Customer Reviews

Tan Phu: Special Forces Team A-23 in Combat

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
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Leigh Wade proves that with American ingenuity, and old fashion guts, you can do a lot of damage while minimizing friendly casualties. He also shows the reader that regardless of your primary MOS - he was a commo man - while assigned to a Special Forces A-Team, you are going to fight and kill like a proven grunt, which he did well, and often. Reading Wade's story helps me put Vietnam in perspective. He tells it the way it happened to him, and there's plenty to get your attention. He - through his writings - makes me proud to be an American. Way to go, Leigh!

Tan Phu was the Special Forces camp from which three Americans were captured in South Vietnam on 29 October 1963. If you read James N. (Nick) Rowe's Five Years to Freedom, then you'll want to read Tan Phu to get the rest of the true story on what happened to the 12-man Special Forces Team A-23. As the cover says: "every night you fought just to stay alive." Well written, and a good book to whet your appetite for reading more history about Special Forces operations. After reading Tan Phu, rent The Green Berets video starring John Wayne, which did a good job overall in portraying the daily struggle of isolated Special Forces camps to stay alive surrounded by the Viet Cong

I enjoy Leigh Wade's writing style and had read one of his other books. This book is his account of his first tour in Vietnam as a junior commo sergeant in a remote A-Team. Lt. Nick Rowe was on this team, and Wade's account of the operation that lead to the capture of Rowe (author of Five Years to Freedom) and Cpt. Rocky Versace (who was awarded a CMH posthumously for his actions as a POW) is a good addition to the historical record. After reading this book I re-read the beginning of Five Years to Freedom. It is very enlightening to read the two first person accounts of the battle. Both were accurate and insightful, and the differing perspectives helped illustrate some of the chaos of battle and fog of war. This book is a good personal record of the war from a junior green beret's point of view, uncensored and unapologetic.

This author kept my attention the whole time. Read this book, its great.

I first read this book back in the late 1990s as it was a hardcover selection of the Military Book Club. I loved reading it, and recently have re-read the book and find I still enjoy it. In fact I feel it to be the best of his books.

Vietnam, 1963. In 1963, as well as 1961-62-64, I was also in military service but got out just as the build up in Vietnam began. I enjoy reading books such as these to round out what was happening beyond the military experience I was having. I was safe and sound far from Vietnam, but as Wade says: "If you enjoyed getting shot at, Tan Phu was a great place to be." This book also shows how basic they had to fight the war, without "proper air, artillery, and logistical support". Could anyone imagine to what level our support would grow in Vietnam? From advisers to carrying the war even beyond the border's of Vietnam.

After reading this book it is quite clear why the ratings for the book are all 5-stars. And 5-stars for the man who wrote it, plus all the front line men who put it all on the line each and everyday. Though I never received orders for duty in Vietnam, I admire and respect all those that did.

Semper Fi.

I came through Tan Phu in April 1964 with my battalion after we had taken a beating near the U Minh Forest.
This book adds to my knowledge of events that transpired in that area in the early days.
An easy and informative read.

I read all three of Leigh Wade's books, 'Tan Phu: Special Forces Team A-23 in Combat', 'The Protected Will Never Know', and 'Assault on Dak Pek', in order, and loved them all. Wade spent multiple tours in 'Nam, between '63 and '70. He was not only a professional soldier, but a professional Special Forces soldier, so his point of view is a lot different from Joe Smuckatelli the Average Grunt. These books are gritty and honest and I hightly recommend them all- Tan Phu being first in the series and covering the pre-buildup Vietnam of 1963. In fact, I think I'd go so far as to say that I enjoyed these as much or more than any other series-type books on Vietnam (and I've read a pile of 'em.)