No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam?An Oral History

by Otto J. Lehrack

Overview

Winner: General Wallace M. Greene Award

“No more Vietnams!”

A quarter century after the war in Vietnam, that battle cry brought a flag-waving nation to its feet and ignited the superpatriotism of the Gulf War era. But hard as we tried—with yellow ribbons and “We Support Our Troops” bumper stickers and Norman Schwarzkopf videos and Olympics-style homecoming celebrations—we couldn’t seem to erase the disturbing memory of Vietnam.

Perhaps forgetting is not the answer. Perhaps the healing process begins with remembering. Painful, clear-headed remembering.

Even those who remember best, the men who fought in Vietnam, aren’t anxious to recall their experiences—or recount them to an academician. But in Otto Lehrack they found a sympathetic audience. Lehrack is both a historian and a member of the Third Battalion, Third Marines. He fought alongside the men whose voices he recorded here. Into their accounts, Lehrack has woven a narrative that explains the events they describe and places them into both a historical and a political context.

It’s a grunt’s-eye view of the Vietnam War that emerges in No Shining Armor—the war as seen by the PFC’s, sergeants, and platoon leaders in the rivers and jungles and trenches. It’s the story of teenagers leading squads of men into the jungle on night missions, the story of boredom, confusion, and equipment shortages, of friends suddenly blown away, of disappointing homecomings. It’s also the story of young men placed under unbearable strain and asked to do the impossible, who somehow stretched to meet the demands placed upon them, and the story of the friendships they forged in combat—friendships deeper than any these men would be able to form later in civilian life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780700605347
Publisher:	University Press of Kansas
Publication date:	06/29/1992
Series:	Modern War Studies
Pages:	426
Sales rank:	702,012
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations

Preface

Dramatis Personae

Prologue: Vietnam Homecoming

Part One

Countering the Viet Cong: War against Guerrillas, 1965-1966

1. The Beginning: Camp Pendleton, California

2. To Okinawa

3. Protecting the Airfield: Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam

4. A Major Operation

5. The First Big One: Operation STARLITE

6. Operation Golden Fleece

7. The First Move North: Danang

8. Pacification

9. Relocation

10. A Troubled Alliance

11. A Chaplain Goes to War

Part Two

Fighting the North Vietnamese: War against Professionals, 1966-1968

12. The Rockpile

13. Winter Action

14. Two New Lieutenants

15. Ripley and His Raiders

16. A Turbulent Easter

17. The First Battle of Khe Sanh

18. Rough Riders on Route Nine

19. Ca Lu

20. Ambush on Route Nine

21. Deja Vu: Ambush on Route Nine, September 1967

22. War along the Barrier

23. Improving the Supply System

24. Christmas as Cam Lo

25. Working with the ARVN

26. Alpha Three

27. Mike Company at Gio Linh

28. Kilo Company Ambush

29. A Sweet Little Ambush

30. Into the DMZ

31. Mike Company Ambush

32. Green Just Like the Rest of Us

33. Payback

34. The Day Martin Luther King, Jr., Was Shot

35. Bloody May

36. Dai Do

37. Brotherhood

38. Beyond Alpha Three

39. Another Marine’s Chaplain

40. Unfamiliar Territory

Part Three

After the Bombing Halt: War with One Hand Tied, 1968-1969

41. The Bombing Halt

42. Operation Taylor Common

43. An Erosion of Discipline

44. School Solution

45. The Beginning of the End: Troop Withdrawals

46. Operation Virginia Ridge

47. The Last Operation

48. Parting Shots

Appendix A. Passing in Review

Appendix B. Medals of Honor

Appendix C. Organization of Marine Infantry Units in Vietnam

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

"A disciplined, lucid view of ordinary soldiers in a bewildering and demoralizing war."—Kirkus Reviews

"This superb book of personal accounts of war is a part of the healing process for the speakers and a recognition of their valor and dedication for the reader. Lehrack weaves the gritty tales with editorial authority, articulate force, and an engaging style."—Marine Corps Gazette

"The officers and enlisted men bring to life all the sights, sounds and feelings of combat in a riveting fashion. This book has drama, action, tragedy, and humor. Colorful, poignant and matter-of-fact, each comment is its own vignette of war."—Military Review

"One of the best Vietnam books of its kind—a powerful oral history."—Vietnam

"Add this excellent book to the best of the several outstanding oral histories on various aspects of the Vietnam War."—Infantry

"No Shining Armor should join the front rank of Vietnam books. It describes real Marines in real combat, and it is a ringing tribute to the men who bore the burden of that war. Books about Americans in battle don't get any better than this."—Allan R. Millett, author of Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps

"Unique and intensely personal. This is an account told by the players at the mud level; honest, spontaneous, brutal, poignant. The great majority of Americans can only imagine—and not very well—the inhuman, devastating, brutal conditions of ground combat. These veterans now tell us in their own words, and it defies the imagination."—Col. John W. Ripley, hero of The Bridge at Dong Ha

"Lehrack places his battalion’s Vietnam experience in a larger national context-underscoring the irony, the tragedy, and a Marine’s shining-hearted pride. Many have tried to write about Vietnam, but few—if any—can match the power, the candor, and the understated eloquence of Marines telling their own stories in their own words."—Col. John G. Miller, author of The Bridge at Dong Ha

"This is war at the small unit level—squad, platoon, and company—told in a ‘no holds barred’ fashion, which means carnage and killing, chaos and intensity, heroism and terror. . . . A superb book."—Alexander S. Cochran, former editor of the journals Vietnam, World War II, and Military History

"Vivid personal accounts."—V. K. Fleming, Jr., author of Marine Corps in Crisis

"These interviews were clearly conducted with skill and sensitivity. They represent an impressive cross-section of ranks and positions. . . . That the Marines, more than any other service, understood what was happening in Vietnam and struggled against it gives the story of Third Battalion, Third Marines, a bitter poignancy."—John F. Guilmartin, Jr., author of America in Vietnam: The 15-Year War

From the Publisher

This oral history covers the experiences of numerous members of one Marine battalion, in which the author served and which he considers representative of the infantry experience in Vietnam. Unlike more dramatic oral histories of Vietnam, such as Mark Baker's Nam , this takes a chronological, battle-by-battle path, offering many logistical details. Often several voices briefly describe one event, creating a bland chorus, but there are interesting reflections, such as one on the art of scavenging for supplies. Moments of eloquence and poignance emerge infrequently: ``I go to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial a lot to talk to my guys,'' says one soldier; another describes relocating villagers: ``I felt like I was at the bottom of a toilet for the world.'' Undergirding the book is a staunchly patriotic attitude: interviewees say the Marine Corps lacked racial and drug problems, and emphasize enemy torture but ignore U.S. atrocities. In this account, best suited for military buffs, the soldiers hardly reflect on the bigger picture. ``Once a Marine, always a Marine,'' say more than one. Lehrack sums it up: ``Their casualties were not in vain but were a monument to their heritage and their brotherhood.'' Photos. Military Book Club main selection. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The author himself led a company of the 3rd Marine Division's 3rd Battalion, whose men provided the narratives collected here. Their stories begin with the battalion's training in 1964 and end in October 1969, when it was withdrawn as part of U.S. disengagement. During those five years the young Marines, many barely out of their teens, endured extremes of suffering, loss, and injury; the transcriptions of their recollections are suffused with pain all the more eloquent for being expressed in pauses more than in words. Following a unit through its entire deployment enables the author to show how tactical changes higher up filtered down to affect the combatants' situation. The Marines faced much of the heaviest action in Vietnam; this oral history vividly captures their unique experience. Military collections on Vietnam will not be complete without it. Military Book Club main selection.--Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.

Library Journal

Lehrack served two tours of duty as a Marine in Vietnam and then earned an M.A. in history from the U. of Hawaii. His work for this book was to listen and record as he interviewed the personnel of the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines about their experiences during the war. Their vivid and excruciating memories are skillfully interwoven with narrative describing events and circumstances. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews