Fire Mission:The World of Nam-a Marine's Story [Perfect Paperback]

Earl J. Gorman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 11, 2008

Award Winning Memoir of a life-changing 2007 adventure back to Vietnam with a medical mission team that weaves in the author's 1965-66 combat experiences as a Marine artillery officer, "who spent too much time with the grunts." Against all odds, he searched for the two Vietnamese friends he had emotionally connected with during the war. Closure for combat veterans is the powerful message that weaves through the inspirational story. A deadly Viet Cong sapper unit attack on his artillery battery as well as episodes from Operation Hastings, the first large scale battle along the DMZ are featured combat stories. Tours of Hue, the Gulf of Tonkin, and the "Hanoi Hilton" prison round out the Annapolis graduate's memoir.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Earl J. Gorman, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate (1964), fought on the battlefield of Vietnam during 1965-1966 as a Marine Corps artillery officer. After receiving his Juris Doctor degree from the John Marshall Law School in 1972, he worked as an attorney in private practice, as a financial futures trader while a member of a Chicago commodity futures exchange, and as an executive with a recycling company. He and his wife, BJ, live in Clarendon Hills, Illinois. They have 3 grown children and 3 grandchildren.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: Red Desert Press; First edition (June 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615205941
• ISBN-13: 978-0615205946
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #461,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Rare Artillery story, August 30, 2008

By 

Andrew Lubin "author of Charlie Battery; A Ma... (Bucks County, Pa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire Mission:The World of Nam-a Marine's Story (Perfect Paperback)

While there are many book from Vietnam veterans about their time in `Nam on bookstore shelves today, there are too-few good ones. "Fire Mission" is one of the few good ones.

Author Earl Gorman was a Marine officer fighting in Vietnam in 1965-1966. An artilleryman, his was a slightly different view of the war; at times he was stationed out in the field with an infantry unit as a forward observer where he lived and worked with a `grunt' unit, and then later was based back on the gun line responsible for a battery of 105mm howitzers.

Gorman is an excellent writer with a grasp of detail. "Fire Mission" (an artillery term) lets the reader begin to understand the mindset of a Marine officer trying to maintain his moral balance in the midst of a brutal war. He comments on his disgust in seeing VC bodies being displayed for American civilian and military visitors from Saigon, yet keeps his humanity as he meets and builds a relationship with a Vietnamese mother and daughter.

Commenting on the politics, Rules of Engagement, his superiors, and his times in combat, former 1st Lt Gorman blends the sarcasm and accuracy of a young Marine with the poignant observations and recollections of an older citizen soldier; one who has done his duty to his country yet hopes that others may not have to follow in his footsteps. Well done, Sir!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GRIPPING, July 23, 2008

By 

Timothy R. Matts - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fire Mission:The World of Nam-a Marine's Story (Perfect Paperback)

I was looking for truth about the Viet Nam experience and found it in FIRE MISSION. I read it cover to cover- not able to put it down.
This book is well-written and gives the reader the straight story without bias. It is bold, personal and grips you from the first chapter. I have read other Viet Nasm reconts, but have never read one that is as honest as this one. I recommend it to anyone who wnts to read a personal story framed in history and truth.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, the truth, July 20, 2008

By 

Brian B. Collins - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fire Mission:The World of Nam-a Marine's Story (Perfect Paperback)

I read Earl Gorman's "Fire Mission" in two days...couldn't put it down. The reality of the daily life and death struggle, command incompetence, gentleness (or perfidy) of the Vietnamese, and the whimsy of the bullet and the bomb were extraordinarily compelling.

And the juxtaposition of hunt-and-kill with unbridled spirituality is something new in the literature of this, our second most stupid war.

I highly recommend this book for everyone who wants to understand how it really was in Viet Nam; how most of our troops responded with courage and compassion; and how war - any war - changes those who fight it.