Customer Reviews

Looking for a Hero: Staff Sergeant Joe Ronnie Hooper and the Vietnam War

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you only read the first three pages of the prologue,

you'll recognize my name.

It's hard to read the negative stuff about a brother in arms,

a friend and about a war you thought at the time,

was worth fighting and dying for.

I have so much respect for Capt. McMenamy, Capt. Hogan and

Platoon Sgt. Parker,

that to this day, at a reunion, it is hard not to refer to them by their rank rather than by

"Wayne, Cleo & George".

The inspiring story of " Joe Hooper & the Delta Raiders" is

well documented in the book, but then I'm prejudiced.

If you want a history lesson about the Vietnam war without any

sugar coating, I would recommend this book.

If you want a textbook case of how alcohol can affect a great

man, I would also recommend this book.

I will go to my grave with the belief that SSgt. Sims

threw himself on that grenade to save his men.

The Professor seems to write a bit skeptically about PTSD,

for those that feel likewise I have written a poem.

"If nightmares & dreams could be bottled like wine,

I'd send you a crate,

Vintage Tet 68,

so you could share some of mine"


God Bless Ya, Joe Hooper


Sgt. Al Mount
D Co. 2/501st. Inf.
101st Airborne Div.

This book is fantastic! It follows the life of Hooper from childhood to his death, but also discusses the Vietnam War and many of its details. The book however does not get bogged down in the details of the war but refers to it in an appropriate amount. The book is a joy to read and reads quite quickly. The life of Hooper is an exciting journey full of highs and lows. His life seems to not get enough credit or recognition as it should or as much as Audie Murphy in WWII or York in WWI. This book gives at least gives you the objective truth about Joe Hooper's life and leaves you to either respect him or dislike him.
I was a student of professor Maslowski at the University of Nebraska and I can tell you first hand that he is a wonderful professor and a very intelligent man. I have heard him lecture about the war and he knows what he is talking about. He understands the difference between judging the war at a broad level and at the platoon level and this book goes to show it. He has total respect for the individual that served but understands the overall flaws in the command and how the individual was effected by them.
I would definitely suggest this book to read, because it is extremely interesting and very historically accurate.

This is a masterfully researched and written account of the Vietnam War era which makes use of the life of Joe Hooper to illustrate that period of time and the conflict. The formidible team of Maslowski and Winslow are a pair of guides who take you through the jungles of Southeast Asia, the tumultuous politics and social upheavals of America during the 60s and early 70s, and the world of the combat soldier. They periodically stop the narrative to explore such crucial topics as the psychology of human bravery and motivation under the extreme duress of combat, the volatility and subjectivity of memory, and the Cold War mindset of the 1960s. Against this backdrop is woven the checkered life of Joe Hooper: a valiant warrior, womanizer, drinker--a man who could never quite adjust to normal human society. For any student of the Vietnam War era, this book should be essential reading. Maslowski examines the policies and motivations of the three American presidents, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, who pursued the Vietnam debacle; they are each excoriated for the cock-sure macho attitude of their era, their misguided policies, their isolation from and neglect of intelligent voices that could have significantly altered the course of what ultimately became the first big military disaster in American history. Simply put, Maslowski and Winslow--to use a turn of phrase prevalent in the Vietnam Era--tell it like it is.

With LOOKING FOR A HERO, Peter Maslowski and Don Winslow have given us an inspiring and heart-breaking tribute to the heroism of Staff Sergeant Joe Hooper and his fellow Delta Raiders of the 101st Airborne Division. By extension, the book is actually a tribute to all who served in the combat infantry during the Vietnam War. The authors' respect for the courage and tenacity of those who shouldered a grunt's rucksack in the jungles and villages of Vietnam is obvious. Thanks to LOOKING FOR A HERO, the story of MOH-winner Joe Hooper, and it's a poignant and important story, will not disappear down the memory hole.

All of which makes baffling the criticisms that have been leveled here against LOOKING FOR A HERO, from the ludicrous attack that the book was not well-researched, to the one-star review which opined that the book failed to explain the heart and soul of Joe Hooper. Actually, Hooper could not have hoped for more fair, compassionate, and accurate biographers than Maslowski and Winslow. The man comes alive again thanks to their exhaustive research and gift for the written word. In no way, as has been alleged, does LOOKING FOR A HERO tear down Joe Hooper or any other combat soldier who fought in Vietnam. To shine a spotlight on the conflicting testimony that veterans provide about battles, or to expose the army hierarchy's crass abuse of the awards system, or to acknowledge that war heroes are human too with warts and imperfections, in no way diminishes the central theme of the book: namely, the heroism of Joe Hooper, Clifford Sims, Dale Urban, and their fellow Delta Raiders.

And to point out, as the authors do, that the sacrifices of the Vietnam combat soldier were ultimately rendered in a lost cause is self evident, and not a slam at those who answered the call and did their duty. Maslowski and Winslow's negative critique of U.S. policy and tactics in Vietnam is spot on, however painful it is to admit as much. The mistakes made during the Vietnam (indeed, the mistake that was the Vietnam War) are not supposed to be glossed over to make the pain of the war more palatable, but ruthlessly examined so that young Americans like those who served in the Delta Raiders will hopefully never again be thrown away in unwinnable foreign adventures.

It's a shame that LOOKING FOR A HERO did not garner the attention it deserved. Maslowski and Winslow have written a book as profound as A RUMOR OF WAR, THE 13th VALLEY, WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE AND YOUNG, and THE LONG GRAY LINE.

Keith Nolan (author of RIPCORD, OPERATION BUFFALO, etc.)

Incredibly researched from documents on both sides. The Viet Cong strategies that frustrated US troops is revealed in this book. This book also tells the "real" story behind the most-decorated Vietnam hero. There are at least 3 movies lurking in this exceptional work.

This book is much more than an excellent biography of a Viet Nam vet and MOH recipient. It is an extensively researched historic account of the Viet Nam war from Kennedy to Nixon. The book covers every aspect of the war. It is brutally honest and that is why the book will upset a few. I have read several books about the war and this is one of my favorites. A must have for any war buff's collection.

This is a massive book on a man that few have ever heard of. This book's bulk is due to it being both a biography of Vietnam War hero Joe Hooper and a history of the war as it parallels with Hooper's life. I'm not sure if the book's aim is to honor Hooper or use him to expose the troubled history of the war. I detected somewhat of an anti military bias in the book.

Joe Hooper may have been a poor metaphor to use as an example that everything about Vietnam came to a bad end. Hooper's life was on a down hill track before he arrived in-country. Prior to joining the 101st Airborne he had been demoted from Staff Sgt to Corporal. Yet in war he excelled, being widely recongnized as the war's most decorated soldier (a status that later in the war would go to Special Forces SFC Robert Howard). Hooper left the Army, for awhile, and lived a high profile life in Hollywood, appearing on The Tonight Show, The Doris Day Show, Hollywood Squares, and other shows. With his actress girlfriend he tried to interest producers to do a movie on his war exploits. But more than anything else Joe Hooper was a combat soldier. He reenlisted and volunteered for a combat assignment in Vietnam. During his 2nd tour Hooper became an officer and earned a well deserved 2nd Silver Star.

Hooper died young, not because of the war, but the war gave his short life meaning. The authors believe that the war was lost on the battlefield. I don't recall anyone in 1973, (when the N. Vietnamess signed a peace treaty), saying that we lost the war. The war was restarted and won by the North in 1975 when they violated the treaty. The lesson on the Vietnam War is don't trust tyrants.

This is a good book for the information on Hooper by those who knew him, as for the history lesson- talk to a veteran of the war.

I bought this book to read about Joe Hooper. What I got was a hatchet job on Sergeant Hooper's time in Vietnam and his life. I can't imagine why authors Maslowski and Winslow would go to such lengths to defame an American soldier.

Looking for a Hero is a cleverly written book that takes well researched information and twists it in such a way as to distort the historical facts and reality of the Vietnam War. The authors would like you to believe that the VC/NVA were the heros and the American soldiers were either fools, suckers, cowards, drunks or anything else but not courageous. I believe the book is nothing more than a slanderous smear of America and its soldiers. If you like read the book and see if you agree with me.

Joe Hooper was a member of D/2/501 Infantry, a Delta Raider. I too am Delta Raider. I met Joe Hooper in May 1970, I did not serve with him however. If you are a Delta Raider you will love and hate this book. The author seems to love the Raiders as a whole, yet somehow seems to relish tearing down the image of Joe Hooper.
Hooper was far from perfect, but was more than brave. The author spents a great deal of time on the varying accounts of Hooper MOH recommendations, as a combat veteran I know that people in the same battle see things differently depending on their locations be they only feet apart.

He seems to throw bricks at the common soldier from time to time refering to some actions as small fire fights. If you have been in a fire fight you know there is no such thing as a small fire fight. He also steps on the toes of the NCO's known as "Shake and Bakes". These draftee soldiers carried the squad and platoon level war for the U.S. Army in the later years of the conflict.

He also spents a great deal of time telling us what most of us already know. That the higher commanders were getting their career tickets punched, and had no idea how to win the war, while the infantry soldier fought a real war everyday.

All in all this book is worth the read, but if you were there, well you know.

Oh Yeah, we were winning when I left.