num_pages: 371
description: The Vietnam experience was hellfire, privation, blood, sweat and death to the average ground soldier. Many a "grunt" looked up at the prosecutors of the air war as a privileged group who went to war at a distance, an altitude, from the "real" soldiers. But was it really so different? Bruce Lake, decorated with 42 Air Medals and the Silver Star for a heroic rescue mission, veteran of hundreds of helicopter missions under hostile fire during his "year, month, and day" in country, offers us a revealing, day-by-day look at the reality of flying bravely in the face of obscure or conflicting policy; of watching his friends from the squadron leave on missions without returning; of his increasing realization that the war was being fought with a goal of maintaining a position rather than winning. Lieut. Lake, an enlisted Marine who was one of a select few chosen from the ranks for flight school to earn his wings and commission, speaks eloquently of his love for flying, which never left him despite his increasing horror at what he witnessed in the landing zones and in the back of his helicopter.
language: English
title: 1500 feet over Vietnam: A marine helicopter pilot's diary
titlecomplete: 1500 feet over Vietnam: A marine helicopter pilot's diary
ratings_count: 3
publisher: Almine Library