Highest Traditions: Memories of War [Hardcover]

Tony Lazzarini (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 27, 2003

Fly in a UH-1D (Huey) helicopter in Vietnam as a door gunner when the average life span was an expected 20 seconds in combat. Learn about the equipment, men and missions. A different kind of war story takes the reader inside the author's mind during his 21 month tour of duty. Read how helicopter missions were flown and why. Fly with the 25th Aviation "A" Company "Little Bears", one of the most decorated helicopter units of the Vietnam War. Twelve full color pictures.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Highest Traditions is filled with exhilarating stories of claymore mines getting caught on the Huey s landing skids, inadvertently landing in a minefield, taking off in tight jungle openings, and flying clandestine spook missions in black, unmarked UH-1s. Highest Traditions is definitely worth reading. --Air & Space Power Journal

Excellent balance of descriptive prose and journal-like reminiscences makes Highest Traditions a rare treat! --Denice's Pieces Author Site and Book Reviews

Hair-raising and touching at the same time. A vividly written yet tasteful account of a nightmare experience. --Heartland Book Reviews

From the Publisher

Highest Traditions received awards in 2003 from the American Authors Association for "Best Military Non-Fiction" and "Best Memoir 2003" from RebeccaReads.com.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 170 pages
• Publisher: Voyager Publishing (March 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1891555022
• ISBN-13: 978-1891555022
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,359,071 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born and raised in San Francisco, Tony Lazzarini now resides in Marin County, California with his wife, Arlene. In 1985 his Christmas holiday musical play, Tale of the Toy Soldier, won him a national playwriting contest and has been produced by numerous theater groups in Northern California.
His first book, Never Trust A Man In Curlers, received a "Best Book of the Year" award in 1998 from the North American Bookdealers Exchange based in Cottage Grove, Oregon.
An IBM Customer Engineer for ten years, he contributed articles for its district publication, Bay Window, and was involved with new product announcement programs.
He has written three other plays, Company Stock (another musical) Buddies, a story of two life long friends, and premiering in the 2010, Looking for.......
Serving in Vietnam with the Army's 25th Infantry Division, he flew over 250 missions as a helicopter door gunner and received several medals for valor. His award winning book, Highest Traditions, transports its readers back to the years 1966 and '67 and into the skies of Vietnam on a UH-1D (Huey) assault helicopter.
His short film is a supplement to the book and a new concept in book marketing. The BVD (BookVideoDisc) combines era correct film footage, personal photographs and original songs and music combined with narrated book excerpts. This combination supply's the reader with a better visual and emotional feel to subjects not familiar to them.
He is past President of the Military Writers Society of America and partner of Voyager Publishing.
In 2009, he made an entry into the world of film making as the director of the full lenght documentary, Arabian Silk-Horses of Endurance.
Tony's free time finds him working on one of his collector cars or taking excursions on his motorcycle with his wife. He has held competition licenses with S.C.C.A. and I.M.S.A. and races a 1968 AMX vintage racecar in events in California and Nevada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Succeeds in Communicating his Vietnam Experience, December 6, 2003

By 

David G. Gran "militaryreadinglist" (Stafford, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Highest Traditions: Memories of War (Hardcover)

Set during the time-frame just prior to the Tet Offensive. Tony Lazzarini succeeds in communicating his experience in Vietnam as a UH-1D (Huey) door gunner. He does an outstanding job describing, from one man's tactical perspective, the emerging doctrine of air assault. Highest Traditions also gives you a perspective of the social and emotional impact of the war on Tony and his fellow soldiers.
I enjoyed reading this book. Once I picked it up, it was hard to put down. Organized into many very short chapters making it easy to read. Highly recommended for those of you that have an interest in Air Assault or helicopter operations during the Vietnam War. Check it out, you won't be disappointed.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, August 9, 2003

By 

Ross Guistino (Rohnert Park, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Highest Traditions: Memories of War (Hardcover)

This is the second book I've had the pleasure of reading by Tony. His writing style is easy to read and always entertaining. One of those books that you don't want to put down until you're done, then pick it up again and start all over. He has a way of taking you from page to page, keeping you in the scene and taking you to the next with ease. Highly recommended.

2.0 out of 5 stars Vietnam Hueys, February 14, 2010

By 

Antoine E. Roy (New Boston, N.H.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Highest Traditions: Memories of War (Hardcover)

Having served as a gunner in a Huey, I found this book lacking in accurate details.
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