Rice Roots

As a U.S. combat advisor, Lieutenant Robert Amon's Vietnam War experiences were immeasurably different than those of most conventional U.S. combatants in that war. He and his five-man team of Americans, living on their own in remote villages in the Mekong Delta, fought side-by-side with the South Vietnamese soldiers they were advising.

Rice Roots is his diary-based true story showing the raw emotion, anguish and heartbreak of the chaos of war while attempting to win the hearts and minds of South Vietnamese villagers, many of whom understandably harbored uncertain loyalties.

Mr. Amon's year-long war experiences are carefully chronicled in reflections of harrowing days "in the field" in 1969, one of the bloodiest years of the war. The impact on his life became a fifty-year struggle for him to overcome the trauma of war and discover that it's possible to separate oneself from the inner demons, pick up the shattered pieces and become whole again.

Robert R. Amon Jr. served in Vietnam in 1969 as a U.S. combat advisor to South Vietnamese allies. He is published in the New York Times best-selling Chicken Soup for the Veteran's Soul and served on the advisory board of the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial and Educational Center. He participates in panel discussions on the Vietnam War, has made guest appearances on TV and radio, and presents at high schools, colleges, veterans' groups and civic organizations.