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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | 959.7043 DRURY 2011 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | 959.7043 DRURY | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stayton Public Library | 959.7043 DRU | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The monsoon winds swirling up from the South China Sea had doubled in magnitude as Marine Staff Sergeant Mike Sullivan stood on the roof of the American Embassy, watching North Vietnamese artillery pound Saigon's airport. It was late in the afternoon of April 29, 1975, and for the past eight days the airstrip had been the busiest in the world as flight after flight of United States cargo planes ferried Vietnamese refugees, American civilians, and soldiers of both countries to safety while 150,000 North Vietnamese troops marched on the city. With Saigon now encircled and the airport bombed out, thousands were trapped.
Last Men Out tells the remarkable story of the drama that unfolded over the next twenty-four hours: the final, heroic chapter of the Vietnam War as improvised by a small unit of Marines, a vast fleet of helicopter pilots flying nonstop missions beyond regulation, and a Marine general who vowed to arrest any officer who ordered his choppers grounded while his men were still on the ground. It would become the largest-scale evacuation ever carried out--what many would call an American Dunkirk.
In a gripping, moment-by-moment narrative based on a wealth of recently declassified documents and indepth interviews, Bob Drury and Tom Clavin focus on the story of the eleven young Marines who were the last men to leave, rescued from the Embassy roof just moments before capture, having voted to make an Alamo-like last stand. As politicians in Washington struggled to put the best face on disaster and the American ambassador refused to acknowledge that the end had come and to evacuate, these courageous men held their ground and helped save thousands of lives. They and their fellow troops on the ground and in the air had no room for error as frenzy broke out in the streets and lashing rains and enemy fire began to pelt the city. One Marine pilot, Captain Gerry Berry, flew for eighteen straight hours and had to physically force the American ambassador onto his helicopter.
Drury and Clavin gained unprecedented access to the survivors, to the declassified "After-Action reports" of the operation, and to the transmissions among helicopter pilots, their officers, and officials in Saigon secretly recorded by the National Security Agency. They deliver a taut and stirring account of a turning point in American history which unfolds with the heart-stopping urgency of the best thrillers--a riveting true story finally told, in full, by those who lived it.
Author Notes
Bob Drury is an American journalist and author who has been nominated for three National Magazine Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. He has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, and Darfur. He is also the author, co-author, or editor of nine nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestselling Halsey's Typhoon and Last Men Out. In 2015, his nonfiction book, The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend, also became a bestseller.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
The dramatic story of the chaotic last days of the Vietnam War in April 1975 is an iconic chapter in this controversial war. Books, indelible photos, and news footage have recorded the anarchy at the gates of the U.S. embassy and the departing helicopters loaded to the gills with panicked Vietnamese civilians, distraught State Department employees, and their U.S. Marine protectors. Journalists and authors Drury and Clavin (coauthors of Halsey's Typhoon) give a sprightly account of these events focused on the Marine Security Guards stationed in Saigon and a handful of provincial capitals, and the nearly impossible job they faced as the North Vietnamese Army moved in on the embassy and as U.S. Ambassador Graham Martin dithered while Saigon burned. It's an absorbing tale, filled with selfless and courageous actions by the Marines. The authors relate the experience in docudrama style, replete with reconstructed dialogue that will leave historically exacting readers wishing for more detailed documentation of their research. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
An exciting, focused account of the bitter evacuation by helicopter of the last Marines securing the U.S. embassy compound in Saigon on April 30, 1975.The Americans washed their bloody hands of the Vietnam War with the Paris Peace Accords of January 1973, which stipulated withdrawal from South Vietnam except for a handful of Marine Security Guards (MSGs) and other personnel posted at the embassy and at a defense outpost (DOA) adjacent to the airport in downtown Saigon. The North VietnameseArmy broke the treaty by late 1974 and invaded its southern neighbor, and the Americans at the provincial Da Nang consulate in central Vietnam had already been forced into a horrifically chaotic evacuation by sea. Encircled by the North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong by April 29, 1975, Saigon was braced for an invasion, with the North Vietnamese's Gen. Van Tien Dung calling for evacuation of all Americans. The airport, guarded still by U.S. Marines, had been operating nonstop during the preceding weeks to remove tens of thousands of high-risk South Vietnamese, civilian contractors as well as refugees and war brides, but there were still guards at the DOA and numerous personnel at the embassy. As if to prod the Americans not to try anything sneaky, the North Vietnamese shelled the DOA, then the airport, sending up the VC flag, and the only option for evacuation of the Americans was by helicopter. Drury and Clavin (The Last Stand of Fox Company, 2009, etc.) ably narrate this suspenseful saga, full of conflicting personalities including Sgt. Juan Valdez, who was in charge of the MSGs; and the intractable Ambassador Graham Martin, immovable and holding out for peace talks until ordered by presidential request to get out. The authors also skillfully wade through the staggering details of the 600 chopper runs over an 18-hour period.A thrilling narrative of bravery, bravado and loss.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The excellent team that gave us Halsey's Typhoon (2007) now offers the equally gripping story of a handful of marines who formed the last body of Americans to leave Saigon on April 30, 1975. Drury and Clavin have crafted an account of nonstop action and hairbreadth escapes out of a vast body of recently declassified documents, including interviews, debriefings, and radio intercepts carefully preserved by the indefatigable National Security Agency. Some of the people involved are particularly memorable, such as a marine helicopter pilot who had to manhandle the American ambassador aboard his chopper, and a marine general who refused to allow helicopters to be grounded as long as there was a single marine still in Saigon. It is almost a cliche to say that a piece of history reads like a thriller, but it is true enough of this and many other books that recount times when small bands of heroes at least staved off utter disaster.--Green, Rolan. Copyright 2010 Booklist