Title: Thunder in the Night
Description: Written by Bernie Weisz, Vietnam Historian September 18th,  2010 Pembroke Pines, Florida contact: Bernwei1@aol.com E mail:
BernWei1@aol.com  Title of Review: "In The Navy of the "4th Reich To Return To an Unappreciative Nation!"
To understand Ray Kopp's book "Thunder in the Night", a brief overview of events in S.E. Asia must be mentioned. After the 1968 infamous "Tet Offensive", American involvement was doomed.  To quickly recap what happened,onJanuary 21, 1968, a shattering barrage of shells, mortars and rockets slam into the Marine base at Khe Sanh. Eighteen Marines were killed instantly, 40 were wounded. The initial attack continued for two days. this was only a prelude, as on January 30 - 31, 1968, which was the Vietnamese "New Year" known as the Tet holiday, Vietcong units  fanned out all over supposedly safe and secure South Vietnam.  In more than 100 cities and towns, shock attacks by Vietcong sappers and suicide bent commandos were followed by wave after wave of supporting troops. When the battles for the cities of South Vietnam ended,  37,000 Vietcong troops had been killed. Many more had been wounded or captured, and the fighting had created more than a half million civilian refugees. Casualties included most of the Vietcong's best fighters, political officers and secret organizers. Incongruously,  for North Vietnam,  Tet was nothing less than a catastrophe. But for the Americans, who lost 2,500 men, it was a serious blow to public support.  Walter Cronkite  pronounced on national television that  the Tet offensive was a “defeat” for America and his announcement  was widely credited as a turning point in American support for the war. In a famous half-hour news special, he declared that in the aftermath of Tet “it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.” Lyndon Johnson was reported to be dismayed at the prospect of losing Cronkite’s support for the war. And indeed, public support for the war dropped 25% following Cronkite’s declaration and media coverage of the offensive in general.  In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon took office as the new U.S. President, replacing L.B.J. . He promised to achieve in Vietnam "Peace With Honor." The plan was to negotiate a settlement with the North Vietnamese, enabling the half million U.S. troops to be withdrawn while simultaneously keeping the corrupt and incompetent South Vietnamese government in power. Nixon's plans looked admirable, but the war rolled on. He authorized "Operation Menu", which was a bombing campaign of North Vietnamese and Vietcong bases within Cambodia, despite supposed government restrictions over ignored "Rules of Engagement" Over the following four years, U.S. forces dropped more than a half million tons of bombs on Cambodia alone. Only 2 months after Nixon's election, a major North Vietnamese offensive took place all over South Vietnam, mimicking to a lesser extent the 1968 "Tet Offensive," killing 1,140 Americans. At the same time, South Vietnamese towns and cities were also hit. The heaviest fighting was around Saigon, but fights raged all over South Vietnam. Eventually, American artillery and air power overwhelmed the Communist offensive. At this point, U.S. combat deaths in Vietnam exceeded the 33,629 men killed in the Korean War. 


In June of 1969, Nixon met with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu on Midway Island in the Pacific, announcing that 25,000 U.S. troops would be withdrawn immediately. Although this would set off nationwide anti war protests throughout the U.S., on April 29, 1970, South Vietnamese troops (known as "A.R.V.N") attacked into Cambodia, pushing toward Vietcong bases. Two days later, a U.S. force of 30,000 -- including three U.S. divisions, mounted a second attack. This incursion lasted for 60 days and uncovered vast North Vietnamese jungle supply depots. It didn't matter that 28,500 weapons, 16 million rounds of small arms ammunition, and 14 million pounds of rice were captured. America was weary of Vietnam and Nixon took on the moniker "Tricky Dickey". Although most of the enemy managed to escape across the Mekong, there were over 10,000 casualties. The war continued, and the body bags of young Americans that paid the ultimate price took the transpacific flight on their "last ride home". A plan to end the war needed to be formulated, where Asian men would fight Asian wars, and the U.S. could extricate themselves from being the "world's policeman". When Nixon first took office, he introduced his policy of what he called "Vietnamization". The plan was to slowly give the South Vietnamese full responsibility for fighting the war, thus enabling the U.S. to gradually withdraw all their soldiers from Asia. Similar to what Adolf Hitler did in the last days of Nazi Germany, a mobilization law was passed that called up into the army all men in South Vietnam aged between 17 to 43. Aside from the aforementioned June, 1969 25,000 troop withdrawal from 540,000 as it's apex, another 60,000 left the following December. nobody wanted to be the last to die in a war America was clearly detaching itself from. Informed by his advisors that the gradual removal of all US troops would eventually result in a large scale North Vietnamese offensive and victory, Nixon and his entourage agreed that the only way America could avoid a humiliating defeat was to negotiate a peace agreement. This took place in Paris, France. 

In an effort to pressure North Vietnam in these talks, Nixon conceived what has become known as the "Madman Theory." The two U.S.  chief negotiators in Paris, Henry Kissinger and Bob Haldeman, were told to give the North Vietnamese negotiators the impression that Nixon was so mentally unstable and his hatred of communism was so fanatical that if the war continued for much longer, the president would seriously consider  using nuclear weapons against them. Unbeknown to the American public at the time, Nixon put into high gear the secret Phoenix Program. Vietnamese were trained by the CIA to infiltrate peasant communities and discover the names of Viet Cong sympathizers. When they had been identified, "Death Squads" were sent in to execute them. Between 1968 and 1971, an estimated 40,974  V.C. were executed in this way. The plan looked good on paper, but it ultimately failed because the Viet Cong were able to replace their losses by recruiting from the local population and by arranging for volunteers to be sent from North Vietnam. Slain V. C. bodies had tattoos which translated to: "Born in the North to die in the South." The war ground on. Between February 8 to March 25, 1971, "Operation Lam Son 719" occurred. Three South Vietnamese divisions were transported by American forces into Laos to attack two major enemy bases. Unknowingly, they are walking into a North Vietnamese trap. No American ground units participated. Over the next month, more than 9,000 South Vietnamese troops are killed or wounded and more than two thirds of the South Vietnamese Army's armored vehicles were destroyed, along with hundreds of U.S. helicopters and planes. The campaign was a disaster for the ARVN, decimating some of its best units and destroying the confidence that had been built up over the previous three years. Vietnamization, the policy touted by American civilian and military officials as the best method by which South Vietnam could be saved from communism and the American withdrawal completed, was revealed as a complete failure. 

In the summer of 1971, herbicides containing Dioxin were banned for use by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Known as "Operation Ranch Hand," America sprayed via airborne C-130's over 11 million gallons of "Agent Orange" containing 240 pounds of the lethal chemical Dioxin on South Vietnam. More than one seventh of the country's total area had been laid waste. Never translating into an American victory, the program's goal was to defoliate forested and rural land thus depriving the North Vietnamese of cover. As part of winning the "hearts and minds" of the South Vietnamese indigenous, another goal was to induce forced urbanization by destroying the ability of peasants to support themselves in the countryside. In theory this would compel peasants to flee to the U.S. dominated cities such as Saigon, Hue, Danang, etc. thus depriving the Communists of their rural support base and food supply. Enter Ray Kopp. Born on September 19, 1951 in Starrucca, Pennsylvania, he joined the Navy upon graduation from high school. Kopp wrote that there was never a question as to whether he would serve, but rather where his military duty would take place. Despite the fact that Jane Fonda had already committed her treason in visiting the North Vietnamese and sympathizing with them, the 1967 "Summer of Love", Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King had been assassinated. Nevertheless,  Ray remained patriotic. Woodstock, N.Y. and the Kent State shootings passed, yet Ray and his family firmly believed that the U.S., would not undertake warfare without just cause. Even if the "Domino Theory" no longer made sense, if America engaged itself in fighting in a foreign land there was a good reason for it, even if that reason was unclear. 

Trained in the area of radio communications, he was assigned to the communications engineering crew of the 717 foot 1,100' community aboard the heavily armed cruiser class "Newport News". Heavily armed to out-gun anything smaller than itself and fast enough to out-run anything larger, the "Newport News" was dubbed "Thunder". Kopp falsely thought that in 1972 the war was just about over. He incorrectly surmised that any remaining fighting was done in Vietnam's rice patties, jungles, or the Mekong Delta, handled by the "Brown Water Navy." Safely subscribing to the idea that any naval surface warfare off the Vietnamese coast that involved the Newport News would be simply a matter of sitting off shore and lobbing shells to support grunts. Only a few shots would be fired "here and there." However, Ray started to see chinks in the American war armor. Was his nephew's death in vain? What was this big urgency for the Newport News to high tail to Vietnam as part of an armada if the war was being wound down? It is interesting to mention a quote Kopp made as his ship floated rapidly towards Vietnam: "I sure as hell haven't forgotten about my nephew Brian and the thousands of other young American patriots that have been killed in this bogus war. It's about time someone got off their butt and did something to those bastards. And we're going to do it. Bring it on". As the title of this review states, his initial enthusiasm would do a 180 degree reversal once he learned the facts. Nevertheless, Kopp's job was an important one. On January 23, 1968, North Korea seized in international waters in the Sea of Japan the USS PUEBLO, a U.S. Navy intelligence collection auxiliary vessel, and her 83-man crew. The ship's position, as established by her own messages and by North Korean messages monitored by the U.S., was more than 16 nautical miles from the nearest land, the small island of Ung-Do, outside North Korea's territorial waters. Pueblo was taken into the North Korean port of Wonsan and the crew was moved to prisoner of war camps. Some of the crew reporting upon release that they were starved and regularly tortured while in North Korean custody. This mistreatment was increased when the North Koreans saw that crewmen were secretly giving them "the finger" in staged propaganda photos. Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, Commanding Officer of the Pueblo, was tortured and put through a mock firing squad in an effort to make him confess. Eventually the Koreans threatened to execute his men in front of him, and Bucher relented. None of the Koreans knew English well enough to write the confession, so they had Bucher write it himself. They verified the meaning of his words, but failed to catch the pun when he said "We paean the DPRK. We paean the Korean people. We paean their great leader Kim Il Sung". 

The word "paean" sounded identical to the term Americans use to indicate to urinating on. Following a written admission by the U.S. that Pueblo had been spying and an would not spy in the future, the North Korean government released the 82 remaining crew members. Commander Bucher later wrote a book where he stated that the written apology was preceded by a verbal statement that it was done only to secure the release. On December 23, 1968 the crew was taken by buses to the DMZ border with South Korea and ordered to walk south across the "Bridge of No Return". Exactly eleven months after being taken prisoner, Butcher and his crewmen crossed the bridge. Immediately following this, the U.S. then verbally retracted the ransom admission, apology, and assurance. Similar to the "Robert Garwood Incident" of the Vietnam War, Bucher and all the officers and crew subsequently appeared before a Navy Court of Inquiry, with a court marshal being recommended for Butcher. But the Secretary of the Navy, John H. Chafee, rejected the recommendation, stating, "They have suffered enough." Commander Bucher was never found guilty of any indiscretions and continued his Navy career until retirement. He died in San Diego on January 28, 2004, partly as a result of complications from the injuries he suffered during his time as a POW. As a side note, the Pueblo is still held by North Korea, and is currently the only American naval vessel held in captivity in the world. It is used by North Korea as one of its tourist attractions. Ray Kopp was trained to use the "KY-14" a new FM voice scrambler that guaranteed secure communications within a tactical Task Force. Being the cryptography clerk of this department, another "Pueblo Incident" was his job to prevent, at all costs. The "KY-14" was a device to protect against enemy monitoring of U.S. military communications. Similarly to the "Pueblo", it was Kopp's responsibility to destroy this equipment or any related documents should the "Newport News" be seized and captured. In Garwood's case, in 1965 he was captured by the V.C. south of Danang. Accused of collaborating with  the enemy, as a P.O.W. he quickly learned to speak fluent Vietnamese, served as an intermediary between captors and American P.O.W's and received preferential treatment.  He supposedly joined the North Vietnamese Army, even walking "point" for them on operations against U.S. forces. Garwood denied the collaboration charges and accused the Department of Defense of trying to rewrite history to make him seem like a liar to downplay his 1984 claims that he had seen other POWs "left behind" after 1973 and that he had been held prisoner for 14 years. Despite inconsistencies in his story, many former POWs claimed to have witnessed Garwood collaborating with the N.V.A, though ironically stating that he should not have been court martialed.  Nevertheless, the Marine Corps convicted Garwood of collaboration, reducing him in rank to private and dishonorably discharging him. He forfeited all back pay.

This book, despite being written in the third person and appearing as fiction, is anything but that. It was simply Kopp's choice to present this in that format and manner. Keep in mind that this book was written in 2004, 32 years after the fact. This was Ray Kopp's first foray into the past, as he painfully sought out records, documents and historical data as part of this book. While being a catharsis, it also brought up to Mr. Kopp extreme emotions, issues and blocks that greatly interfered with his creative ability to put his ordeal together. "Thunder in the Night" is listed and published as non-fiction and has been reviewed that way without any need to think of it otherwise because it was written in third-person prose. Despite it's format, the book is factual and written from a true copy of the ship's operations log. Kopp's reason to write it in the third person was because it helped him separate himself from the person he was in 1972. In terms of "validation status", it's importance to the author cannot be understated. For many Vietnam Vet the issue of validation is one of the biggest triggers of P.T.S.D., especially some of the ex "Blue Water Navy guys." There is the false notion that these men were "big babies', who never experienced any real combat. After you turn the last page of "Thunder In The Night", you will know this is a totally false allegation. The reader will discover that Ray Kopp and the crew of the Newport News were part a very small group of brave, young patriots who went in harm's way in the very real sense. These men slugged it out in artillery battles with North Vietnamese defensive systems off the coast of Vietnam  that put thousands of young American sailors into very harrowing, potentially disastrous situations. In fact, almost 25 men did pay with their lives during this tour. 

Why did I title this review as such? The Navy of the Forth Reich? How did Ray Kopp turn from gung ho for the war to completely against it? When the Newport News entered the Haipong area off the coast of North Vietnam to make strikes on coastal defenses and military targets, he learned there hadn't been a naval gunfire raid of this size since W.W. II ended. Incoming counter battery artillery aimed at the Newport News was a sure thing now that this 5 battleship flotilla of what was known as "Yankee Station" was now in North Vietnamese territorial waters. The big question was, if the war was being "Vietnamized", why was this strike force undertaking this mission, floating on a battleship laden with thousands of pounds of explosives? Deaths started happening. Three men, the Task Force commander, his Chief of Staff and his Operations Officer, the team that up the strike force together, were killed as their helicopter crashed as it made a night landing on the U.S. S. Providence. Regardless of American technology, "Thunder's" muzzle flashes could never be hidden, thus giving the North Vietnamese gunners a bead on the American's positions. Kopp realized that like the secret "Cambodian Incursion",  no one in the U.S. knew that Nixon was stepping the war  up via the Navy, thus leaving a bad taste in his mouth about America's leadership. If one is an astute follower of history, it is known that Adolf Hitler hid from native Germans the "Concentration Camps", lied to his people about the massive losses the Panzer divisions experienced in Africa and Russia, sent his subs and battleships on impossible, suicide missions, and at the end, recruited anyone young or old enough to defend the German homeland in May of 1945 from the Russian encirclement of Berlin from the East, and the Anglo-American thrust from the West. 

For Ray Kopp and the crews of Task Unit 77.1.2, it was only a matter of time that the North Vietnamese gunners would hit an American ship with counter battery. By late 1971, the fact that the North Vietnamese were planning an invasion became apparent to both military leaders and the Nixon administration. With only light ground action, limited troop contacts and the withdrawal of US ground troops continuing during the month, in February of 1972, naval air attack sorties in South Vietnam rose to 733 compared to eight during January. By the spring of 1972, North Vietnam had assembled a force of about 200,000 men, along with a substantial amount of ammunition and supplies for a last attempt at invading the South. On March 23, 1972, the U.S. canceled further peace negotiations in Paris because of a lack of progress. This was followed by the North Vietnamese invasion of South Vietnam. On March 29, 1972, enemy forces rolled directly across the demilitarized zone into South Vietnam while others penetrated via Laos. The South Vietnamese Army, plagued by poor leadership and morale, was forced to retreat. This "Easter or Spring Offensive" was the result of the long buildup and infiltration of North Vietnamese forces during the previous months and preceded some of the most intense fighting of the entire war. Nixon responded to this invasion with "Operation Freedom Train", which called for the renewal of general air strikes and naval bombardment throughout North Vietnam above the 20th parallel for the first time since 1968. The DMZ was at the 17th parallel.  The N.V.A. invasion prompted increased air operations and naval bombardment in support of ARVN ground units. 

Ray Kopp expressed his frustration and dismay as "Thunder" experienced near misses of N.V.A. defensive air bursts, threatening all sailors occupying topside spaces. His ship had arrived in "Military Region 1", near Quang Tri Province, and engaged in naval gunfire support of ARVN forces that made an amphibious assault on V.C. forces north of the DMZ. His frustrations at the war were expressed as such: "The first operation of "Freedom Train" that had started on May 16, 1972, had fizzled. Reports from the beach indicated that after several days the 5,000 South Vietnamese soldiers that had been airlifted in to stem the tide of the North Vietnamese had been decimated, many of them leaving their weapons and running home. This was one of the first big offensive actions to be undertaken by the South since the Vietnamization of the war. It was beginning to look as though our Asian brothers were not competent, or perhaps not confident, without their American compatriots." Was Ray willing to potentially risk his life for South Vietnam, when their own forces acted so cowardly? The naval missions during the 8 month tour the Newport News engaged in during the summer of 1972 continued and increased in tempo until it's climax, on October 1st, 1972. On that date, while on a support mission off the coast of Vietnam, an explosion tore through the center barrel of Gun Turret #2, killed 20 of Kopp's shipmates. Some died in the explosion, while others died of smoke inhalation. The facts are that an eight inch projectile jammed while inside the center barrel as it was being fired. The powder casing behind the projectile fired inside the barrel, causing an explosion which had no place to go but into the gunner's compartment. Smoke quickly spread throughout the ship putting all on board at risk. Sabotage? Mr. Kopp explored this as well as graphically described his gory findings as he viewed the wreckage, carnage and aftermath. 

His views radically changed during this tour. On the naval battles between the enemy naval installations and his ship, his comment was: "This is literal survival mode. It's either them or us, and one or the other will lose. In that, loss will be death and destruction, chaos and pandemonium, finality. Not more than 5 miles apart, these 2 furies aimed all their forces at one another. To slug it out with artillery over open water at this close proximity was analogous to a duel between two gunslingers wielding .44 magnums inside a darkened bedroom closet." During the battle of Quang Tri City, the damage was incomprehensible. Was this carnage worth it? Ruminating this, Kopp asserted: "The photos of Quang Tri City were unimaginable. There were no buildings left in the city that had been home to several hundred thousand South Vietnamese before the siege. When the wind was off-shore, the faint smell of burned flesh wafted to the warships."  PTSD appeared in Koop's mental outlook,  as expressed in his prayer to his higher power: "Dear God, please don't let us get hit by the enemy, keep us safe, I pray, Amen." After months of combat, life had changed for everyone aboard the Newport News. Koop described life out at sea as follows: "The overall impression was one of an ominous, hellish place, devoid of life except for the existence of the 1,100 souls traveling through it." B-52 strikes, witnessed out at sea, are vividly described by Koop. He recalled: "Three B-52's fifteen miles inland and then across two miles of ocean causing a 21,000-ton cruiser to vibrate like a child's toy in a bathtub? Am I dreaming? Each of the heavy bombers carried 105 five hundred pound bombs. When they unleashed their fury on a single target, in unison, the effect of 315 bombs hitting the ground in less than one minute was inconceivable for anyone in all directions. Even the dense jungle and mountainous coastal terrain did not muffle the energy release. Seventeen miles away and this extreme power still had the ability to shake the fleet of ships sitting off the coast of Vietnam. The repercussions were stronger and louder than the most violent thunderstorms could have produced overhead." 

Discussed also are the liberties Ray Kopp and his shipmates experienced as a break in the action. Ray was engaged to his high school sweetheart, Cynthia, and similarly to almost every Vietnam memoir I have ever encountered, Ray wondered if his finance would send him a "Dear John " letter. It is interesting to note how many engagements and marriages were broken or ruined by the war and the resulting PTSD. John Ketwig wrote a memoir entitled "...And A Hard Rain Fell." In this true story, he expounded on how he fell in love during an "R & R" with a prostitute in Thailand, a relationship fated to be doomed as soon as it started. Conversely,  Kopp wrote about his misadventures in a part Subic Bay, the Philippines, called "Olongago City." In "Po City", Ray met and fell in love with a prostitute despite his engagement to Cynthia, justifying it as such: "When your life is at risk on a daily basis, the other risks seem much less threatening. Besides, who knows if any of us will ever see the States again. We could all be dead next week. I need to be close and intimate with someone. I want to wake up with a hangover and sleep in with a warm, soft, lovely woman next to me and know I don't have to be anywhere today. I just want some peace and quiet. Maybe I'll get really buzzed, go to sleep, wake up, and realize this was all just a bad dream." Most Veterans would never write about this and reveal this type of experience to the public. Kudos to Kopp for revealing this.. The constant banging and pounding of the ship's artillery guns wore on the author's nerves. Twice he shut down completely from stress. After the October 1st, 1972 tragedy, Kopp incredulously went to sleep in his quarters for four hours after the explosions, ignoring the smoke and mayhem. 

Most people would crack under the stress Ray Kopp was subjected to. PTSD is real, debilitating, and is unrelenting to the sufferer. Towards the end of his 8 month Western Pacific tour, Kopp eloquently summed up his feelings to a woman of the night, man's "eternal therapist", as follows: "I just want to go back to Pennsylvania. I don't want to kill anybody. I don't want to get killed or see any of my buddies get killed." This brings us to today. Ray and other Veterans alike for the most part silently suffer from combat related PTSD as a consequence of Vietnam War, a conflict even today most people believe America should not have been involved in. Unjustifiably mistreated treated as pariahs, unwanted dregs of a social group, most Americans want to forget Vietnam. It is important to keep in mind that those that didn't skip off to Canada or Sweden thought they were doing an honorable, just, righteous duty by serving in the armed forces during Vietnam and were performing their responsibility as a patriot in the 1960's, Cold War era America. Mr. Kopp and countless others put their lives on the line as their revered fathers, uncles and brothers had for W.W. II. It is without gratitude and shameful that upon their return they came back to a country that felt it had made a big mistake in sending troops there to begin with and that all veterans of this conflict were a bunch of drug-crazed malcontents or William Calley clones. The stigma and the pain that the Mr. Kopp has personally expressed to me is inexcusable and deplorable. Similar to other social groups that been disrespected and stigmatized, such as Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, etc., many Vietnam Vets were turned away and ignored by the very same people they thought they were putting our lives on the line for, in their own country. Unfairly doled out mistreatment as a third-class citizen in their careers, communities and associations with others, Vietnam Veterans have reverted since the war ended to keeping their Vietnam Veteran status a secret. Incredulously Mr. Kopp has informed me that in his past, once people found out he was a Vietnam Veteran, he was treated like a criminal, with others ignorantly  assuming all Veterans of Vietnam are ashamed of their actions in that conflict. It is tragic that for some veterans, their wounds will never fully heal. "Out of sight, out of mind" works for some veterans, and for the author of this book, recovery is about not having to be reminded and having to re-experience the hurts, hang-ups and habits that have accrued over the decades. This anger, depression, guilt and shame all consequences of his Vietnam experience. 

As the plethora of memoirs and autobiographies of Vietnam Veterans bare witness, some recover with cathartic methods like revisiting their combat experiences, by taking trips back to the battlefield, reading lots of supportive literature that validates their exigencies and motive. Others, including Mr. Kopp, are too sensitive about their issues to ever go back there. For Ray, "moving on" to present day living, keeping as many reminders of his past out of his everyday life work for him, as it is necessary on a continuing basis to keep his sanity. There are Veterans that tragically experience long, deep depressions and suicidal thoughts and ideation. To preserve his tranquility, Mr. Kopp  has spent the last 5 or so years in relative isolation and blessed relief from his constant, intrusive thoughts of the Vietnam War. According to the author, this is a blessing God has helped him to attain. Getting to know God and his savior, Jesus Christ on a daily, conscious level is paramount to his existence. Diligently working long and hard to get to the point of being able to feel some of the serenity he currently experiences has been a ten year quest. In my past reviews, I have been able to freely obtain dialogue about their experiences from W. W II and Korean War Veterans. Holocaust survivors and Vietnam Vets are a totally different story. It appears that for some, they fare better in life recovering from their P.T.S.D. by separating as much as they can, living a life free of reminders of their tours of Vietnam or traumatic experience. Mr. Kopp accepts his past, but doesn't live in it. Moving on, his identity is not defined by Ray Kopp, a Vietnam Veteran. In penning "Thunder in the Night" his intentions were to have his say about his Vietnam experience and then let it go. I am, as a reviewer, particularly pleased at Mr. Kopp's progress, respect his privacy, and have felt that I have uncovered a book of uncommon revelations, while at the same time, making hopefully a lifelong friend quite unique and special. Please, do yourself a favor. This book is unlike any memoir I have yet encountered and is an absolute "must read". It is way more than a suppressed story of the naval battles of the early 1970's, a part of American history that has unjustly been "swept under the rug." With America being sick of the Vietnam War by 1972, I know of no other book that rivals "Thunder In The Night's" examination of America's final offensive of this conflict. Written with dexterity, intelligence and skillful penmanship, this book belongs as an essential part of any American high school or college curriculum pertaining to this war! Reviewer's Note: This book can be obtained directly from the author! See Ray Kopp's exciting website at the following address: http://www.zeewebnet.com/Ray_Kopp/index.htm
Subjects: Vietnam War, PTSD and Recovery From It, America's final Vietnam battle, Vietnam War, 1961-1975, American Naval operations, American Personal narratives, Newport News (Heavy cruiser : CA-148)
Places: the Phillipines, Vietnam, America, the Philipines
People: Ray Kopp, The U.S.S. Newport News, the 1972 Newport News 8 month Western Pacific Tour
Time periods: 1972 to 2010