Book: Matterhorn - A Novel of the Vietnam War

I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Vietnam have been given the credit they deserve. It was a difficult war against an unorthodox enemy. ~William Westmoreland

As a youth, I was fascinated with World War II. I read countless books about the war, about the evil empire threatening to take over the world, about the heros fighting for our freedom, about bravery in Normandy and Iwo Jima. The fascination followed me into college where I took a class my Freshman year on the history of WWII to satisfy an elective requirement. 

This fascination was an outgrowth of growing up with my dad who also had a fascination with WWII. We watched war movies on a regular basis, classics like, "The Guns of Navarone", "The Dirty Dozen", any war movie featuring superhero John Wayne.

Vietnam, the war closest to my generation, on the other hand, put a bad taste in my mouth, a bad taste that lingers to this day. The debate about that war was one of the first times I remember my dad and I being at odds about a subject. He was pro war while I was vehemently against this particular war. I distinctly remember this though I was barely a teen when the war ended.

Since my youth, Vietnam has been a topic that sets about a churning in my stomach. When I first saw Platoon in a theater, I was shocked. I remember sitting in stunned silence in the theater with tears running down my face. The movie was so difficult for me to watch that it was many years before I could muster the courage to see it again because the effect on me was so deeply saddening those years before.

This week, I read my very first book on Vietnam. It was a fictional account which, if I am to believe the reviewers on Amazon, captures the essence of that war, the senselessness of the war. Unlike my WWII books of old where 'We' won in the end, the end of this book did not have us winning. The end of this book had us still in the war. The end of this book left me feeling the futility that must have been a rampant, every day cloud hanging over the heads of the soldiers dying in battle.

The book explores the minds of the soldier as they slogged through the jungle frequently short of rations, short of ammunition, short of sleep, short of a deeper meaning for the tactics employed by the marine hierarchy handcuffed by politicians thousands of miles away on the home front. The book explores the racial divide, the conflicts between the 'splibs' and the 'chucks' that had them fighting each other, sometimes killing each other.

This is a book that will make you think and make you feel the contrasting emotions of admiration for the soldiers and disdain for the political establishment while giving a grunts eye view of the Vietnam war. It's a very good book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the challenges facing the ground troops in that horrific era of US history.