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Daniel Ford

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The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam Kindle Edition

by Daniel Ford (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 41 ratings

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;It's 1964, and Daniel Ford has just received a publisher's advance on his first book. He spends the money on a ticket to Saigon. Here is the war as he saw it, including the mission that became the acclaimed Burt Lancaster film Go Tell the Spartans. "A riveting account of the Vietnam War in its opening round. Recommended to students, veterans, and historians." (Annals of Vietnam)

"A riveting account of the Vietnam War in its openings round.
Recommended to students, veterans, and historians." (Annals of Vietnam, February 2002)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Ford's Vietnam isn't the one you generally read about. He loves the country and admires the Americans he meets in his travels. They in turn love their work, at least the men in the field do. But between the lines you can see that things will go terribly wrong with America's adventure in South Vietnam." -- Carleton Ross on Amazon.com
"A riveting account of the Vietnam War in its opening round. Recommended to students, veterans, and historians." -- Annals of Vietnam, February 2002
"As a young Army vet and reporter, Mr. Ford was sent to Vietnam to cover what was going on there in 1964.... Meeting the advisors who were running the war prior to its escalation was a real treat to me. As the author explains in his epilogue, his attitude and that of most of the advisors he met were very naive. That's part of the magic of this book. It's difficult to step back beyond hindsight and view things the way we did when we were young. Mr.Ford has managed to do it. This book is an important addition to Vietnam literature and military history in general." (Doug DePew on Goodreads)

From the Author

When I was trekking through South Vietnam in the spring and summer of 1964, I would lodge a suitcase with some friendly American soldier. In it were a portable typewriter and a hundred or so sheets of yellow "copy paper," as it was called by newspapermen of the day. Once a week, or maybe every three or four days, I would come out of the field and sit down with that typewriter and write about my most recent travels. I mailed the typescript to a pal at home who promised to send a $20 bill to the return address on the envelope. Less often, I'd write an article for Carey McWilliams at The Nation magazine, who in turn would send the $65 fee to that same pal. In this way I financed my months in Vietnam.
Nearly forty years later, I happened to read my account of Saigon, the Mekong Delta, the Central Highlands, and the seacoast. I could feel the heat again, and the thirst and the mosquitoes--the good fellowship of the American, Vietnamese, and Montagnard troops I accompanied--even the taste of iodine from my canteen--and most of all, the optimism and innocence that we all felt about Lyndon Johnson's adventure in Southeast Asia. So here it all is, just as it was written, before anyone guessed how badly it would all turn out. -- Daniel Ford, November 2012

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00157W7LC
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Warbird Books; 2017th edition (February 27, 2008)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 27, 2008
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2388 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 171 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #1,887,453 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #665 in Biographies of the Vietnam War
- #1,476 in Vietnam War History (Kindle Store)
- #1,694 in Vietnam War Biographies (Books)

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4.2 41 ratings

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Daniel Ford

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Daniel Ford has spent a lifetime studying and writing about the wars of the past hundred years, from Ireland's war of liberation to America's invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. A U.S. Army veteran and a reporter in Vietnam, he wrote the novel that was filmed as 'Go Tell the Spartans', starring Burt Lancaster. As a historian, he is best known for his prize-winning study of the American Volunteer Group--the gallant 'Flying Tigers' of the Second World War. Most recently, he has written a memoir of his life so far: "Looking Back From Ninety: The Depression, the War, and the Good Life that Followed." Visit www.DanFordBooks.com and sign up for a monthly newsletter about war, flying, and less important subjects.

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4.2 out of 5

41 global ratings

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manuel morales

excellent

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2024

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This book is about the Vietnam war and American armed forces. This writing is before the full war that began in 1964, very interesting...indeed!

Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2022

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A well written memoir about the early American phase of the forever war.

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Will from The 'Ville

HANDS DOWN - FANTASTIC!

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2022

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I originally read this book in early 1973.
It was a paperback issue. I dug out of a pile of books being discarded by U.S. Armed Forces members leaving the airport at Tan Son Nhut, Vietnam.
Normal books about Vietnam, and the war, and the effect it had on many, were good.
But, to me, this one was the best!
And now, I have it again, but in hard cover.
The paperback would have been a great memento.
Ragged, dirty, war-torn and passed from soldier to soldier.
I read it and left it behind.
I should have kept that book!

Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2019

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Liked the book a whole lot. One of the Special Forces personnel in this book happens to be a good friend of mine. Though in his 70s now, it is hard to believe that it is the same guy from back in the early 60s due to his quiet demeanor and typical grandfather looks.

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jeff c.

a very good read for viet vets

Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2019

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I didn't dislike anything about the book. I was in country during that time period.

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spun

US early involvement in the Vietnam quagmire

Reviewed in the United States on April 6, 2013

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This book provides a glimpse into the shadow US involvement in Vietnam, circa early 60's, when most Americans didn't even know where this country was located on a world map. Don't expect descriptions of fierce battles between VC and South Vietnamese forces--there not in this book. The author is sort of "island hopping" between remote South Vietnam and US outposts trying to see first hand how the war is/will be ramping up. Good reading for the person who wants to know about the early days of the Vietnam conflict.

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2017

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Excellent book about the very early years of America's involvement in SE Asia.

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2021

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A very self aggrandizing view of his contribution but very little to actual things going on. For a real understanding of what our boys went through get "WTF" by Lynne Black or any of Striker Meyers books.

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Malcolm N.

Memories

Reviewed in Canada on January 6, 2023

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Not all the way through it yet.. Had to put it down. .brought some bad memories back.

AK

Basis for the 'Incident at Muc Wa' and a very interesting account of the early US involvement in Vietnam

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 17, 2014

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Daniel Ford started covering Vietnam from a US perspective slightly before it became en vogue to do so - namely prior to the build-up of 1964. As a former serviceman he was given relatively unhindered access to the units already operating in country and covered everything from amphibious assaults to civilian tinged hearts and minds campaigns, from sepcial forces operations to the life on the street in Saigon.

As the situation fundamentally changed by the time he returned to the US, this original account was only published some thirty years later - it was however used as a basis for the author's very successful Incident at Muc Wa (Go Tell the Spartans) A Story of the Vietnam War (and the later Go Tell The Spartans [DVD ] movie adaptation thereoff), an early harbinger of things to come less than 10 years later (the author himself had no idea how prescient the book's events would turn out to be).

Being relatively fresh out of college, the author still had a certain naivete when it came to covering the events and that is definitely a refreshing element of the book. Similarly, most of the US advisors he interacts with (at least the ones out in the field), are still far from jaded, even though some of the 'old hands' already seem to see where the efforts were going wrong almost a decade before they really did.

The book is certainly not of the firefight a minute variety you may find in later Vietnam reports - here most sweeps end up without enemy encounters and the actual casualties are mostly as a result of booby traps. So the book is more of interest to people interested in the development of the situation, rather than those looking for an action packed novel.

In the end I feel the book a very worthwhile read for all those with an interest in both the Vietnam War in particular, as well as in revolutionary / guerilla warfare more generally. It gives an 'earlier' perspective and is thereby both a good complement to the Incident at Muc Wa (Go Tell the Spartans) A Story of the Vietnam War , as well as to later books such as Matterhorn .

raymond campbell

a good read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2013

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Mr Ford has an easy and informative writing style, which left me wanting to read more. In 1964, he travelled to Vietnam to report on the American advisors to the Vietnamese Army. He wrote a series of articles which are the basis for this book. If the reader is a fan of the film, Go Tell The Spartans, as I am, all the characters from the film are based on people who appear in this book. I enjoyed this non fiction book a lot more than Mr. Ford's fictional, Incident at Muc Wa, on which the film Go Tell The Spartans is actually based.

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