The Boys of '67: Charlie Company's War in Vietnam,

Andrew Wiest, 2012, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, 376 pp, £20.00.

ISBN: 978-1-78096-202-3.  

Andrew Wiest is a leading American military historian, who has published several works on the Vietnam War and World War I. He has lectured extensively both in the U.S.A. and Britain. This book is concerned with the effects of the Vietnam War on one group of men, known as ‘Charlie Company'. The men came from widely differing backgrounds and were part of President Lyndon Johnson's draft to boost numbers of U.S. troops in Vietnam, raised in what proved to be the ultimately futile hope of defeating the Viet Cong. Unlike other army groups, this Company was made up entirely of draftees from 1966. After some basic training, the men were flown to the marshy Mekong delta in South Vietnam, where a well-hidden enemy had carefully prepared for their arrival, with deadly traps and ambushes. Wise enough not to fight large scale actions, the Viet Cong used their local knowledge to wear down the Americans, who were always uncertain whom to trust. The author has skilfully pieced together their experience by means of interviews with survivors, and studying letters home and official documents. He has carefully researched his subject and the book gives a good insight into the horrors of war, including the deaths of close ‘buddies' from the Company. The personal effect of the war for families back home is well shown. The author also analyses the change in public attitudes in the U.S.A. between 1966, when the men reported for duty and there was general support for the war, to the return of the survivors in 1968, when they were greeted with open hostility by anti-war protestors. This change left them bewildered on their return and it was not until many years later that they felt that they could discuss their experiences. Although Britain was not really involved in the Vietnam War, there are lots of valid comparisons with the experiences of soldiers in the World Wars and present day Afghanistan. This book is well recommended not just for military historians, but for those readers who are interested in the effects of war upon ordinary people.