When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe
April 16, 2001
On May 12, 1975, less than two weeks after the ignominious end of the Vietnam War, Cambodian Khmer Rouge troops seized the Mayaguez, an American container ship in the Gulf of Thailand, and held the 40-member crew hostage on an island off the Cambodian coast. The American response was swift and deadly. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ordered an immediate rescue operation and bombing of the Cambodian mainland. Less than 24 hours later, the crew was returned unharmed and Ford declared the mission a success. Yet research by journalist and former air force pilot Wetterhahn (who completed 180 missions over Vietnam) clearly shows that the rescue operation was botched terribly. In their haste to act decisively, Wetterhahn argues, Ford and Kissinger sent dozens of U.S. Marines to the wrong offshore island at the same time the Khmer Rouge were about to release the Mayaguez
crew. In all, 41 American troops were killed in the operation (including 23 air force personnel who died in a helicopter crash). Three marines were inadvertently left behind on Koh Tang Island, where—Wetterhahn reveals for the first time—they were captured and executed. Wetterhahn painstakingly reconstructs the action from four points of view: the policy makers in Washington, the American troops on the ground, their superiors along the chain of command and the Khmer Rouge officers who seized the crew and fought the Americans. The battle scenes are riveting and evocative, the analysis of the strategy and tactics insightful and the discovery of evidence showing the fate of the three marine MIAs convincing and disturbing. Photos not seen by PW. (June)Forecast:With Kissinger's record on covert actions in Vietnam, in Chile and elsewhere during the Cold War being reevaluated—Christopher Hitchens's forthcoming
The Trial of Henry Kissinger is one among several titles this season—this book forms another piece of the puzzle. The book will appeal to buffs, vets and lay historians, and may be brandished by pundits, particularly given the situation's similarities to the recent U.S–China spy plane incident.
May 1, 2001
A journalist and former air force pilot with 180 completed Vietnam missions, Wetterhahn chronicles the capture of the S.S. Mayaguez and the disjointed rescue attempt in 1975. The Mayaguez was captured by the Khmer Rouge about 60 miles from the Cambodian coast. Saigon had fallen just over a week before, and the humbled U.S. government was eager to show its force. Unfortunately, the Americans did not have good intelligence to tell them where the hostages were being held. As a result, a total of 41 marines were killed in the attempted rescue, with three more left on the island after the evacuation of the assault force. The hostages were already in the process of being released from another location when the attack began on Koh Tang Island. Much of this information was never released to the public. Wetterhahn used interviews with the survivors and other official records to compile the book, which is written in a strong, hard-to-put-down narrative style and is similar in scope to Timothy Castle's One Day Too Long (LJ 3/15/99) and Mark Bowden's Black Hawk Down (LJ 1/15/99). Recommended for both public and academic libraries. Mark Ellis, Albany State Univ., GA
Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
June 1, 2001
When you think of the long history of the Vietnam War, certain names come to mind, such as My Lai, Hamburger Hill, or the Tet Offensive. The " Mayaquez" incident is not traditionally part of the lexicon of the war. In 1975, just days after the fall of Saigon, the " Mayaquez "cargo ship and her crew were taken by a combination of ragtag Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge troops off the coast of Cambodia. What followed was another American political and military debacle that mirrored the mistakes, misjudgments, and mismanagement of the larger war. History has been kind to President Ford about the incident, but Wetterhahn literally did some digging, including on the beach in Cambodia, to uncover the truth. Although history gave Ford a military "victory," the author's investigation uncovered the truth: 41 men died to save 40 men, and three Marines were left behind on the beach to be discovered by the Khmer Rouge. Far worse, none of it had to happen, because the Khmer Rouge had already let the crew go.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)