James G. Zumwalt

James Zumwalt, a colonel in the Vietnam War, accompanied his father Admiral Elmo Zumwalt on a post war trip to study the issue of Agent Orange, which ironically caused the death of the Admiral's other son Lt. Elmo Zumwalt III. While there, James Zumwalt talked with many North Vietnamese Army (NVA) officers and soldiers. He realized that there was a story that needed to be told - that was from the perspective of the NVA.

I had often wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end of Agent Orange, napalm, the dreaded cluster bombs, B-52 bombing, etc., and the full brunt of US technology and force. I had to do a little searching to find this 2010 published book.

The author focuses mostly on the logistics of the war. He seems intrigued on how this small country was able to hold off a greatly superior opponent. He gives accounts from NVA doctors who were operating with surgical knives cut from bomb casings, syringes made of melted glass bottles, lighting generated by pumping bicycle pedals and performed in tunnels dug in the ground. Antiseptics from watered down Novacaine or even none while performing surgery or amputating limbs. Truly primitive conditions but somehow they made it work.

This tunnel system was extensive and a major factor in defensive and offensive fighting by the NVA. Soldiers could pop up, and disappear and reappear at a distance. This building and use of the tunnels was a testament to the will of the Vietnamese.

Altho the author does not dwell on the sufferings or emotional effects of the war he does mention briefly the fear the cluster bombs caused - spewing small pellets that left no entry wound, cluster land mines dropped from planes that threw out trip wires that could be triggered from 15 feet or so. He also describes the mighty B-52 bombs that could blow out ear drums and kill at a distance just from the concussion.

Mr. Zumwalt writes about many accounts of the the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the life line of the NVA effort. It was the highest priority for Americans forces to cut that off by the bombings, the deforestation, and troops mobilized. But the NVA was able to rebuild, go around, sneak through and keep the supplies moving all through the war.

Altho the Vietnamese suffered a loss of life in a ratio of 50 to 1, the author gives recognition to the ingenuity and will of an adversary to attain the level of resistance they did with the resources they had.… (más)