Body Count

I read this novel first when I was in middle school. It was around 1984 when I found a copy of the book at a garage sale in Russellville, Ohio. I asked about it and the lady said it belonged to her son, I could have it if I would carry a could of tireless rims out of her garage for her, she was old. I read most of the first half of the book on the ride home, we lived in Springfield, Ohio and were traveling home from visiting family on the Thanksgiving holiday. The novel gripped me and opened my young eyes to the true face of war. Public school education is such a sanitary way to learn of the real historiues of men... I later heard Huggett speak, fascinating... I recommend this, I still have that first copy, thumbworn and held together with duct tape, though I do have a newr copy that I read every couple of years... It, coupled with ten years of service in the U.S. Army remind me that sometimes we have to take responsibility and it isn't always pretty. I highly recommend this to anyone who likes to read hnovels that fell honest.

William Kelly Turner Huggett, 65, died in Miami, Florida, August 31, 2004. He was graduated from Emory University with a double major in history and political science, joined the Marines because he wanted to serve his country, and was awarded the bronze star for heroism in Vietnam as a 2nd Lt. His book "Body Count", published by Putnam in 1974, was based on his personal experiences in the Marines and in Vietnam, and was written while he was in law school at the University of Florida. I first met "Bill", or "Huggett" as he was called by friends, during a small dinner at a friends home in 1977. When he found out that I had served three tours in "Nam", he went out to his car, and came back in with a copy of "Body Count" which he autographed for me. I still have the book. He was married with two children, and practiced Admirality and Maritime law in Miami. Huggett was among the most energetic and magnetic personalities I ever had the pleasure to know. Semper Fi.

I thought I'd read them all, all that were any good that is...Then I picked up BODY COUNT. Notice it was published in 1974: right between the "peace treaty" and the full-scale final communist invasion of South Vietnam. So maybe this is one of the first post-Vietnam novels. Yet it is still hot from the years of heaviest fighting by U.S. troops. My Dell edition doesn't give infomation on the author, but the story is so authentically written that he must have first hand experience on his subject. This is the ultimate platoon diary. There is dirt, sweat, and blood on these pages. There is the tedious labor of day to day survival in the bush to the excessive gratifications of long awaited RnRs. The author is not content to simply relate the events of the platoon; he builds his story and the characters may grow, die, or stubbornly do neither. Since this is almost a contemporary piece, social problems like racism are accurately dealt with believable results. The death of two characters in their listening post is at once horrific and beautiful-you'll have to read the book to understand what I mean. BODY COUNT is now at the top of my list of Vietnam novels. It is far better than most of the better known authors books on the war, so find it if you can.

What an eye opener. I have read this book twice. The first time I read it was an eye opening experience for me. Being born in '63, I wasn't really aware of the war going on in Vietnam. My parents never allowed me to watch the news and to be honest- I wasn't much interested in the news. I knew that my favorite uncle went away and came back a long time later but didn't understand why. The day he came back I remember hearing him and my parents talking after I was suppose to be asleep. I heard words like "tunnel rat" and mortars and someting about a hill. When I asked where he had been my mom cut me off and changed the subject. To this day, I am not allowed to ask him any questions about his time in Vietnam. I did know that he was a Marine (whatever that meant). I have since learned through my mom that he was involve in Hill 881, but no details are forthcoming. Since reading "Body Count" the first time, I have read and studied many writings on the Vietnam War. This book is wonderfully written. The details are so graphic that I feel as if I was there with the soldiers through it all. Mr. Huggett followed Captain Hawkins through his "green" stage and we saw him become a fabulous leader and example to his men. It gave me a tiny window into the uncle that I love so very much. As I read this book, the face I saw was my uncle. The second time I read it,( I just finished it this morning), I gained new insight into the Marines. I became so involved in the book that last night I had dreams of being there with Captain Hawkins, Chief, Wilson, Big John and all the heroic characters of this wonderful book. I was deeply in my dreams when my 3 year old son woke me satnding by my bed. I sat bolt upright looking for the enemy and trying to figure out where I was. For a brief moment when my eyes focused on my son, I wasn't sure who he was and why he was there. (It did not help that he was wearing a black sleeping shirt.) That gave me an eye-opening experience. If the book affected me this way, then what must the guys who actually experienced the battles and the war feel like. This book really "takes you there" in a way that some may find enlightening and some may find terrifying. Go there and experience it for yourself. Want to understand your family memebers that were there? Read it once-then read it again. You will never be the same. The first reading was my "jumping off" point. It was my real inroduction to the war. After reading it a second time--I feel like I can go and talk to my uncle and have an understanding and respect that was not there before. I will definately say thank you and respect HIS wishes if he doesn't want to talk about it. Thank you Mr. Huggett for opening my eyes. My life has never been the same since reading this and I hope the enlightenment it has brought to me can be passed on to any and everyone that was in the "in-between" generation. Thank you to all our Vets--America ow

This book digs into the lives of some of the soldiers of the Vietnam War. It shows the hardships and what some of them did to cope with the harsh life in Vietnam. This is a very heart pounding novel that is about as good as it gets.