First published 2007
Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue stand among the Army of the Republic of Vietnam's most promising young officers. Both men display exceptional courage in seemingly endless combat, fighting to recapture the Citadel during the 1968 Tet Offensive and seizing Hamburger Hill the following year. Their careers mirror the ARVN's battlefield victories and internal struggles within an over-politicized military structure dependent on American support. As U.S. forces begin their withdrawal, the alliance between ARVN and American forces crumbles. Dinh and Hue confront impossible choices that will define their legacies forever. Hue fights until North Vietnamese forces capture him, then endures thirteen years of imprisonment. Dinh chooses surrender and defection, becoming an instructor in reeducation camps where he teaches his former ARVN comrades. Their parallel lives illuminate the broader tragedy of South Vietnam's military and the forgotten heroism of soldiers caught between competing loyalties.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, military-fiction, biography-memoir, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, parallel-lives
Setting: Vietnam, South Vietnam, Citadel, Hamburger Hill
Period: 1968, 1969
368 pages · Kindle Edition · NYU Press
Content warnings: war