Review Written By: Bernie Weisz, Historian, Vietnam War, Pembroke Pines, Florida USA Contact: Bernwei1@aol.com August 10, 2011 Title of Review "An Elusive Memoir of An Aussie Cobra AH-1 Attack Helicopter Vanishes Forever!"
This book gets 5 stars..for FRUSTRATION!!!!! I've never read it! Am I crazy? No, rather mad ! I am angry that the used bookstore shelves are packed with mushy romances, pulp fiction and fictional detective stories by the dozen! However, try to find an important historical book...as Donnie Brasco used to say: "forget about it!" This is an important book by an Australian Cobra pilot. The Cobra helicopter, now remodeled and used in Iraq and Afghanistan under the new name "Apache" was the most feared weapon the NVA soldier ever went up against! Does anyone even know that Australians, New Zealanders, South Koreans and Thai soldiers also fought as America's allies against North Vietnam? How would you know this, as nothing is out to inform you! In fact, the only way you can read this book is if you want to fork over $200 to some 3rd party book dealer for a car payment! You might...I'm not! And that's sad, because the main lesson history teaches us is: History Repeats itself! Those that forget the past...are doomed to repeat it! How are we supposed to remember Vietnam, study and learn from it if only a few Veterans of that war, are willing to talk or write about it? And can you blame them? When the troops came back from Nixon's "Vietnamization" in the early 70's they were greeted by the hippy dippy flea bag war protesters by some very nasty names! These Jane Fonda followers had the audacity to live in a free country but were absent of the courage to contribute militarily when called. Okay, I see their point...The Gulf of Tonkin was staged, no NVA patrol boats attacked the 2 destroyers in August of '64. And no, Vietnam did not threaten American national security. The "domino theory" proved in the end to be exactly what it was...only a theory. When the troops came back form S.E. Asia, shortly after stepping off their "freedom bird," they were spit on, called "baby killers," homicidal heroin addicts, only good for security jobs....basically belittled. So, they shut up, not even admitting that they were in Vietnam. That silence continues. I would love to read this book, but I will never pay 2 Benjamin's for it, so that's not happening. OK, so forget the Aussie. There's plenty of Vietnam Vets here, right? Wrong! Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, with the youngest American Vietnam veteran's age approximated to be 54 years old." The ones around are among the last 1/3rd of all the U.S. Vets alive who served in Vietnam. So, don't take your memories and experiences with you to the pearly gates, write your memoirs! I don't know about you guys, but that kind of gives me the chills, considering this is the kind of information I'm used to reading about WW II and Korean War Veterans. So, in the last 14 years Vietnam Veterans are dying way too fast, Therefore, only the few will survive by the year 2015...if any. If that is true, 390 VN vets will die a day. That means that in 2,190 days from now, we will be lucky to find a Vietnam Veteran alive! That's only 6 years from now! Therefore, let's get the ones still alive to write books, and I want to buy and read them! I still want to read this darned book! Anyone got one to spare? Cheers, Bernie Weisz BernWei1@aol.com