Road of 10,000 Pains
Available At:
About
“Oh, yes,” a retired NVA officer matter-of-factly declared to former U.S. Marine Otto J. Lehrack. “In the Que Son Valley in 1967, we killed more Americans than at any time or place during the war.” Road of 10,000 Pains, which takes its name from The Iliad, is an epic oral history of Vietnam's bloodiest campaign, fought for seven months in a series of battles, most within four miles of each other, along Route 534. In October 1967, orders came down to the 2nd North Vietnamese Army Division commanding them to join with local Viet Cong units and seize the city of Da Nang in the coming Tet Offensive. When the time came, the division was so battered from its seven-month campaign in the Que Son Valley that it failed to carry out its mission. Only one platoon was to make it inside the city limits of Da Nang. Had it not been for the violent struggles in the valley, Da Nang may have suffered the same fate as the city of Hue.
Praise for this book
As is his preferred style, Otto Lehrack craftily blends history with oral history to weave compelling tales of the grit with horror combat experienced by US Marines and their equally motivated enemies for the Que Son Valley in 1967.
An up-from-the ranks infantry officer who participated in much of the combat written about, Lehrack is a master story teller whose vignettes are easily assimilated by a wide range of readers. He presents essential history, background and detail, then allows the story's actual participants to color in and personalize every engagement. A liberal application of maps and photos maximizes reader empathy for the Marines and their corpsmen and truly fills out the story.
"Road of 10,000 Pains" is a work worthy of every serious scholar of the Vietnam War, and yet it is not so ponderous that the more casual student of the war will find it an essential read as well.