No Kids, No Money and a Chevy: A Politically Incorrect Memoir

Opening two days before President Franklin Roosevelt's death. Part I covers the period 1945 through 1966, including Brooklyn, New York's comfort and simplicity in the early fifties. Especially entertaining is the chapter "Mame," the author's wife's nickname, a classic love story chronicling the couple's first meeting through their marriage. Part II focuses on the author's service in the Marines and begins with his training in Quantico, Va., where his experiences range from hilarious to grueling. The chapter "Vietnam: Our Least Popular and Least Successful War" precedes compelling individual stories amid historical accounts of the war. The part ends with Mansfield's joyous homecoming from Vietnam. Part III opens with "Modern Watersheds: May 4, 1970 and September 11, 2001." Here Mansfield elucidates his view of the dates' significance by comparing their effects, respectively, to November 22, 1963, when President Kennedy was assassinated, and December 7, 1941, when Japan attacked

A Brooklyn native, Chuck Mansfield graduated from Chaminade High School (Mineola, N.Y.) in 1962. Upon graduation four years later from the College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, Mass.), he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Later, he received an M.B.A. in finance from New York University, which he earned by attending evening classes. In June 1968 he was assigned to WestPac Ground Forces in Vietnam where he served as a platoon commander with the Third Marine Division's Headquarters Battalion Communications Company. Based in Dong Ha approximately five miles south of the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, which then divided North and South Vietnam, he was responsible for approximately 100 Marines, half of whom were situated in Dong Ha; the rest were assigned to various outposts along the DMZ, as well as elsewhere in the northern I Corps Tactical Area of Responsibility. Chuck served in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969, the two bloodiest years of the war for both sides. Promoted to captain in 1969, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal with Combat "V", the Combat Action Ribbon, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal and the National Defense Service Medal. A former banker and a management consultant, he has lived and/or worked in Belgium, Britain, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore and South Korea. He is a director/trustee of the Federated Funds of Federated Investors, Inc., a $195-billion mutual fund complex headquartered in Pittsburgh and listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He also serves on the national board of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which is based in New York City. Chuck and his wife Mame have three adult children, and live in Mineola and Westhampton, New York.