About this item
Highlights
- Playing trumpet in the 9th Infantry Division Band should have been a safe assignment but the Viet Cong swarmed throughout the Mekong Delta, and safety was nonexistent.
- About the Author: The late Robert F. Fischer was a researcher and writer who divided his time between Florida and Vermont.
- 256 Pages
- History, Military
Description
About the Book
Playing trumpet in the 9th Infantry Division Band should have been a safe assignment but the Viet Cong swarmed throughout the Mekong Delta, and safety was nonexistent. The band's twofold mission--boosting morale and helping win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese--required them to leave their ng Tam (a.k.a. Mortar City) base camp and travel through a vast area of rice paddies, dense jungle and numerous villages.By 1969, home-front support for the war had dwindled and the U.S. Army in Vietnam was on the brink of mutiny. No one wanted to die under the command of career-minded officers in a war lost to misguided politics. This memoir of a conscripted musician in Vietnam provides a personal account of the lunacy surrounding combat support service in the 9th Infantry Division during the months prior to its withdrawal.
Book Synopsis
Playing trumpet in the 9th Infantry Division Band should have been a safe assignment but the Viet Cong swarmed throughout the Mekong Delta, and safety was nonexistent. The band's twofold mission--boosting morale and helping win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese--required them to leave their Đồng Tam (a.k.a. Mortar City) base camp and travel through a vast area of rice paddies, dense jungle and numerous villages.
By 1969, home-front support for the war had dwindled and the U.S. Army in Vietnam was on the brink of mutiny. No one wanted to die under the command of career-minded officers in a war lost to misguided politics. This memoir of a conscripted musician in Vietnam provides a personal account of the lunacy surrounding combat support service in the 9th Infantry Division during the months prior to its withdrawal.
Review Quotes
"Fischer writes like a pro. He deftly weaves together humor, history lessons, insights and his own unusual experience"-The VVA Veteran.
About the Author
The late Robert F. Fischer was a researcher and writer who divided his time between Florida and Vermont.