The Sons of Bardstown: 25 Years of Vietnam in an American Town [Hardcover]

Jim Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 24, 1994

Provides a poignant portrait of the small Kentucky town of Bardstown and the disproportionately large number of its young men who died in Vietnam. 15,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The residents of Bardstown, Kentucky, speak frankly of how they have been coping since June 19, 1969, when the 117-man (105 from Bardstown) Kentucky National Guard, 138th Artillery, Battery C, initially suffered 45 casualties in the fighting at Fire Base Tomahawk. In a town (1970 population: 6040) that exemplifies Middle America, the residents grieved together and questioned why Bardstown gave more than its share of men to America's war in Vietnam. The speakers here, mostly the veterans, along with the girlfriends, wives, and relatives of those who survived or died, also consider small-town life during the war and their feelings about the war. Wilson ( Retreat, Hell! We're Just Fighting in a Different Direction , Morrow, 1988) relies on interviews--and scant analysis--in this work, making for engaging but extremely choppy reading. For public libraries with collections of personal narratives of the Vietnam War.
- Charles L. Lumpkins, Bloomsburg Univ. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Wilson (Retreat, Hell!, 1988) movingly relates a small event in the Vietnam War--a night attack by North Vietnamese soldiers on Fire Base Tomahawk, a hill held by American troops--and its large effects on an ordinary Kentucky town. In a folksy, conversational style, Wilson briefly sums up Bardstown's history, from its founding as a frontier town in 1780, through its 19th-century eminence as a center of the bourbon industry and of Catholic learning and piety (Bardstown was made a diocese in 1808, at the same time as Boston, Philadelphia, and New York), to its small-town present. Wilson depicts Vietnam War-era Bardstown as a neighborly place where residents didn't have to lock their doors, where everyone knew everyone else, and where love of God and of country were constants. Against this background, the author tells the story of the 105 Bardstown men who made up Battery C of the 138th Artillery of the Kentucky National Guard. These men, mostly in their 20s, were engaged in the unspectacular business of starting families and finding livelihoods when Clark Clifford announced a general call-up of the National Guard on April 11, 1968. Relying extensively on interviews with survivors and their wives, Wilson tells the tale of how the men endured basic training, the different ways in which they bore the sorrow of parting from their wives, and their disorienting arrival in Vietnam. Their assignment, along with regular Army soldiers, to the strategically meaningless Fire Base Tomahawk--a low hill surrounded by much higher ones--resulted, on the night of June 19, 1969, in a hellish attack by North Vietnamese guerilla fighters in which ten Bardstown Guardsmen were killed. Wilson tells of Bardstown's shock at the news of the dead and the permanent scars that marked the wives, friends, and children left behind. Absorbing and poignant. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 198 pages
• Publisher: Crown; 1st edition (May 24, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517577372
• ISBN-13: 978-0517577370
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,076,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching, sad, and unbelievable., February 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sons of Bardstown: 25 Years of Vietnam in an American Town (Hardcover)

My uncle, Ronnie Simpson, was one of the guardsmen who died on Firebase Tomahawk. I think this book is a wonderful honor to all the men who died there and the families who edured it. It's a great book to see the toll the war took on regular American families.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Small Town Tragedy, September 26, 2007

By 

Edward Rasen Jr. "ExecEditor" (Maui) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sons of Bardstown: 25 Years of Vietnam in an American Town (Hardcover)

The early history about Bardstown, Kentucky is very interesting. However, this story is about young men in a National Guard unit that went to Viet-Nam. One night while the men were watching a James Bond movie after an afternoon of drinking and eating, their fire support base was attacked and ten men from the Bardstown unit were killed. Others were wounded. This is a sad story about senseless loss of life under the guise of patriotism and certainly a scathing indictment of the military adventure in Viet-Nam.

Unfortunately, the author revises some history for the sake of drama. For example on page 23 he starts a new paragraph with: "About this time, 1964 into 1965, the fighting in Vietnam was escalating at a rapid pace as America fought history's first television war. People around the country were beginning to hear such grim words as "body bags" and "body count" on the nightly news."

That is false. There were not any U.S. combat units in Viet-Nam until a U.S. Marines brigade (2000 men) was sent to Da Nang (coastal port in the northern section of South Viet-Nam) during March 8, 1965. The soldiers were greeted by Vietnamese schoolgirls dispensing garlands of flowers. The Marines were not allowed to conduct military operations and simply performed perimeter security behind the lines of the Army of the Republic of Viet-Nam (ARVN) 1st Division. The first two Marines killed were "friendly fire" casualties, shot by fellow Marines in the same unit. Obviously, despite propaganda about Marines, most were just teenagers, easily frightened or poorly trained.

At the end of 1964, there were approximately 20,000 U.S. military personnel in Viet-Nam of which some were advisors to South Vietnamese army, navy, air force, marine, national police and paramilitary home-guard units. In spite of endless war stories, most U.S. military personnel in Viet-Nam through 1965 were mechanics, clerks, truck drivers, communications technicians, etc.

Moreover, there were few journalists in Viet-Nam and even less cameramen shooting film for television news. Plus, in those days, film had to be shipped to Hong Kong for processing and then shipped by airplane to New York. Print stories were sent by telex if the cables lines were operational. There was not any international telephone service nor internet, nor cell-phones. Color film had to be sent to Hong Kong for processing.

Moreover, Lyndon Johnson had made a concerted effort to keep Viet-Nam out of the news during the 1964 Presidential campaign. Therefore, Viet-Nam was far from the grist of daily television news. The first big story was the small attack against a U.S. Army aviation support unit at Camp Holloway near Plei Ku in the Central Highlands. Eight Americans were killed and another 100 wounded during February 8, 1965, one month before the first U.S. combat unit was deployed.

The first U.S. Army combat operation was not conducted until May 31, 1965 and it was barely more than a proverbial walk in the park. The first "battle" covered by U.S. networks television news was the minor siege of a Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) camp supported by a U.S. Army Special Forces 12-man A-team, south of Plei Ku in the Central Highlands region of southern Viet-Nam. But, no battle actually transpired and the camp only had a couple dozen Americans of which several were killed. That is far from being a rapidly escalating war.

The author does a good job of revealing the effect Viet-Nam had on some citizens of Bardstown, Kentucky. Also, it is interesting to learn how Kentucky newspapers never opposed the war even after the tragic loss and presented the deaths as the result of heroic actions. Apparently, sitting around drinking beer and watching a James Bond flick was heroic action. In reality, a small group of men died on the side of a small hill outside a small town in southern Viet-Nam. Their deaths did not change nor accomplish anything. Simply, they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Moreover, as the author describes. most people in Bardstown were not affected and went to work, school or on vacation, met for extra-marital affairs, got pregnant, went shopping, etc. The military conflict in Viet-Nam and the deaths of local men did not change many lives in Bardstown or the United States.

Officially, 58,208 U.S. military personnel died in Viet-Nam and of that approximately 47,000 from hostile action including friendly fire. Official U.S. Department of Defense records show the State of Kentucky from January 1, 1964 to December 31, 1976 lost 618 men due to hostile actions and another 145 to non-hostile acts such as vehicle accidents, drowning, suicide or drug overdose.

Officially, the conflict ended March 30, 1973, the day after the few remaining military personnel were withdrawn. There were very few casualties during 1973 as few military units were in Viet-Nam. The last U.S. combat unit departed Viet-Nam during August 23, 1972 after spending it's final months guarding warehouses and docks at Da Nang, as U.S. equipment was shipped back to the United States. So, the State of Kentucky lost most men between 1966 to 1971 or approximately 123 men per year, which was probably much less per year in Kentucky than from either automobile accidents, drug overdoses, suicides, or bad moonshine.

Viet-Nam barely impacted most citizens of Kentucky during the mid-to- late 1960s. But, this is still an excellent story about the impact of war and the effects of self-serving presidents. Plus, while the sons of Bardstown died in a stupid war, psuedo patriots like former Vice President Richard Cheney, during the 1960s lied to his local draft board in order to obtain five draft deferments during the Viet-Nam conflict.

President George Bush, Jr., while visiting Ha Noi, Viet-Nam during December 2006, stood under a bust of Ho Chi Minh and praised the Communist government just a day before endorsing Viet-Nam for membership in the World Trade Organization. Obviously, the evil Red Chinese and their communist stooges in Ha Noi are now good guys and the American soldiers who died in Viet-Nam, nothing more than naive fools. Read this book.

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings the Impact of Vietnam Home, January 27, 2008

By 

Dangerous Dave - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Sons of Bardstown: 25 Years of Vietnam in an American Town (Hardcover)

I'm originally from Bardstown and knew/know some of the individuals mentioned in this book. It's well written and really brings the impact of what happened in Vietnam home.