Boys of Battery B: Stories From Vietnam 1965 - 1971

Boys of Battery B tells the story of an air mobile artillery unit operating in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. These are the adventures of everyday life in the field from the guys who served, not a neat chronology of historical facts. For some this is the first time they’ve talked about Vietnam, waiting over half a century to let the memories flow. When they talk of Vietnam, especially among other veterans, they become boys again. You can't make these stories up: They careen from the funny to the tragic, from heroic to the wildly crazy, and all poured out with the hot-blooded passion of youth. In a bar outside Ft. Sill during an artillery reunion, bunch of rowdy B Battery guys were at the next table. They were laughing and pounding the table as the beer bottles piled up. That was the inspiration for this book. To place the reader at the next table to listen in. B Battery, 5/27 Field Artillery, arrived in Vietnam from Oakland, CA on October 29, 1965 aboard the USS J.C. Breckinridge. The stories begin there, and continue to its departure from the field on July 5, 1971. The battery operated in the Central Highlands of II Corps, first attached to the 101st Airborne, and later assigned to First Field Force. These stories are based on taped interviews of forty-seven men who served with the battery throughout its time in Vietnam, containing pictures and documents each man brought back. They adhere closely to exact interview transcripts, so as to preserve each soldier’s unique personality, perspective and way of speaking. In the absence of verified facts or strong circumstantial evidence, different ways of remembering the same event were allowed to stand, encouraged in fact. The spirit of the collection is this: How the veteran remembers is the most important fact of all.