Customer Reviews

Under Fire: Great Photographers and Writers in Vietnam

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In 1966 the infantry company to which I belonged was preparing to conduct a combat air assault into War Zone C during Operation Attleboro. I was told that a reporter would accompany my platoon. It was then that I met less than 5',less than 100 pounds, just 21 Cathy Leroy. On this operation she earned the respect of all of the men in the company. She was right there with us, always carrying her weight, always where the action was.
"Under Fire" tells the story of combat in Vietnam as it was. In our war too many of our fellow citizens held the soldier responsible for doing what the leaders of his country had asked him to do. Those same soldiers returned from war and found it impossible to explain what they had done, what they had witnessed, and how they had suffered as the result of the life and death struggle in which they had fought. The photographs and narratives in "Under Fire" tell their story in a way that the reader can understand even if the reader has not personally experienced the devastation of combat.
Thank you Cathy for bringing us this work.

I first met Catherine Leroy on the Bien Hoa airfield as the 173D Airborne Brigade prepared for Operation Junction City, the only parachute assult of that war. A diminutive blonde French woman, barely in her twenties, Ms Leroy was tough as nails and "cute as a button". I managed to take a photograph of her rigged in her parachute and "armed" with a pair if Leika cameras just before we boarded our aircraft (see the insert inside the back of the dust cover). Cathe was a no nonsense professional then as she is now. She and her colleagues have done a magnificent job of portraying the reality of war. "Under Fire" is a must read, not only for veterans of all wars but, especially for those other souls who have not experienced the realities of combat. Through first rate up close and personal photography, with associated narrative and comment, Cathe and her "band of brothers" have brought "great dignity to what might otherwise be viewed as a vulgar brawl". "5 - Star"

This is as close as you can get in 2 dimensions to the 'reality' of 'war', words so often used but rarely, and really, never understood by those who have never lived through the experience.
The passion expressed in the photographs and words of the contributors to this work evoke memories to those of us who were there that will never completely fade. The experience has changed us all forever, and that is good. Vietnam was no different than any other war, people die, most innocent, some not, but what have we to gain from it ?

This is an important book. The photographs will haunt and amaze you. It's hard to imagine people could get that close to the action. You believe for a moment that you are actually there witnessing it.

Catherine stops the action with a great sense of timing. I'm not sure how she does it, but to show violence, heart break, and compassion is incrediable. As a Marine who was on Hill 484 where she took photos, Catherine gets it right. A must read for those who weren't there, her book explains the madness some call a political extension and others call war. Not for the squemish or the undecided, her photos show real people doing what they must to survive. About as real as you can get, and not be there that instant.
Semper Fidelis

Very good book which reports the true feelings of the Men and Women involved in Vietnam. Vert well put together.

In no way would I ever take away from the effort and images that most of the photographers mentioned in this book accomplished. What I have always found disheartening (in this book and all previous books published of Vietnam photographs) is the fact that these photographers were pretty much first "shown the ropes" by military combat photographers that were in country. Many military combat photographers on many occasions saved these journalists' asses that were good photographers but were dumber than dirt in a combat zone. I'm still waiting for the book to be published using images of Vietnam by combat photographers that are filed away somewhere in the Dept of Defense archives.