Counterpart: A South Vietnamese Naval Officer's War
"...firsthand descriptions of various battles and skirmishes enrich our perspective on the war and make for a gripping narrative." --Publishers Weekly, May 11, 1998The autobiography (cast in the third person, however) of a former deputy chief of staff for operations of the South Vietnamese Navy is a useful history of a service few Americans have heard of and the story of a capable sea warrior. Do was born in what became North Vietnam, fled south. . . was educated at the French naval academy in the 1950s, and began serving in the South Vietnamese navy during the Diem regime. After 1963, he participated in the navy's expansion, training, and re-equipment by the U.S., saw combat and staff duty as well as commanded ships, and eventually, in 1975, before emigrating to the U.S. and becoming a teacher, organized the evacuation of many naval personnel. His account adds to general knowledge of the South Vietnamese professional military, who are walk-ons or parasites in too many other accounts of the war, and reminds us that for the Vietnamese, unlike most foreign soldiers, the war was no "one year, then back to the world" experience.  --Roland Green, Booklist, June 1998