My Father's War Stories
Mt. Battaglia to Quang Tri
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
It wasn’t exactly a village we landed in, just a couple of rundown hootches with some pigs waddling around in the yard. As we were walking towards one of the buildings, a Marine truck went by with some drunk GIs in the back yelling and throwing boxes of C rations into the yard. They laughed as the Vietnamese scrambled after these valuables, snatching them up like there was gold inside. I guess in a way it was gold, food in a hungry land. I had the strange feeling of looking at the U.S. military through the eyes of the Vietnamese, and for just a few seconds I wondered at how the American culture could produce such riches and not make its citizens wise and compassionate at the same time. How could these people afford to waste so much?
An explosion went off across the rice paddies, far away but close enough to feel the shock. I was abruptly transported back to reality. Maybe someone had stepped on a land mine or tripped a booby trap. We didn’t care. That was Someone Else’s War.
No one in the vill paid any attention to us, and OJ walked up to the door of the nearest hootch and knocked. A pretty Vietnamese woman came out and bowed to us, speaking in her singsong language. She invited us in with a wave of her hand and we followed her inside. OJ swaggered into the room like he owned the place, with me in tow. He handed the bag he was carrying to the woman, who bowed her thanks.
It was dark and as my eyes adjusted I was startled to see six men in black pajamas sitting on the floor.
“Oh God!” I thought. “It’s an ambush!” I stepped back against a wall, raising my weapon half way up, thumb on the safety, ready to rock and roll on full auto.
The men looked at me nervously, but OJ was unconcerned and took charge of the situation, babbling something in Vietnamese.
“John John numbah 1 bac se, numbah 1." He introduced me as John-John, supposedly an honor in this country to be named twice or something like that. Bac se meant medic or doctor in Vietnamese. Everyone laughed and relaxed a little as I lowered my weapon. I still wasn’t completely convinced we were safe.
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
My Father’s War Stories is about the call to adventure heard from the battlefields of WWII a few years before the main character was born. As he grew up, his war hero father related tales of Silver Stars and Purple Hearts, telling of heroic deeds and ultimate victory where right finally prevailed over tyranny, saving the world from evil. Post-war prosperity glorified warfare on the silver screen with John Wayne always carrying the day. From ancient heroism to mayhem caused by German artillery barrages to the dark jungles of Vietnam, war seemed like a glorious and noble pursuit made to order for a young man’s passion. Following the siren’s song from his first battle at Split Rock, through conflicts using firearms and explosives in woodland fortresses, our character finally discovers in Southeast Asia more than a decade later war is horror, not fun. Recent trends in Hollywood seem to indicate a policy reversal in the development of war movies. Realistic portrayals of the true nature of armed conflict remove the romance and are less likely to lure naïve young men into embracing the belief that participating in a war will be just like playing games in the backyard.
About the Author
John Regan lives in Tucson Arizona with his wife Suzanne and sons Paul and Scott. He works for Pima County’s Department of Transportation managing a GIS (Geographic Information System) unit, providing spatial information to decision-makers. John has written over 50 papers on the application of GIS technology and served on various technical advisory boards in Arizona. He is the author of “Rupert” and the children’s story “Copper’s Arivaca Adventure”. In his spare time, John works an orchard in Arivaca with his sons and rides his Harley with the local HOG chapter.