Customer Reviews

Images from the Otherland: Memoir of a United States Marine Corps Artillery Officer in Vietnam

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

 

 

These comments are from the review by Marcia Morphy that
appeared in the December 4, 1995 issue of the
Brighton-Pittsford (New York) Post. The following is
excerpted from Ms. Morphy's review:

"There are moments in this book that are powerfully moving.
Kenneth P. Sympson takes us on a wartime journey with a
descriptive account of his tour of duty as a Marine Corps
artillery officer during America's longest war - Vietnam.
(Quoting from the book) 'Villages in the distance. Rice
paddies framed by dikes. Occassional Vietnamese in the
fields. Bent over in the paddies. Shuffling along the roads.
Lined with palm trees. Peaceful. Primitive. Lush and green.
So pretty from up here... The helicopter about 75 meters
ahead of us begins its descent into the LZ. Suddenly it's
hit by ground fire from the hamlet. (Jesus, what was that!)
... Trailing smoke and clutching its Marines, it rolls to
the left and free falls out of sight beneath us. Now we
are the prey.'

"Sympson started writing this book as a form of self-therapy
after he was stricken with non-Hodgkins lymphona, a cancer
probably caused by exposure to Agent Orange. In his book,
Sympson vividly and sensitively recounts the horrors of war:
small pockets of Viet Cong hiding in hedgerows and tunnels,
booby traps and punji stakes... "