Into the Green: A Reconnaissance by Fire - Softcover

McDonald, Cherokee Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452282527 ISBN 13: 9780452282520

Publisher: Plume, 2001

Synopsis

Into the Green is Cherokee Paul McDonald's stark and stirring account of his three years as an Artillery Forward Observer in Vietnam. Born out of memories and emotions, and the weight of conscience, it is an eloquent meditation on what it means to be a soldier.

McDonald tells his story "in the voice of memory; as a writer looking back." He wanted to capture the immediacy of war moment by moment-the tastes, the textures, the colors, smells, and emotions that have stayed with him forever. In a series of interlocking episodes he describes the daily grind of military life and the terror and brutality of active combat. He talks about the men who were his comrades and friends, and nights spent in the impenetrable darkness of steaming jungles beneath a triple canopy of green in the central highlands of Vietnam.

An indelible portrait of a soldier and of the physical and emotional destruction that is the legacy of all wars, Into the Green is a haunting chronicle of a place and a time that will never fade from memory.

About this title

About the Author

Cherokee Paul McDonald is the author of three novels and an acclaimed memoir, Blue Truth. His articles have appeared in the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, among other publications.

From Publishers Weekly

To "recon by fire" is to let loose aggressively on suspected enemy positions. In this stylized Vietnam War memoir, McDonald (Blue Truth) lets loose with bursts of memories in the form of many short chapters, each of which deals with some aspect of the author's war experiences. McDonald went to Vietnam as a brand-new artillery second lieutenant in January 1968. He arrived after the Tet offensive and served for 11 months as a forward observer, moving throughout the Central Highlands in support of several American and South Vietnamese infantry units, including the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the Fourth Infantry Division and Green Beret teams. He worked in a three-man team and saw more than his share of action before leaving Vietnam on a medevac helicopter, the victim of a severe case of malaria. At his best, McDonald convincingly evokes the feel of the war from his ground-level perspective and his witnessing of much death and destruction. He describes the worst of it in an intense, in-your-face manner, sometimes using reconstructed dialogue and his imagination although McDonald says that everything in the book "is real." Other stories are told more straightforwardly. McDonald has bitterly harsh things to say about Robert McNamara, Jane Fonda, war correspondents and combat photographers. He staunchly defends his fellow troops, calling them "regular young guys trying to do the best they could under ill-defined and difficult circumstances, trying not to shame themselves, and trying to get home where they belonged." Most vets would agree.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Plume
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0452282527
• ISBN 13: 9780452282520
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272