Expendable Warriors: The Battle of Khe Sanh and the Vietnam War (Stackpole Military History Series)
Clarke's purpose is to set the record straight--clarifying reports and stories that have failed to accurately depict what happened. <STRONG;>ARMY</STRONG;><br /><br /> Clarke describes the experiences of himself and his colleagues in the battles around the Khe Sanh Combat base in 1968, during the Vietnam War. He looks at the decision-making at multiple levels surrounding the battle, which he judges to have been a bloody tactical victory and a strategic defeat for the United States. <STRONG;>Reference & Research Book News</STRONG;><br /><br /> Expendable Warriors reveals a little-known chapter in the story of the siege of Khe Sanh--how the battle really began and who was targeted in the first and biggest North Vietnamese assault in the opening round of an epic clash. <STRONG;>Joseph L. Galloway, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once...and Young and Triumph Without Victory: The History of the Persian Gulf</STRONG;><br /><br /> Warrior, professor, deep thinker, and highly engaging and articulate writer, Bruce Clarke has written with compassion and wisdom borne of his personal experience in the village of Khe Sanh, 38 years ago. Good war stories take a long time to write, and this one is worth the wait. I am fascinated by the tale and the wonderful new insights that this major historian and military analyst brings to the reader. His sharing of the battle before the battle, the defeat of an NVA Regiment before the main Khe Sanh battle ever began, is masterfully told. A real page turner. And the lessons learned that he shares are well worth noting at a time when we are again, as a nation, engaged in war. <STRONG;>John K. Swensson, Dean, Language Arts Division; De Anza College and Custodian, The DeCillis Viet Nam Conflict Collection</STRONG;><br /><br /> Most books studying the 1968 siege of Khe Sanh focus on the Marine Corps' defense of the base and the hilltops to the north. Other books examine the fall of the nearby Lang Vei Special Forces Camp overrun by North Vietnamese tanks. To most Khe Sanh was a Marine battle. While heavily shelled and the hilltop outposts fought off attacks, the main base experienced only minor ground attacks. There was another battle though, unheralded in most books, the vicious fight for Khe Sanh Village south of the main base. This fight saw 25 Army and Marine advisors and 175 Vietnamese irregular troops fighting off a North Vietnamese regular battalion. Bruce Clark aptly describes the valor and spirit of the defenders as they beat back repeated assaults with little support from the main base. This is a first person account of a virtually unheard of battle characterized by heroism and dedication to duty. <STRONG;>Gordon L. Rottman, author of Khe Sanh 1967-68</STRONG;><br /><br /> I'm honored that Bruce Clarke has portrayed the bravery of not only the Americans but all of us who fought and won the largest ground battle of the siege of Khe Sanh. We believed in our cause and dedicated our lives to it and this book clearly illustrates what many efforts about the Vietnam War do not--the bravery and efforts of the warriors who fought beside the Americans in the Vietnam War. --<STRONG;>CPt Nhi, Vietnamese District Chief</STRONG;>