Matterhorn; A Novel of the Vietnam War

[Cosima__J]

This novel, written by a Nam vet, makes you feel like you are there ... slogging through the jungle, low on c rations, low on ammo, low on leadership and needless to say, low on morale. Unpopular though the war was, my hat is off to those combat soldiers. They suffered tremeduously!!! And when they finally got back home, they were spat upon ---- figuratively and literally.

[HoustonDavid]

Nobody could be more sympathetic with the grief of Vietnam veterans than one who was
there. I didn't "slog through jungles" or regularly be stuck with C-rations for my meals, but
I knew in my heart when I got home, in 1963, that we should "send in the Marines!"

Two years later, I had reversed course, emotionally and intellectually, and knew it wasn't
our war, it was theirs. The poor G.I.'s who got stuck with fighting it for nearly a decade,
have my love and empathy as a fellow warrior, but the politicians on all sides: American,
South Vietnamese (least of all), and the North Vietnamese, made it a civil war that could
only be won by one of the other guys, not us. Of course, we now know they did.

I have read many books on war but because I was a "grunt" myself, I tend to identify more
with books from their point of view, not the ones with a "message" or a political point of view,
and least of all with ones who think warriors are fighting for anything more important than the
guy next to them and mostly for their own survival, and the desire to be anywhere else in the
world but where they are.

[Cosima__J]

David, having read your last paragraph, I think Matterhorn is just the type of book you'd really like.

[HoustonDavid]

Thanks, Cosima, I will look for it on Amazon or Half Price Books. It looks as though I would
enjoy it from your description.

[BWV 1080]

have to look into that

this is the only Vietnam book I have read



and would highly recommend it

[HoustonDavid]

Thanks Steve, I have read that one several years ago and I was impressed.