Escape With Honor: My Last Hours in Vietnam (Adst-Dacor Diplomats and Diplomacy Book) [Hardcover]

Francis Terry McNamara (Author), Adrian Hill (Author), Terry McNamara (Author)

Book Description

Series: Adst-Dacor Diplomats and Diplomacy Book | Publication Date: September 1997

As the government of South Vietnam was collapsing and communist troops were closing in, American diplomat Francis Terry McNamara led more than 300 Americans, Vietnamese, and Filipinos down a tributary of the Mekong River to safety. This is his dramatic true account of leadership, courage, and commitment.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the early morning hours of late April 1975, McNamara, the U.S. consul general in charge at Can Tho, Vietnam, was awakened by loud explosions from enemy rocket fire. Over the next few hours, McNamara, who at 47 considered himself "too old for this kind of nonsense," realized that the end had come: "After twenty years, we were about to run from the North Vietnamese Army." The career diplomat, whose service includes postings throughout Africa as well as ambassadorships, began evacuating his American staff and Vietnamese agents. Abandoning all but a satchel-full of his worldly goods, he slipped away from his home without alerting his Vietnamese maids, lest they alert the townspeople. He then rounded up a contingency of embassy personnel, U.S. Marines and endangered Vietnamese and Filipino civilians, whom he led on a treacherous escape via 70 miles of the enemy-lined Ba Sac River. Along the way, his convoy was abandoned by its small CIA contingent, threatened by severe weather and forced into a nerve-wracking standoff with a Vietnamese Navy boat. In the end, the group was rescued from rough seas by U.S. Marines. The work of a compassionate, literate man (here writing with Hill, a novelist and former career diplomat), this is an inside view of the final days of the American presence in Vietnam. More importantly, it is an informative, uplifting inside view of how people cope in times of chaos. Photos not seen by PW.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

The drama of the apocalyptic final hours of the Vietnam War --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 227 pages
• Publisher: SOS Free Stock; 1st edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574881205
• ISBN-13: 978-1574881202
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,953,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A riveting book about a true story--reads like a movie!, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Escape With Honor: My Last Hours in Vietnam (Adst-Dacor Diplomats and Diplomacy Book) (Hardcover)

During every great event there occurs little-known tales of heroism and sacrifice; Ambasador McNamara's book tells the story on one of them. The evacuation of the handful of American civilians and Marines of the U.S. Consulate General in Can Tho, along with their South Vietnamese employees and families,reads like a movie, and is all the more exciting for being true. Their story of sacrifice, heroism, betrayal, and tragedy was lost in the greater story of the simultaneous evacuation of Saigon, but one with a historical bent will see in McNamara's tale a reflection of Xenephon's Persian expedition. Don't start reading this one before bedtime, or you'll be up all night to finish it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Positive and uplifting., November 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Escape With Honor: My Last Hours in Vietnam (Adst-Dacor Diplomats and Diplomacy Book) (Hardcover)

In a time of uncertainty, danger and demoralization, this is a story that shows that even in the midst of the end of the Vietnam war our few remaining Americans cared deeply about the people that they had supported. A story of heroism generally not recognized and long overdue in the telling.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad, August 14, 2006

By 

A. Jones "AJ" (LA, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ESCAPE WITH HONOR (M: My Last Hours in Vietnam (Memories of War) (Paperback)

This book peaked my curiosity because my brother was one of the marines stationed at this particular embassy in Vietnam. he's only mentioned in it twice by name but it was great learning about what the had to do to get out. Now my brother had never talked about it but recently mentioned it (briefly) at a family dinner and I did my own research. He did end up with a 22 year career and retired as a sgt major. some of the ook is really technical because its told by the ambassador but its a decent read.