Tragedy In Paradise : A Country Doctor At War In Laos [Paperback]

Charles Weldon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1999

This is the story of a country doctor from Louisiana involved in the war in Indochina. It is an anecdotal description of some of the events that occurred during the eleven years from June 1963 to July 1974 when the author, Dr. Charles Weldon, lived and worked in the Kingdom of Laos. It is a collection which is tied together by brief narrative sketches of his family and their daily lives. The book is a unique account of a tragic and little-known chapter of the "Secret" War in Laos, and of the wider conflict in Indochina as a whole.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charles Weldon was born in the tiny lumbering town of St. James, Louisiana in 1920. His mother died when he was nine years old, and he was raised by an older sister in San Angelo, Texas. After high school, he attended Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College and studied petroleum chemical engineering. He spent five years in the United States Marine Corps during World War II as an infantry officer, and fought in the Pacific theater against the Japanese. After World War II, he entered medical school in New Orleans, and graduated from Louisiana State University School of Medicine in 1951. He also has a post graduate degree in International Health from the Harvard University School of Public Health. His medial career started in pediatrics, but after one year he went into general practice in a rural area of Southern Louisiana. In addition to the eleven years he spent in Laos, Dr. Weldon has also lived and worked in Haiti, the Philippines, Cambodia, South Vietnam, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. He retired to Chiang Rai, a small provincial capital and farming center in Northern Thailand in 1987.

Product Details

• Paperback: 284 pages
• Publisher: Asia Books (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9748237389
• ISBN-13: 978-9748237381
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #24 in Books > History > Asia > Laos

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At the sharp end of the stick, September 10, 2000

By 

Bangkok Al (Bangkok Thailand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tragedy In Paradise : A Country Doctor At War In Laos (Paperback)

Charles Weldon (``Doc'' to most) has done us and the future a favour by writing his account of what surely was one of the most heroic, saddest wars of the 20th century. A legend in his prime during the height of the conflict in Laos, ``Doc'' Weldon paints a highly personal, sometimes emotional picture. The book is one of the few public recollections by the small group of men and women who participated in the Laos war of the 1960s and early 1970s. Tragedy in Paradise is extremely readable.

It is a series of short chapters, each detailing an event in the Weldon tour of Laos. It details how he fought for aid money from skinflint Washington, and worked to establish a health system in a country which had nothing but a desire for one. The central figure is the crusty but kindly doctor, a caregiver by choice and administrator by order of the penny-pinching bureaucrats. Most them don't really care too much about Laos or its people, so long as the regulations are followed and the career tickets are punched. A main figure is one of those Laotian legends, Edgar ``Pop'' Buell, who could have been the model for the Ugly American. Buell made a deserved reputation as a dedicated friend of Laos, its people and particularly his beloved Hmong.

In short, though, the book describes, in startling detail, how this tragic little war was lost, in the eyes of the men and women at the sharp end of the stick. It shows the duplicity of the senior Americans involved.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It will break your heart !, March 3, 2008

By 

BIG AL (Baton Rouge, LA.) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tragedy In Paradise : A Country Doctor At War In Laos (Paperback)

I met Dr. Charles "Jiggs" Weldon several times many years ago. He was somehow related to my mother (I am ashamed to admit that I haven't kept up with such things, until recently). I only wish that I really knew enough about the man at that time to sit and talk with him about his experiences in Laos, I really had no idea. Jiggs Weldon has written a fantastic book about the struggle in Laos and the futile efforts to support the Laotian people in their battle against the communists. He goes into detail about his experiences taking care of the civilians and soldiers. It is basically a collection of short stories that pieced together tell the story of his time in Laos. They had to battle the communists and fight the U.S. Government for adequate funding. This is a must read for anyone having interest in the events of Southeast Asia. Ultimately when the U.S. left Viet Nam, Laos was abandoned to the communists and the Royal Laotians were butchered by the Pathet Lao and their mentors, the North Vietnamese (who were financed and equipped by China). It was clear that Dr. Weldon loved the Laotian people and was heartbroken by the outcome. I always figured that is why he never came back to the U.S. and died in Thailand in 2002.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A legendary man's perspective of a failed and forgotten war., March 2, 2001

By 

R. ARANT "Toun" (Lanesville, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tragedy In Paradise : A Country Doctor At War In Laos (Paperback)

Doc Weldon is one of the truly heroic and most-beloved figures of the war years in Laos. He once again serves all Americans well by recording the events of his time and reminding us what it means to be an American. Great things can be accomplished even in pursuit of a lost cause.