The First Battle
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About
Operation Starlite is a graphic account of the first major clash of the Vietnam War. On August 18, 1965, regiment fought regiment on the Van Tuong Peninsula near the new Marine base at Chu Lai. On the American side were three battalions of Marines under the command of Colonel Oscar Peatross, a hero of two previous wars. His opponent was the 1st Viet Cong Regiment commanded by Nguyen Dinh Trong, a veteran of many fights against the French and the South Vietnamese. Codenamed Operation Starlite, this action was a resounding success for the Marines and its result was cause for great optimism about America's future in Vietnam.
Those expecting a book about Americans in battle will not be disappointed by the detailed descriptions of how the fight unfolded. Marine participants from private to colonel were interviewed during the book's research phase. The battle is seen from the mud level, by those who were at the point of the spear. But this is not just another war story told exclusively from the American side. In researching the book, the author talked with and walked the battlefield with men who fought with the 1st Viet Cong Regiment. All were accomplished combat veterans years before the U.S. entry into the war.
The reader is planted squarely in America in 1965, the year that truly began the long American involvement. Operation Starlite sent the Vietnam War into the headlines across the nation and into the minds of Americans, where it took up residence for more than a decade. Starlite was the first step in Vietnam's becoming America's quagmire.
Praise for this book
I give it a 5 but it could have used more maps. For me it was confusing as to where all these units where located; although I can only guess in a multi-level operation it can be confusing. I've read Mr. Lehrack's other works; and as usual he put me in the sights, sounds and smells of what it must have been like. I've never read a more concise and yet detailed account of just exactly how we got involved in Vietnam such as how the author explained it. The epilogue too does a great job of wrapping up the entire war as clearly and concisely as the beginning explains how we got there. The war to me was a noble effort (at the time) with flawed operational art. Fueled by "old school" thinking against an entirely new form of warfare and having General Westmoreland given the head job via the "good-ole-boy" network was a mistake. Could pacification really worked? It seemed that it was at least worth a chance instead of search and destroy - if it did not work then we should have gotten out while the getting was good. The administration (Johnson showing his genitalia) was a shining example of just what this war was all about - who had the largest manhood and how easily the administration felt it would blow North Vietnam back to the stone age. Stubborn higher ups did in fact use the youth of America to start the Blood Debt. Great read about what was the beginning of the abyss.