. Kelly writes with honesty and intelligence, allowing readers to accompany him on his journeys into combat with his fellow Marines. Kelly recalls stories of heroism and horror from Vietnam that will move the most jaded military historian. His stories of life away from combat provide humour and relief from the ever-present tension of the war. In DMZ Diary the author reveals his transformation from a gung-ho new guy to a seasoned veteran. The story of this transformation is an important addition to the history of the American experience in Vietnam.

An excellent first hand narrative. Well written. After reading it, I thought that most vietnam war movies that have been made must have stolen ideas from this book. A beautiful example of a person coming full circle on the realization of the reality of war. I highly reccommend this book, I could not put it down.

A Hundred Feet Over Hell: Flying With the Men of the 220th Recon Airplane Company Over I Corps and the DMZ, Vietnam 1968-1969

Had life not taken Jeff Kelly in other directions before and after publication of DMZ Diary, he might well have earned his living as a successful author. Unlike many such memoirs, this is written with a sure and steady hand that draws the reader in and compels him to turn the page. Kelly brings home the raw intensity of combat, the pain of losing friends, the rough humor and cynicism of the grunt.

I'll confess to a special interest in DMZ Diary. Kelly's job as part of the Communications Platoon, Tactical Air Control Party section, was adjusting artillery, naval gunfire, and close air support from the ground. His callsign was Fighting Mad 1-4 Mike. My brother Bill's tour as an Army aviator saw him flying above the same terrain where Kelly and his fellow Marines slugged it out eyeball-to-eyeball with the NVA. His callsign was Catkiller 1-2. His job was adjusting artillery, naval gunfire, and close air support from the air, and most of his missions were in direct support of the Marines. Inasmuch as Jeff and Bill's tours overlapped in the same area of operations in northern I Corps, the odds that 1-4 Mike spoke with Catkiller 1-2 (or his backseat observer) is more likely than not.

Thus it was (check where appropriate) lazy, short-sighted, arrogant of me not to have read DMZ Diary while working on my own book about the Catkillers. Had I done so, it would have not only provided greater depth and meaning to the role the Army pilots played, but added emphasis to the respect each had for the other.

If you're looking for the reality of what Marine grunts experienced during the Vietnam War, told by a master story-teller, you'll find it in Jeff Kelly's book. Buy it, read it, and be thankful for the men - then and now - whose motto is Semper Fidelis.

This is a great book that gives you a incite of what was happening in Vietnam as it was. Thanks Jeff

Jeff Kelly and I were the same place at the same time for almost all of 1968 and while there are other books written on this same period, "No Shining Armor", I love Jeff's diary approach. His book tells it like it was. What really helped me is I've lost/blocked most of my memory of Viet Nam and I'm trying to recreate it. His day by day diary approach has really helped. The names, opts, and places he mentions are all familiar to me, some more so than I wish. Thanks Jeff. I 3/3