The Walking Dead: A Marine's Story of Vietnam

The Vietnam war had many faces: boredom, chaos, naked fear -- and many things no man should see or do. However, some of us are chosen anyway, and the author takes us on his journey with the 1st Bn. 9th Marines early in the war when much of the American effort was focused on "Vietnamization" and the Marine Combined Action Company (CAC) effort. Roberts style is gritty, earthy, and personal -- a narrative style that fits the actions and people he worked with on operations, and living day to day in what Marines kindly referred to as the "armpit of the world" (and sometimes other body parts). This reviewer served with Delta Company of the Walking Dead in 1967 when the action had moved to the DMZ area where we fought regular NVA and the 90th VC regiment integrated within the NVA command structure. Therefore, much of the VC related activity that Roberts reveals were non-existent in I Corps area. However, war is the same since fear and death are the same, no matter the conflict. Roberts was able to paint the reality of living and dying in war so effectively that the reviewer felt as though he we there again. There seems to be one nit in the book. Professional historians have pegged the term "The Walking Dead" as originating with General Vo Nyugen Giap when referring to the Marines "trapped" at Khe Sahn, much later than Roberts relates. The author was at Khe Sahn several times, and while he was often scared, he nor any of his fellow Marines felt that it would be another Dien Bien Phu. Bravo for The Walking Dead -- both the book, and the men who served in "1/9".

I had almost finished reading this book before turning to the very mixed reviews listed here. All I know of Vietnam is living through those years and also being a Vietnam era serviceman. I read many books on Vietnam to try to learn and understand what fellow veterans had to endure on a daily basis. If you were on the line in country you have all my respect and admiration. However, I enjoyed this book. Not until reading these mixed reviews did I get some sense of the controversy. Whether the book is fiction or non-fiction I still cannot say. From the reading of other books and talks with Vietnam vets down through the years, much of the book seems to 'ring' true. And though it is mentioned in the reviews that anyone not serving there can never truly understand that experience, that alone should never stop those who were there from trying to tell the rest of us what they endured. As pointed out in the book in numerous mentionings of Kipling, oft times many people do want to try to gain some practical understanding of events in which they did not participate. Some of our classic works on war have been works of fiction. My final analysis of this book is while it may not all be true, it does carry enough ring of truth for the reader, and it is entertaining. But if it is mainly fiction, then that should be stated up front. And claiming to be part of "The Walking Dead" if untrue is certainly not ethical putting a black mark on it. I assumed the book to be non-fiction but after reading the reviews am unsure whether this book is fact or fiction. Each reader will have to sort through their feelings after reading. Semper Fi.

My criteria for any book is simple. The writing must be excellent. The story must be plausible. And the subject has to be absorbing. This book satisfies my requirements and gets 5 stars. I was in the military and served in Vietnam. The information in this book is consistent with my experiences and the experiences depicted in similar books about Vietnam. I cant argue if Roberts wuz or wuznt in the Walking Dead Battalion. I dont know. I do know that me and my friends from Vietnam argue about events we experienced together. I served several weeks with one outfit in Vietnam, but was never formally assigned to that unit. Consequently, I dont get invited to their reunions. I spent exactly two weeks in still another outfit, was formally assigned to it, and can tell you almost nothing about it. Some of my friends had similar experiences. They were volunteered for temporary duty elsewhere, and there is no formal record of it. So the issue of "assignment" is irrelevant to me.

Col. Roberts tells his story about a patriotic kid who joined the marines to fight communism, only to learn the war was about much more. His valor won him a purple heart, [...] Don't these people have a life? Anyway I write reviews as part of my business as a writer and for on-line networking. Craig WAS a part of this battalion called the Walking Dead; I bet there were a lot of patrols who got that name or took it after a year or 2 with dysentary etc. The book is as I said entertaining; it takes you to the battle, to the lonely waiting, to the terror and tortures, to the whore houses on leave; it pulls no punches. Tho it is cliche' - I laughed and I cried. [...]

Few people tell it like it was. And fewer can do it from a foxhole level like Roberts did. In this book, you feel the heat of Vietnam, smell the sweat and rotting jungle vegetation, and live through the terror that was war in the jungles and rice paddies of southeast Asia. The Walking Dead is as character-driven as any Clancy novel, but the real people who Roberts describes are not fictional heros. They are real. For the combat book enthusiast, The Walking Dead is a must read if you want to feel you were there.