Amazon
Category:
War
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN-10: 0595423728
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 164
ISBN-13: 9780595867080
"For A Time We Were Titans" is the memoir of a LRP/Ranger in Vietnam. It follows ten GIs from their arrival at the LRP compound in Ban Me Thuot in October 1968 to the authors return home in September of 1969. It shows that those that survive can become Titans, leaders and role models for those that came after them.
For a time we were Titans. When we were new we fought beside giants and learned their ways. Later, as time and fate took the giants from our midst and we were thrust into their place, others, who were themselves then new, took us to be of the same metal as our mentors. This book is dedicated to the LRPs that fought in Vietnam. They struggled valiantly to preserve the freedom of a people half a world away and though the wider war was not won, the LRPs regularly brought honor to their units, their flag, and their cause. They were truly titans. But most of all it is dedicated to those LRPs whose names appear on the wall of honor, because they gave all they had. Men like…
- Dickey Wayne Finley
- Luther Ghahate
- Gerald Hancock
- Ralph Gerald Dunn
- Hugh Rufus McKinney
- Jack Lee Rightmyer
- Barry D Murphy
- Armin Blake
- Steve Hathaway
Excerpt
"...What is it about war? You meet a guy, and you really like him, instantly he becomes a good buddy, and his name is Finley, and all at once he’s gone, and it hurts bad. And you have another good buddy and his name is Hancock, and then he’s gone and it still hurts, but you get over it quicker. Then, you find out the guy who brought you to the platoon has been killed, and you’ve seen it happen - and you shrug it off. Then, another guy who was your best friend is killed, and the feelings that should be there – just aren’t.”
“I know what you mean, man,” Shaner said. “You build up defenses. Before long you stop making friends out of fear you will lose them. You meet guys, and drink with them, and laugh and have a good time, but the next day when you see them you have to look at the name on their fatigue pocket to know who they are.”
“Shaner, that’s starting to happen to me.”
“Let it happen, man. It’s the only way you can keep from going nuts.”
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