Kenneth P. Sympson

For two decades Sympson thought little of his tour of duty as a Marine artillery officer in Vietnam. But recovering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer probably caused by exposure in Vietnam to Agent Orange, he saw a thread running through his later life and was flooded with memories of events he had never talked about. This book began as an exercise in self-therapy, an attempt to discharge the emotional burdens he had unknowingly carried for so many years.

In August 1965 as a forward observer with the 3d Battalion, 7th Marines, the author saw his first combat in Operation Starlite, the first large-scale ground combat operation in Vietnam. In March 1966, as the artillery liaison officer for the renowned Magnificent Bastards of the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, he fought in Operation Texas, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. For two hours, Sympson directed over 2,500 rounds of artillery fire nearly on top of Echo Company to drive back the Viet Cong who had trapped the Marines at the edge of a heavily fortified village.

From the frontlines in Vietnam, this is a story of fear and dread, anticipation and boredomfrom a man who served in country.