Product Description

In vivid prose, Vietnam Vignettes discloses the author’s innermost feelings about his experiences as an advisor and an infantry commander in Vietnam in the late sixties and early seventies.

Writing with the clarity of a seasoned journalist and with the insight of a soldier who came up through the ranks, Lee Basnar describes the war’s horrific impact on Vietnamese peasants, and details his soldiers’ daily struggle to survive. He presents a new perspective on what it meant to be an infantryman in the longest war in our nation's history.

From searching for missing soldiers upon taking command of Charlie Company to leading his troops in a night combat air assault to rescue a beleaguered platoon, the author immerses the reader in each scene. He explains why a top-secret operation in North Vietnam drowned four of his soldiers. He skillfully conveys tension, fear, and courage as his infantrymen engage in a series of firefights across the coastal plain and in the jungled mountains west of Chu Lai.

This collection of tales goes far beyond the mines, booby traps, snipers, and spider holes that his soldiers encountered almost daily. The author decries the unreasonable rules of engagement regarding the use of indirect fire when enemy bullets wounded his warriors in open rice paddies. He voices his thoughts about a staff officer who tragically diverted helicopters to the wrong landing zone - helicopters that transported Charlie Company during one of its many combat air assaults.

He depicts flying with an air force forward air controller on a combat mission. When the pilot dived the OV-10 Bronco spotter plane and fired a white phosphorous rocket to mark the enemy base camp as a target for an Australian bomber crew, the enemy responded.

While a truck convoy that he commanded delivered artillery pieces to the isolated Tra Bong firebase, Captain Lee Basnar rode above the column in a helicopter. When rocket-propelled grenades slammed into the convoy during the return trip to Chu Lai, the infantry officer and his pilot each earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for evacuating wounded soldiers while under intense enemy fire.

Vietnam Vignettes tells of the war’s impact on the children who greeted the infantry company during some of its operations in villages near LZ Stinson. It portrays the beauty and the ugliness of Vietnam, the monsoons, the heat, the endless nights, the rattle of machine guns, the tracers lashing the darkness, the misery and the humor, and the tough life of an infantryman in Charlie Company.

The author's respect and admiration for his soldiers who fought well despite the lack of backing from many citizens at home is evident throughout the book.

Vietnam Vignettes is a tribute to all infantrymen who fought in Vietnam, to those who supported them on the battlefield, and to the Americans who welcomed the warriors home

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1153257 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

Review
"...this book is the best description that I have ever read of what an infantryman experienced day and night." -- LTC Cecil Carlile, U.S. Army (Retired)

"Hell of a read for anyone wanting to know the Grunts' heroic story from the Vietnam War." -- LTG Hank Emerson, U.S. Army (Retired)

From the Publisher
A seasoned journalist who rose through the ranks presents an infantry company commander’s insight into his soldiers’ daily struggles to survive. His vivid prose explains why his brave "grunts" are still haunted by the experience and lack of public respect.

From the Author
This book describes what it was like to be an infantryman fighting on Vietnam's coastal plain and in the jungles in the area known as II Corps and I Corps. The years described include 1967-1968 and 1970-1971. Those are the years I served in that war, and the men whose actions I describe are either South Vietnamese soldiers whom I advised during my first tour, or American soldiers whom I led during my second tour.

These are my memories of the beauty and the ugliness of South Vietnam, of the monsoons, the odors, the rattle of machine guns, the tracers lashing the darkness, the misery and the humor, and the tough life of an infantryman in Charlie Company.

Customer Reviews

Don't miss this one !
For those of us who served and the families of those who served, Mr. Basnar's vivid, factual, and emotional accounts of the dailey life of infantrymen in Vietnam will capture the imigination of all who read this outstanding book. "Vietnam Vignettes" will seize your attention with not only the life and death struggles of those in combat but will also share with you the tough, reasoned decisions of a rifle company commander who is entrusted with the lives of the American soldier.

Excellent!
I loved this book. It's short, fast-paced, and it really grabbed me. It is neither pro- nor anti-war, does not idealize war, and does not demonize the Viet Cong. It just tells it like it was. It shows you the action or the pathos or the humor, letting it hit you the way it hit the author at the time. I recommend it to everyone who wants to know what it was like to participate in the Vietnam War. As a female college student without any friends or relatives fighting in the war, I didn't read a lot about the war when it was happening. Of course, I saw the unsettling pictures of the fighting in magazines and on the TV news, and I attended many war "teach-ins" and discussions on campus. But it wasn't until reading this book that I really understood what the soldiers experienced over there. Everyone should read it. I'll be sending copies of it as Christmas gifts this year.

A great read!
Simply put, this is a great book. A facinating account that is so well written one section flows seamlessly into the next - and you can't put it down. This is a great diet book: you don't want to put it down long enough to eat lunch and taking a time-out to fix supper is out of the question.

Without realizing it you're taken effortlessly to a place and a time during the Vietnam war. By the time you've reached the last page, you have been there ... and what is left of your day is colored by the place you've visited.