Con Thien: The Hill of Angels Review

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(More customer reviews)Con Thien was a bitch. During a phase of fortress thinking, McNamara/Westmoreland devised a series of strong points to be held against all opposition. For three long years the Marines held Con Thien presumably to keep the North Vietnamese Army from coming south through the DMZ.

It seems like they forgot the George Patton quotation, "Fixed fortifications are monuments to the stupidity of man." So there we sat. Just to the north was the DMZ. Beyond the DMZ was the enemy artillery. The enemy could shoot at us. We couldn't shoot at them because of "political sensitivities." Sometimes you really gotta wonder.

Written by a man who was there in a marine tank company (you don't read much about tanks in Viet Nam, but they were there). So you get a personal side to the story combined with a very well researched overall picture. An excellent combination not often seen. Highly recommended.

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Product Description:
Throughout much of 1967, a remote United States Marine firebase only two miles from the demilitarized zone (DMZ) captured the attention of the world's media. That artillery-scarred outpost was the linchpin of the so-called McNamara Line intended to deter incursions into South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army. As such, the fighting along this territory was particularly intense and bloody, and the body count rose daily. Con Thien combines James P. Coan's personal experiences with information taken from archives, interviews with battle participants, and official documents to construct a powerful story of the daily life and combat on the red clay bulls-eye known as "The Hill of Angels." As a tank platoon leader in Alpha Company, 3d Tank Battalion, 3d Marine Division, Coan was stationed at Con Thien for eight months during his 1967-68 service in Vietnam and witnessed much of the carnage. Con Thien was heavily bombarded by enemy artillery with impunity because it was located in politically sensitive territory and the U.S. government would not permit direct armed response from Marine tanks.Coan, like many other soldiers, began to feel as though the government was as much the enemy as the NVA, yet he continued to fight for his country with all that he had. In his riveting memoir, Coan depicts the hardships of life in the DMZ and the ineffectiveness of much of the U.S. military effort in Vietnam.--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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