Thomas H. Taylor

The Vietnam War continues to be a tender spot in the American cultural psyche, from the aging hippies who are still convinced that the war was immoral to the aging veterans who gave it their all while they fought and, by most measures, won every major engagement they fought. But what about the Vietnamese people themselves? That side of the conflict is often overlooked, as is the aftermath of what happened after the last American helicopter left the roof of the U.S Embassy. This book covers all of those fronts (so to speak), telling the story of a Vietnamese translator who served with the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and then later the Army of Vietnam (ARVN). The book alternates between the first-person narrative of Ben Cai Lam and the crisper narration of Thomas Taylor, another 101st "Screaming Eagle" whose father was the legendary Maxwell Taylor, who commanded the 101st during World War 2 and later served as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam.

Lam's story describes his interactions and firefights alongside U.S. servicemen, his family struggles, the chaotic mess that plagued the nation of South Vietnam, and finally his desperate attempts to leave the reunified communist Vietnam. It's hair-raising stuff, and worth reading, if only to offer a seldom-seen perspective on what had been (at that time) America's longest and most divisive war.… (más)

Taylor, a career military man went on to write a number of war based books. This one, short, focusing on one single black soldier was a single sitting read. You believe Taylor's experience led him to get the facts of the war correct. The background of letters exchanged with the hero's wife show another "country", inhositable as Vietnam, called the American south, and from it comes the surprising end as the reader hopes for a happy conclusion. An excellent bit of Vietnam fiction written early in the war… (más)