Major General Nguyen Van Hieu, ARVN


Book Description

Brigadier General George Wear once noted, "When the ARVN troops were well led they fought as well as anyone's soldiers. They simply needed commanders who would support them properly and who could win their confidence and make them believe that their cause was worth risking their lives for." General Hieu had been one of such commanders. Colonel John Hayes, 5th ARVN Division senior advisor remarked in 1970, "General Hieu is an above average commander. Good qualities include dedication, experience as a combat leader, ability to stimulate and maintain morale, and ability to control those in his command. He is quite religious and patriotic, and demands high standards of conduct and discipline. He is methodical but decisive. He is rated better than the average US Division commander in overall performance." American Veterans who had served in Vietnam might be interested in knowing that General Hieu had collaborated closely with the following American units: USMC HMM-364, 52nd Combat Aviation Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division, 173rd Airborne Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, 174th Assault Helicopter Company, 1st Battalion/50th Mechanized Infantry, 7/15th Field Artillery Battalion, 19th Engineer Combat Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade/82nd Airborne Division, 12th Aviation Group and 3rd Squadron/17th Air Cavalry. * General Hieu was obviously a great soldier who put his country and his people foremost. (General Fred C. Weyand) * Biography of a South Vietnam general officer who has been likened to Patton, Rommel, Montgomery, and LeClerc. He was much admired by Vietnamese civilians and respected by his American advisors. (Douglas Pike) * This book sheds light on the ARVN Forces never before told. (Darryl Nelson) * I do not see how anyone studying the Vietnam War on the ARVN side can neglect your book at all. (James Miguez)




General Hieu, ARVN


Book Description

This biography, a reader would notice at the outset, was not written by a historian, an investigative reporter, or a professional biographer. It originates instead from the pen of a younger sibling seeking to resolve the mystery surrounding his brother's untimely death. This legitimate curiosity has evolved into a collection of articles depicting General Hieu as a family man, a patriot, a military strategist, and a man of integrity. This collection of articles authored by siblings, friends and fellow military men unexpectedly converges to project a dynamic image of an intelligent soldier and brilliant strategist engaged in the twofold quixotic tasks of overcoming a corrupted military hierarchy and fighting the invading North Vietnamese communist army. The book presents the reader with glimpses of a man living the yin aspect of the Vietnamese society (egalitarian, flexible, spiritual, congenial) and, at the same time, confronting the yang aspect of the neo-Confucianist military and government hierarchy (male dominant, rigid, self-serving, elitist, concerned with face and status). Without any claim to being systematic or thorough in his research, the author has nevertheless gathered a number of revealing personal anecdotes, testimonies from living witnesses, declassified documents from the National Archives, letters from former military academy classmates, phone interviews, excerpts from books, and so forth. From this cacophony of voices emerges the image of a virtuous man, caring father, loving spouse, and competent general respected by Vietnamese and American military personnel of all ranks. The reader would no doubt be surprised to discover this unsung hero in the stark background of negative memories of the Vietnam War and betrayal of the people by the neo-Confucianist military and government hierarchy. Though modest in its presentation, the book managed to do justice to a dedicated soldier and competent general, who was mostly unknown to both the Vietnamese and the American public. After reading this fascinating biography, the reader comes away wondering what might have been had this uncommon general, who epitomized the true Vietnamese people, been allowed to fully exercise his military competence.




Don't Cry For Us, Saigon


Book Description

The United States military did not lose the Vietnam War! The South Vietnamese government lost the Vietnam War. With many inaccurate books, biased statements, lack of understanding, and facts, I decided to write a Vietnamese history book with emphasis on the Second Indochina War. This book will correct many of those misconceptions about the Vietnam War, answer controversial questions, and give readers a microcosm and basic dynamics of the Vietnam War. I recorded and archived highlights of the Vietnam War and the accounts of American military heroes whose sacrifices and heroic exploits might otherwise be lost to history. The poignant, riveting, and the gripping reality of war and the demons and misfortune of the Vietnam veterans will be depicted in the book. This book is intended for a variety of audiences: veterans, family members, gold star mothers, organizations, agencies, clubs, college students, faculty, and history buffs. Search-and-destroy operations in South Vietnam will be described in comprehensive detail and why President Johnson later changed the name of search-and-destroy operations to reconnaissance in force. This book will show that the worst atrocity of the Vietnam War occurred in the United States when America shunned and discriminated against its Vietnam War veterans and gold star mothers! This book is a first-person account of high school teenyboppers suddenly answering the call for duty and turning into elite combat warriors virtually overnight. Vietnam War veterans saw and experienced horrific savage and direct combat repeatedly that humans aren't intended to see. Testimonies of seasoned combat Airborne Infantry soldiers, Pathfinders, and Special Forces whose average age was twenty-one will be depicted through empirical vignettes. These first-person vignettes will describe the carnage of firefights, mortar attacks, the stench of human decay and flesh torn and broken, and the camaraderie and bonds of men at war. Do not judge these warrior-leader heroes unless you have walked a mile in their jungle boots through a jungle in a combat environment. Remember, once upon a time, we were all like you! Myths of the Vietnam War will be refuted, rebutted, and debunked. Agent Orange and other herbicides used in the Vietnam War will be discussed. This book will help all veterans, their families, and America to better understand and come to some closure and aid in catharsis. We are awesome! It is chic and vogue to be a Vietnam veteran now.




Black April


Book Description

The defeat of South Vietnam was arguably America’s worst foreign policy disaster of the 20th Century. Yet a complete understanding of the endgame—from the 27 January 1973 signing of the Paris Peace Accords to South Vietnam’s surrender on 30 April 1975—has eluded us. Black April addresses that deficit. A culmination of exhaustive research in three distinct areas: primary source documents from American archives, North Vietnamese publications containing primary and secondary source material, and dozens of articles and numerous interviews with key South Vietnamese participants, this book represents one of the largest Vietnamese translation projects ever accomplished, including almost one hundred rarely or never seen before North Vietnamese unit histories, battle studies, and memoirs. Most important, to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of South Vietnam’s conquest, the leaders in Hanoi released several compendiums of formerly highly classified cables and memorandum between the Politburo and its military commanders in the south. This treasure trove of primary source materials provides the most complete insight into North Vietnamese decision-making ever complied. While South Vietnamese deliberations remain less clear, enough material exists to provide a decent overview. Ultimately, whatever errors occurred on the American and South Vietnamese side, the simple fact remains that the country was conquered by a North Vietnamese military invasion despite written pledges by Hanoi’s leadership against such action. Hanoi’s momentous choice to destroy the Paris Peace Accords and militarily end the war sent a generation of South Vietnamese into exile, and exacerbated a societal trauma in America over our long Vietnam involvement that reverberates to this day. How that transpired deserves deeper scrutiny.







Général Hieu, ARVN


Book Description

Biographie du Général Nguyen Van Hieu de l'Armée de la République du Viet Nam (ARVN)




The Tragedy of the Vietnam War


Book Description

What Americans call the Vietnam War actually began in December 1946 with a struggle between the communists and the French for possession of the country--but Vietnam's strategic position in southeast Asia inevitably led to the involvement of other countries. Written by an officer in the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces, this poignant memoir seeks to clarify the nuances of South Vietnam's defeat. From the age of 12, Van Nguyen Duong watched as the conflict affected his home, family, village and friends. He discusses not only the day-to-day hardships of wartime but his postwar forced relocation and eventual imprisonment. A special focus is on the anguish caused by the illusive reality of Vietnamese independence. The political forces at work north and south, the hardships suffered by RVNAF soldiers after the 1975 U.S. withdrawal, and the effects of reunification on the Vietnamese people are discussed.




365 Days of Mental Siege


Book Description

This story takes place in Vietnam, in 1971, as American warplanes were still raining bombs down on the NVA military sanctuaries inside Cambodia. The war was in full swing and America was giving helicopter assistance in support of South Vietnamese operations near Snoul Cambodia. The military operations, launched to cut off enemy infiltrations and supply lines on the Long Mountain Trail, sixty miles west of Saigon was tragic as it turned to disaster. This is the chain of events leading up to that disaster on Vietnam‘s Western Military Border. Written and recounted by Dan Sutherland. Rockford, Ill




Abandoning Vietnam


Book Description

Drawing upon both archival research and his own military experiences in Vietnam, Willbanks focuses on military operations from 1969 through 1975. He begins by analyzing the events that led to a change in U.S. strategy in 1969 and the subsequent initiation of Vietnamization. He then critiques the implementation of that policy and the combat performance of the South Vietnamese army (ARVN), which finally collapsed in 1975.




The Vietnam War


Book Description

The first comprehensive military history of the war in Vietnam The Vietnam War cast a shadow over the American psyche from the moment it began. In its time it sparked budget deficits, campus protests, and an erosion of US influence around the world. Long after the last helicopter evacuated Saigon, Americans have continued to battle over whether it was ever a winnable war. Based on thousands of pages of military, diplomatic, and intelligence documents, Geoffrey Wawro’s The Vietnam War offers a definitive account of a war of choice that was doomed from its inception. In devastating detail, Wawro narrates campaigns where US troops struggled even to find the enemy in the South Vietnamese wilderness, let alone kill sufficient numbers to turn the tide in their favor. Yet the war dragged on, prolonged by presidents and military leaders who feared the political consequences of accepting defeat. In the end, no number of young lives lost or bombs dropped could prevent America’s ally, the corrupt South Vietnamese regime, from collapsing the moment US troops retreated. Broad, definitive, and illuminating, The Vietnam War offers an unsettling, resonant story of the limitations of American power.