Derailed in Uncle Ho's Victory Garden

I always enjoy a good laugh and this book just hits the spot. Im not a fan of the guy's pictures (I dont think he was particularly gifted as a photographer on the context of journalism) but I think he is a great writer. In person he is a bit of a showman. Very flamboyant. Its not a good reference for accurate historical events on account that they guy was stoned all the time. But the details speaks so true of the region, the people and the oddball circumstances that can only happen in Indochina. He definitely has a way with words. One rival photographer from his generation even said that he should just pursue writing and leave photography to those who can focus their lenses.

Many years ago I saw Tim Page's stunning photographs in his seminal work, Nam. The pictures were extremely moving and that Page shot his film so close to the horror's of war was remarkable. He truly has a gift for the camera and a thirst for adrenaline. Although Page is markedly better with a lense than a pen, Victory Garden does provide valuable insight into South East Asia and the wars that plagued this beautiful region. Page's book begins with his time spent with Sean Flynn and other corresopondents covering the Second Indochina War. He combines sorrow and the horror of war with an almost guilty desire to return to those intense, adrenaline-packed days. He seems to truly relish the comaraderie forged in blood and fear, then polished with adventrue and laughs. Although Page had been wounded a number of times, he continued to travel Vietnam, on motorbikes, helicopters and whatever other forms of transport would land him at the center of war. Still, Page is not immune to the stresses and fears of his chosen profession. In a very human passage, Page recalls his final exhaustion of nerves caused by too many close falling bombs and the crack of bullets passing by his ears. He talks of best friend Sean Flynn snapping him from his mini-breakdown and leaving Vietnam for a brief respite. However, it wasn't long until Page found himself drawn back into Nam. This was to be his last stint covering the Second Indochina War. While leaping from a helicopter, a land mine was detonated a short distance from him, essentially destroying his body with shrapnel. Although losing nearly 200cc of brain matter, Page survived, and after a prolonged convalescence, made a full recovery. The remainder of the book deals with Page's return to Indochina during the 1980's, partly for journalistic reasons, but also to investigate the mysterious disapperance of friend Sean Flynn. While Page was recovering from the landmine explosion, Flynn continued to cover the war. With the conflict escalting in Cambodia, Vietnam and the subsequent bombing campaign of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Flynn headed to Cambodia in order to cover the war from a perviously undocumented angle, that of the enemy, those enduring the massive bombing of Eastern Cambodia. It was to be Flynn's last foray to the front. Sometime in 1970, Flynn and another correspondent disappeared in Cambodia, somewhere near the Vietnamese border. In the 1980's, Page decided to return to Indochina inorder to discover what happened to Flynn, and to errect a monument in honor of journalists, from both sides, who were killed during the three Indochinese conflicts. Throughout his search, Page creates a running commentary of the changes that had occured in the region since his own departure. He illustrates the differences that exist between his days covering the war and his return in the late eighties and early nineties. Being so well educated on the intrcacies of South Eas Asian culture, as well as the history a

Tim Page's return to Cambodia and Vietnam is told with both a unique sense of humor and a deep compassion for his colleagues and friends who did not survive the experiences which shaped Tim's life. Those who have suffered through the seediest hotel accomodations of Southeast Asia will admire Tim's descriptive vocabulary and tact. Never forgetting his special comrades, Dana Stone and Sean Flynn, Tim Page lays out some detail of his investigations in Cambodia which did not fit into his outstanding documentary film on the incident "Danger On the Edge of Town". While the American government talked about "highest national priority" from Washington DC, Tim was in the field in Cambodia and Vietnam taking concrete action. Page's work on the memorial for correspondents lost in Indochina and his book "Requiem" are outstanding contributions to be added to this book and the earlier "Page After Page".