Distant War

Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia by Marc Yablonka is a newly edited collection of articles covering some 18 years of his freelance reporting on the aftermath of the U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. He became interested in Vietnam through the refugees he met in Los Angeles as an adult education teacher and during his five trips to Southeast Asia. He is not a war correspondent but as he notes became a chronicler of war by telling the stories of those who had “been there.” He has written for Reuters, Agence France Presse, and been published in the Army Times, Stars and Stripes, and Vietnam Magazine to name a few.

His post-war visits to Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia chronicle the lives of those who were left to face an oftentimes grim situation. Their interviews and stories bring back forgotten stories of sacrifice and suffering. He also writes about the challenges faced by Vietnamese refugees who reconstructed their lives in the United States. I particularly found his story about Nick Ut, a Vietnamese photojournalist for the AP, very interesting. Most of us are familiar with Nick Utʼs photo of the “napalm girl” which became an icon of the war and its tragedies. Yablonka also tells us the story of that girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, and her long and painful journey of recovery.

The book also presents interviews with a wide variety of military and civilian Americans including former Red Cross girls, Air America Pilots, photographers, combat journalists, civilian doctors and orphanage workers, exploring their exploits, trials and regrets. All of their stories are interesting but it is the story of Cherie Clark who worked in the orphanages, flew out with the children as Saigon fell, and returned to Vietnam to continue her work that I found the most touching. Those of you who visited orphanages and those kids during your tour know what I am talking about.

To say there are many untold stories of the Vietnam War is an understatement. The war was a many faceted conflict that involved soldiers serving their country, and a wide variety of American and Vietnamese civilians. Yaklonka’s articulate and sensitive reporting brings the personal stories of these men and women alive on the page, providing a very interesting retrospective of that distant war.

Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

Marc Phillip Yablonka (Author)

A PRINTED COPY OF THIS BOOK CAN BE SENT ON REQUEST IF REQUIRED FOR PUBLISHING A REVIEW

A Merriam Press Original Publication: Military Monograph MM27 This is a newly-edited compilation of eighteen years of Yablonka’s reportage on American involvement in Indo-china and the people affected by America’s connection to that part of the world. After all those years and numerous articles about an indelible mark on American history published in the likes of the U.S. Military’s Stars and Stripes, Army Times, American Veteran, the Weider History Group publication Vietnam Magazine and others, these stories needed a wider audience for the world to know what they suffered, how most survived, and how they overcame adversity.

Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, will be the vehicle to the reader’s understanding of a war and its aftermath that may seem distant now, but what is important is that it will make readers realize—if they haven’t already—that in war, whether in the jungles of Vietnam or the sands of Iraq, in a very real sense, while who wins and who loses is obviously important, what is equally necessary is that good somehow must and shall prevail.

Contents:

• Prologue

• Acknowledgments

• Chapter 1: Doctors in a War Zone: The Ultimate Training Ground

• Chapter 2: Wounded Four Times and Still Proud: Major Jim Morris

• Chapter 3: A Gold-Plated Mission

• Chapter 4: Indomitable Spirit at the Hanoi Hilton: Vice-Admiral James Bond Stockdale

• Chapter 5: Everything is Okay Now: Nick Ut

• Chapter 6: From AFVN to Wheel of Fortune: Pat Sajak

• Chapter 7: $100, a Leica, and a One-Way Ticket to Saigon: Catherine Leroy

• Chapter 8: Air America: The Truth

• Chapter 9: If the Walls of the Continental Could Talk…

• Chapter 10: When Art and Life Blur: Kieu Chinh

• Chapter 11: Cambodia Revisited

• Chapter 12: Bringing the War Home: Requiem

• Chapter 13: Standing by Their Men: Donut Dollies

• Chapter 14: Q&A Time with Steve Stibbens

• Chapter 15: Lest We Ever Forget: The POWs

• Chapter 16: Chopper Chums Reunite: Pilot Association Remembers Vietnam’s Good Times

• Chapter 17: Heaven Helped Them: Oliver Stone and Le Hy Haislip

• Chapter 18: Back to the Present

• Chapter 19: Canada Just Lost Track of Something: Vietnam Vets From North of the 49th Parallel

• Chapter 20: Dog Tags Take the Long Road Home: David and Kurt Arnold

• Chapter 21: Unfriendly Skies for Air Vietnam

• Chapter 22: So Long Bob: Obit for Bob Hope

• Chapter 23: Burying the Hatchet: Nguyen Ngoc Hung

• Chapter 24: Shadow of War: Cherie Clark

• Chapter 25: A Shepherd in Laos: Bishop Jean Khamse Vithavong

• Chapter 26: Radio Japan Manager is Tuned in to Vietnam: Masako Yuasa

• Chapter 27: Serving with Distinction…on Four Legs! Dogs in Vietnam

• Chapter 28: The Longest Yards: The Mountain People 2

• Chapter 29: The Long Journey of Bounlieng Philavong

• Chapter 30: Big Trouble in Little Saigon

• Chapter 31: He Hated War but Loved the Work: A Q&A with Allen Cates

• Acknowledgments: Thank You to Magazines and Newspapers Specifications

• First Edition (July 2009)

• Paperback: ISBN 978-0-557-08441-8 — $19.95 o Perfect bound, full-color wrap-around cover

• Hardcover: ISBN 978-0-557-14378-8 — $36.95 o Blue linen cover with title stamped in gold on spine, full-color dust jacket

• PDF file on CD disc — $10.00 o Complete copy of the book including the cover images in a single PDF file.

• 258 6 × 9 inch pages

• 67 photos/illustrations Testimonials It is a truism that everything that can be said about Vietnam, Watergate, and that terrible era in our history has been said or written.

Marc Yablonka proves this wrong, as he explores those days from odd and untouched angles. He creates an unforgettable portrait of something you thought you knew well, and find you did not know at all. —Jim Morris, author of War Story

Marc Yablonka captures the nuances and sidelights of Vietnam and the personalities of the war in South East Asia. I spent two tours flying Army helicopters in this conflict and Marc brought out some views that I was not aware of. Combat is not all war stories and he artfully fills in a lot of blank spaces for veterans like me. His writings will help others understand the war better. Yablonka has a skill and it shows in his recent work. Hope there is more to come ... —LTC (Ret) Tom Lasser, RVN, 1967-68, 1969-70

The Author Marc Yablonka is a graduate of the Professional Writing School of the University of Southern California. He served as a Public Affairs Officer (CWO-2) with the 40th Infantry Division Support Brigade and the Installation Support Group, California State Military Reserve, at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California, between 2001 and 2008. He also served with the Sar-El unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. He lives with his wife Cammie and their long-haired orange Tabby named Ruffy in Burbank, California. Availability Published July 2009. Available now direct from the publisher by mail, phone or the Merriam Press web site, as well as from Amazon and other online booksellers. Available from most bookstores by special order. Booksellers: This title will be available soon through Ingram.