Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

This is a story of us who served in Vietnam. It is a direct contact with everyday Americans who served there, and those who served on the home-front and loved us.

After all these years, all those times that I wanted to re-connect with you guys but decided against it -- to not bring up dreaded memories -- and then to discover this book on the shelf of the Florida State Univeristy library. I was there looking for other books and ran across this book. I read it immediately there while in the library and was near to tears to experience it all over again -- that which I have buried deep surfaces. I read it again tonight, Saturday, May 05, in about 5 hours; more closely, looking hard at the pictures, the memories flooding back into me. I wish I were near you guys tonight to talk about this. I am surprised that I feel this way. That damn war is still too much with me; what it did to our guys and to those who love them. I wonder too about how much of it remains within us. I am making plans to visit all of you in Bardstown -- I hope I can do the visit in August; that's my goal. See everyone then.

I am WW 2 vintage, service on Aircraft Carrier Wasp CV18 1944-1945. Nothing, absolutely nothing, that I experienced could equal the story of these men. I did not know any of them but did meet a relative of one(that's how I found the book) As I said the jackt has a touching remark about the Wall". I cried at the wall also!!!