They Saw the Dragon
Stories of American soldiers in Vietnam
I am in the process of writing my second book, tentatively named They Saw the Dragon. I say tentative because I’ve not yet totally set on that title.
It is a collection of tales from soldiers that I served with and also from those veterans that I have become familiar with in the last few years. Many of the stories from the men and women I am writing about are people that contacted me after reading my first book, See the Dragon, published in 2008.
See the Dragon was a letter written to my grandchildren, but I was talked into having it published. This one, on the other hand, is being written with the full intent to be published. It will be a collection of but of a few stories of the many thousands that should be told of the heroes of Vietnam. They are stories of valor; some of humor and some of terrible sorrow, but all true. One could interview a hundred men from the same unit that fought the same battles and get one hundred different stories. Every soldier saw and felt different about those things around him. Some incidents that were minor to one man was very much imbedded in the memory of another.
I wish there was a way to tell every soldiers story. Those quiet soldiers that have kept their memories hidden so long. Those soldiers that did their duty, answered the call, served their country and then was ignored, abused and forgotten. These men of valor should have their tales brought out in the open for their fathers, mothers and neighbors and children to read. They should have been thanked 40 years ago, but if not then … at least now. As you read these stories, imagine the heat, the stench, the misery and the just plain awfulness of how they lived, then imagine as you read, that they were about come home to a nation that was indifferent to them at the very least and hated them at the worst.
The following is a chapter from this book. Sort of a sample I guess. Just one soldier's story of many that I’m after. All the stories will have a common thread running throughout. Every man tries only to tell of the heroics of his buddies. He tells about the funny things his buddies said or did or of the unbelievable feats of valor they witnessed others around him commit. Every man that was decorated for valor says that he only did what everyone else would have done.
I now ask you to meet my friend, John Babbitt.
