50 Years After Vietnam: Lessons and Letters from the War I Hated Fighting - Softcover

Lord, Mr. Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1720073570 ISBN 13: 9781720073574

Publisher: Independently published, 2018

Synopsis

Bill Lord’s new book 50 Years After Vietnam is the irreverent but poignant memoir of a young draftee. Lord and his fellow soldiers were 19 and 20 year-olds fighting on the front lines in 1968. The country that sent them there had erupted in violence after the Tet Offensive and the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. As casualties mounted in Vietnam and the anti-war movement grew back home, Americans increasingly directed their anger at the very soldiers who were fighting the war. “We were orphans out there on the battlefield,” Lord writes. “No one could tell us what we were fighting for and many of our fellow Americans had begun to hate us.” 50 Years After Vietnam features excerpts from the letters Lord wrote home from the war, which became increasingly cynical and fearful as his time in Vietnam continued. The book provides a brutally honest assessment of what these young soldiers, who were little more than children at the time, did to survive.

About this title

About the Author

Bill Lord was a broadcast journalist for more than 45 years as a reporter, foreign correspondent, and television news manager. As a local TV reporter he did the first on camera interview with killer Ted Bundy in Salt Lake City. As an NBC News correspondent he covered the Civil War in Lebanon and Anwar Sadat's historic visit to Israel. As a TV News Director he covered both O.J. Simpson trials in Los Angeles, the WTO riots in Seattle and the election of Barack Obama in Washington D, C, He has received many professional honors including the Peabody Award, the DuPont-Columbia Award and multiple Emmy Awards. He is currently retired and volunteering on the Headliner Team of the National Press Club. Lord is married to former TV reporter and anchor Cyndee Benson Lord. They have four adult children and reside in McLean, VA.

Review

"Great book from a grunt"

"A terriffic take on a soldier's tour of Vietnam."

"The writing is clean and crisp. Alternately funny, chilling and heartbreaking."

Snapsot chapters deliver quick, efficient punches of the bigger story."

"It was a joy to read. I laughed out loud. I cried, I smiled. I wondered. This book is a gift.

"Lord admits he was surprised later in life to realize how much of his success as a leader he owed to his time as and infantry sergeant in Vietnam."

"Well written---capturing the heartache and frustration of surviving a useless war."

Edition details

• Publisher: Independently published
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1720073570
• ISBN 13: 9781720073574
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 222