Customer Reviews

NO LONGER ENEMIES, NOT YET FRIENDS: An American Soldier Returns to Vietnam

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This book is essentially a memoir by Frederick Downs, former infantry lieutenant whose arm was blown off by a mine in the Vietnam war. Twenty years later he finds himself, now the director of the VA's Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service, as a US team member re-establishing contact with Vietnam to determine their humanitarian needs. Downs faces his own prejudices and memories as he deals with his former enemies, and walks a political tightrope as the US tries to extend aid to Vietnam, without making it appear as though the US was trading aid for missing American soldier remains. Downs also examines his own preoccupation with his service in Vietnam, asserting, "Once a man has contributed his blood and his honor to a country, he is always a part of what it becomes." His own veteran friends question his actions in "helping the enemy."
Downs' descriptions of life in late 1980's northern Vietnam are well-written and informative, as is his verbal portrait of his North Vietnamese counterpart, Dr. Bui Tung.
A deeper book examining how the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong soldiers fought the war, written by former US soldiers who go through their own feelings of "dealing with the enemy," is _ Inside the Vc and the Nva: The Real Story of North Vietnam's Armed Force_ by Michael Lee Lanning and Dan Cragg.

No Longer Enemies,Not Yet Fiends is the story of Down's dual journeys: as an official for reapproachment between two adversaries;and his own internal journey from hatred and suspicion to a large understanding of commonality of human suffering.In his book the author has more than anyone else,tried to convince himself,as to why a soldier who has lost his arm in war against Vietnam be there to help the same.

After reading an excerpt from "The Killing Zone" I really wanted to like this book. In actuality, it was the first book I had read by Mr. Downs. I could not believe that as the book was published in the 90's he is still referring to Asians as Orientals; there were also a number of passages that were potically insensitive. I expected a more savvy account of his experiences and was thoroughly disappointed.