Sông Bé - by Richard Barlow Adams (Paperback)

About the Book

Richard Foxworth, a renowned architect, reacts to what his wife finds that triggers buried memories of a 1968 Vietnam War battle, the physical wounds he sustained, and his treatment at Rollingwood Sanitarium for post-traumatic stress.

Book Synopsis

Sông Bé, a fact-based narrative told in flashback from a present-day evening concert at the New Orleans Orpheum Theater, features a fit, world-renowned architect, Richard Foxworth, a West Point graduate, who reacts to what his wife finds in his old Army footlocker. It triggers long-buried memories of his role in 1968 as a second lieutenant in the Vietnam War during the Tet Offensive battle of Sông Bé, the physical wounds he sustained in the battle, his treatment at Rollingwood Sanitarium for post-traumatic stress, the dream that haunted him nightly after the battle, and the loss of a West Point classmate. Threaded through the story is a history of the American civil rights movement since the 1950s.

The factual bases for Adams' fourth historical narrative are derived from the author's research and experiences as the son of a career Army officer, the first of three brothers to graduate from West Point, a Vietnam War veteran, an Army aviator serving in the Middle East, a student of American history, a civil/environmental engineer, an adjunct professor at Southern Methodist University and the United States Military Academy, and the founder of an international consulting engineering company.

Born in 1945, a month after V-J Day, Adams has always seen himself as part of a generation that grew up in a time of great change and hope for a brighter and more equal world, those espousing racial equality and equality of sexes being increasingly heard.

Relevant to the authenticity of the military and battle elements of the story, the Battle of Sông Bé specifically, and American history, five months after graduating from West Point in June 1967, Adams was one of the first in the Class of 1967 to serve in the Vietnam War and fought in the Battle of Sông Bé on February 18, 1968, during what would be called the Tet Offensive. Prior to deployment to Vietnam to serve with the 101st Airborne Division as a forward observer for D Company, 1/506th Infantry Battalion, and fire direction officer for A Battery, 2/319 Artillery Battalion, he shared a barracks room with a sharp African-American lieutenant, Clyde Oates, for Airborne training. At the end of the first week of training, Oates responded to him as Redman does in Sông Bé when queried by Foxworth if he wanted to go into Columbus, Georgia, with the guys for a few beers and to blow off steam ... it wasn't going to happen.

Significant to the story, as an Army captain, Adams served as a Casualty Assistance Officer to a family suffering the loss of a husband/father killed in Vietnam, and prior to resigning his commission in 1974, administered the race relations program and unit-wide race relations seminars for a major U.S. Army command in Germany, the 24th Engineer Group, during a period of intense racial unrest in the armed forces.

Adams' other historical narratives include:

The Parting: A Story of West Point on the Eve of the Civil War

Eben Kruge: How "A Christmas Carol" Came to be Written

Charlie's Ashes: A Greatest Generation Story

A collegiate gymnast and former Vail Resorts ski instructor, Adams is a man of faith, married with two children and five grandchildren, and currently serves as the chief strategy officer for an innovative "clean" renewable energy company, Ion Power Group LLC, writing historical fiction as time allows.

Review Quotes

I've had the pleasure of reading and supremely enjoying everything Mr. Adams has written, and Song Be-his latest novel set during the Vietnam War-may excel them all. Whether or not you love historical fiction or the Vietnam era in particular, you will enjoy this book. Mr. Adams has an easy and familiar writing style-like talking to an old friend-and he tells his story in a way that captures your attention from the first moments and doesn't let go until the very end. After you finish Song Be, be sure to read The Parting and Eben Kruge. In fact, I'll bet you'll have purchased them before even finishing Song Be, so eager will you be to read everything this man writes. - Emily P., Nashville, TN

I have read all Adams' books. I was particularly interested in reading "Song Be" knowing it did a thorough job of covering PTSD. My father, a WW II veteran, and several friends, Vietnam veterans, have had or have PTSD. The novel's protagonist, Richard Fox, has PTSD, and his story is gripping and provides great insight into this war-related disorder. I was totally immersed in this novel, and Rich Adams has helped me better relate to the father I never really knew and what he went through. My mother shared with me when I was a young adult and old enough to understand, "Your Dad was not the man I married" because of his military experience. God Bless my father (RIP) and others who served and serve our country. Richard Foxworth received help and manages his PTSD. Thank you, Rich Adams, I can now better relate to and appreciate my father. - Mike in Denver.

I have read all of the books by Rich Adams, and this one is at the top of my list. My 30-year Army career as an airborne ranger and infantryman included a year in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division in 1968-69, so I can vouch for how Rich Adams' brilliant narrative addresses the impact of this war on our returning soldiers. He does this using lucid prose and a flashback flow that keeps the reader fully engaged, building drama from beginning to end. I highly recommend Song Be' to all those interested in the Vietnam War and how it affected so many of our veterans. And I guarantee you will love the story. - Jack Wood

Song Be is a thrilling historically accurate novel and example of fine prose that enters the current-day rather pastoral life of a globally acclaimed architect whose wife discovers something rummaging through an old trunk that brings back memories he's long buried about a battle he was in during the Vietnam War and the physical and emotional wounds he sustained. The story is an emotional roller-coaster that weaves together at least four plot lines, including the evolution of American civil rights. Reading about the author at the end of the book, I was shocked to find he actually fought in the battle of Song Be. This story has got to be made into a movie! - Jennifer from Brentwood, TN

While I'm not usually a fan of the use of flashbacks in books or films, it serves an important function here. For example, the combat scenes are realistic and compelling, and if read chronologically, would have been disturbing to me. I, like Rich, served and lost friends in that conflict. So, interspersed as they are with scenes from a rehab facility, and the present day, it allows the reader some breathing room. This period in history was complicated and conflicted. No one book can capture the turmoil. However, Rich accurately describes the effects of that war by focusing on just a few characters. Many of us struggle with those effects today. A very important lesson to be taken from his tragic and sometimes uplifting story is the responsibility that our political and military leaders have in ordering our engagement in any conflict or war. His book serves as a reminder to carefully consider and plan for any future military conflicts. Highly recommended. - G. Wayne Smith