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Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN
2009 Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award for Biography
Vietnam s Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN chronicles the lives of Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue, two of the brightest young stars in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Both men fought with valor in a war that seemed to have no end, exemplifying ARVN bravery and determination that is largely forgotten or ignored in the West. However, while Hue fought until he was captured by the North Vietnamese Army and then endured thirteen years of captivity, Dinh surrendered and defected to the enemy, for whom he served as a teacher in the reeducation of his former ARVN comrades.
An understanding of how two lives that were so similar diverged so dramatically provides a lens through which to understand the ARVN and South Vietnam s complex relationship with Americas government and military. The lives of Dinh and Hue reflect the ARVNs battlefield successes, from the recapture of the Citadel in Hue City in the Tet Offensive of 1968, to Dinhs unheralded role in the seizure of Hamburger Hill a year later. However, their careers expose an ARVN that was over-politicized, tactically flawed, and dependent on American logistical and firepower support. Marginalized within an American war, ARVN faced a grim fate as U.S. forces began to exit the conflict. As the structure of the ARVN/U.S. alliance unraveled, Dinh and Hue were left alone to make the most difficult decisions of their lives.
Andrew Wiest weaves historical analysis with a compelling narrative, culled from extensive interviews with Dinh, Hue, and other key figures. Once both military superstars, Dinh is viewed by a traitor by many within the South Vietnamese community, while Hue, an expatriate living in northern Virginia, is seen as a hero who never let go of his ideals. Their experiences and legacies mirror that of the ARVNs rise and fall as well as the tragic history of South Vietnam.
"
Vietnam s Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN chronicles the lives of Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue, two of the brightest young stars in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). Both men fought with valor in a war that seemed to have no end, exemplifying ARVN bravery and determination that is largely forgotten or ignored in the West. However, while Hue fought until he was captured by the North Vietnamese Army and then endured thirteen years of captivity, Dinh surrendered and defected to the enemy, for whom he served as a teacher in the reeducation of his former ARVN comrades.
An understanding of how two lives that were so similar diverged so dramatically provides a lens through which to understand the ARVN and South Vietnam s complex relationship with Americas government and military. The lives of Dinh and Hue reflect the ARVNs battlefield successes, from the recapture of the Citadel in Hue City in the Tet Offensive of 1968, to Dinhs unheralded role in the seizure of Hamburger Hill a year later. However, their careers expose an ARVN that was over-politicized, tactically flawed, and dependent on American logistical and firepower support. Marginalized within an American war, ARVN faced a grim fate as U.S. forces began to exit the conflict. As the structure of the ARVN/U.S. alliance unraveled, Dinh and Hue were left alone to make the most difficult decisions of their lives.
Andrew Wiest weaves historical analysis with a compelling narrative, culled from extensive interviews with Dinh, Hue, and other key figures. Once both military superstars, Dinh is viewed by a traitor by many within the South Vietnamese community, while Hue, an expatriate living in northern Virginia, is seen as a hero who never let go of his ideals. Their experiences and legacies mirror that of the ARVNs rise and fall as well as the tragic history of South Vietnam.
"
Hardcover
First published December 1, 2007
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About the author
Andrew Wiest
35 books12 followersAndrew A. Wiest is presently a Professor of History at the University of Southern Misssissippi, and serves as director of the Vietnam Studies Program and co-director of the university's Center for the Study of War and Society.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 2, 2021
Vietnam's Forgotten Army uses the biographies of two ARVN officers, Tran Ngoc Hue and Pham Van Dinh, as a lens to discover hidden strengths in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Hue and Dinh had oddly parallel lives. Both were born near Hue in the late 1930s, and were part of the first group of officers in free post-colonial South Vietnam. Both had formative experiences in the 1st Division in command of the elite Hac Bao (Black Panther) Company, and rose through the ranks to battalion command and Lieutenant Colonel. But there, their fates diverged. Hue was part of the disastrous Operation Lam Son 719, his unit overrun, and he was wounded and captured. A year later, during the Easter Offensive, Dinh surrendered his unit intact to the NVA, becoming the highest ranking officer to defect.
ARVN has not been treated kindly by either Americans or history. I remember one grunt's memoir which had the writer pre-sighting machineguns on the ARVN unit attached to his company, on the assumption they would break immediately. In Full Metal Jacket, Cowboy offers to trade "some ARVN rifles, never been fired and only dropped once." The ARVN contribution to the film's Battle of Hue is a pimp on a scooter, with a prostitute for the squad. And ultimately, ARVN disintegrated before the hammer blows of the NVA's final offensive in 1975. While some units fought bravely, many deserted en mass, joining the throng of refugees.
Wiest argues against this thesis, using Hue and Dinh to show that ARVN had competent, dedicated officers. And both definitely were good, possibly even great officers: bold in the attack, tenacious in defense, canny in use of terrain. Both fought bravely in the Battle of Hue, leading intense urban combat. Dinh had a period as a province governor, where he managed a successful counter-insurgency campaign that essentially wiped out the Viet Cong in his region. And there was the endless searches, cordons, and patrols of sweep and destroy.
Both Hue and Dinh had great relationships with their American advisors, but personal relationships couldn't bend the arc of the war. ARVN was in it for the duration, victory or death, while the Americans fought a one year war seven times, as advisors and soldiers rotated through on their tours of duty. America never really figured out what to do with ARVN. It was initially trained as a copy of the US military, a high-tech mobile force that was too expensive for South Vietnam and incapable of protecting the people from the Viet Cong. The Regional Forces/Popular Forces, true local defense militias, were hopeless third-rate soldiers. As Johnson and Westmoreland Americanized the war from 1965 onwards, ARVN was pushed out of high intensity operations and into a subsidiary role. Additionally, ARVN became addicted to on-call fire support, a wealth of firepower which would leave when the Americans did. While there was a distinct lull after the Tet Offensive, with the VC and NVA knocked back, as America drew down, ARVN did not rise to meet the challenge. A ramshackle and politicized command structure failed in major operations.
Wiest's take on the personal journeys of his subjects is that both emphasized their own version of loyalty. Hue's course is direct, demonstrating considerable fortitude and courage during his long imprisonment. Dinh's surrender is much more complex, and in Dinh's telling, he was abandoned by higher command with an order to die in place for little military purpose (likely true), and saw saving the lives of the men under his command as more important than his personal honor.
Vietnam's Forgotten Army is mostly fascinating, but hampered by a belief that ARVN could be good, when evidence suggests that it was on the whole anything but. A coherent military requires a basic level of competence across the board, and while Hue and Dinh were effective battalion commanders, a few solid battalions does not make an army. At the bottom, the basic problem was that ARVN soldiers were not paid enough to support a family, and this insufficiency worsened as the war went on. Petty corruption and a self-preservation instinct to avoid close combat were a common feature in all but a handful of elite units. And at the top level, a politicized command structure was full of incompetent generals who failed to exercise command and control. And while elite units could fight, Rangers, Vietnamese Marines, the Airborne, and Armored units all proved more loyal to their own branches than unified division or corps command. Ultimately, Wiest extends evidence that South Vietnam had potential, such as the valor of his protagonists and the durability of affection for South Vietnam in the diaspora, to make a case for the potential strength of South Vietnam and ARVN. And this case for potential strength is overshadowed by evident weakness.
The more general book, which I should revisit, is Brigham's ARVN.
ARVN has not been treated kindly by either Americans or history. I remember one grunt's memoir which had the writer pre-sighting machineguns on the ARVN unit attached to his company, on the assumption they would break immediately. In Full Metal Jacket, Cowboy offers to trade "some ARVN rifles, never been fired and only dropped once." The ARVN contribution to the film's Battle of Hue is a pimp on a scooter, with a prostitute for the squad. And ultimately, ARVN disintegrated before the hammer blows of the NVA's final offensive in 1975. While some units fought bravely, many deserted en mass, joining the throng of refugees.
Wiest argues against this thesis, using Hue and Dinh to show that ARVN had competent, dedicated officers. And both definitely were good, possibly even great officers: bold in the attack, tenacious in defense, canny in use of terrain. Both fought bravely in the Battle of Hue, leading intense urban combat. Dinh had a period as a province governor, where he managed a successful counter-insurgency campaign that essentially wiped out the Viet Cong in his region. And there was the endless searches, cordons, and patrols of sweep and destroy.
Both Hue and Dinh had great relationships with their American advisors, but personal relationships couldn't bend the arc of the war. ARVN was in it for the duration, victory or death, while the Americans fought a one year war seven times, as advisors and soldiers rotated through on their tours of duty. America never really figured out what to do with ARVN. It was initially trained as a copy of the US military, a high-tech mobile force that was too expensive for South Vietnam and incapable of protecting the people from the Viet Cong. The Regional Forces/Popular Forces, true local defense militias, were hopeless third-rate soldiers. As Johnson and Westmoreland Americanized the war from 1965 onwards, ARVN was pushed out of high intensity operations and into a subsidiary role. Additionally, ARVN became addicted to on-call fire support, a wealth of firepower which would leave when the Americans did. While there was a distinct lull after the Tet Offensive, with the VC and NVA knocked back, as America drew down, ARVN did not rise to meet the challenge. A ramshackle and politicized command structure failed in major operations.
Wiest's take on the personal journeys of his subjects is that both emphasized their own version of loyalty. Hue's course is direct, demonstrating considerable fortitude and courage during his long imprisonment. Dinh's surrender is much more complex, and in Dinh's telling, he was abandoned by higher command with an order to die in place for little military purpose (likely true), and saw saving the lives of the men under his command as more important than his personal honor.
Vietnam's Forgotten Army is mostly fascinating, but hampered by a belief that ARVN could be good, when evidence suggests that it was on the whole anything but. A coherent military requires a basic level of competence across the board, and while Hue and Dinh were effective battalion commanders, a few solid battalions does not make an army. At the bottom, the basic problem was that ARVN soldiers were not paid enough to support a family, and this insufficiency worsened as the war went on. Petty corruption and a self-preservation instinct to avoid close combat were a common feature in all but a handful of elite units. And at the top level, a politicized command structure was full of incompetent generals who failed to exercise command and control. And while elite units could fight, Rangers, Vietnamese Marines, the Airborne, and Armored units all proved more loyal to their own branches than unified division or corps command. Ultimately, Wiest extends evidence that South Vietnam had potential, such as the valor of his protagonists and the durability of affection for South Vietnam in the diaspora, to make a case for the potential strength of South Vietnam and ARVN. And this case for potential strength is overshadowed by evident weakness.
The more general book, which I should revisit, is Brigham's ARVN.
July 2, 2011
This book does an excellent job of telling the story of South Vietnam from its formation to its destruction, though that isn't really its purpose. It tells that history through the intertwined stories of two young officers, both of whom served in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam - the ARVN. Their lives paralleled each other in many ways, including serving in the same units at different times. The younger of the two was captured as his unit was overrun by counter-attacking North Vietnamese forces during the South Vietnamese invasion of Laos - his became a life of prison camps and re-education camps as he resisted the North's call for him to defect to their side.
The other officer was part of South Vietnamese efforts to fill the gaps along the DMZ left by departing US units, unfortunately with the newly formed and poorly trained 3rd ARVN division. The tremendous faults that still beset the ARVN manifested themselves during the North's "Easter Offensive" in 1972. As his unit was first surrounded and then left for dead, despair over his country's lost opportunities and the pointless deaths of his men so filled him that rather than fight to the death as ordered (while his commander played tennis, no less) he elected to surrender the unit, preserve his men's lives, and in his mind, take a step toward ending the war. He was actually made an officer in the North Vietnamese army following a brief period of imprisonment.
One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the depth into which it goes in describing the state of the ARVN with and without US involvement. It also touches on issues of Vietnamese culture in such a way that the acts of both men - defiance and surrender - "make sense" in their own ways. While it's easy at first to dismiss the one officer's traitorous behavior, in the light of the information presented, it becomes understandable, if regrettable. The other man was ultimately allowed to emigrate to the US with his family where he built a new life in a new home. In some ways, each man won and lost.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in the Vietnam war.
The other officer was part of South Vietnamese efforts to fill the gaps along the DMZ left by departing US units, unfortunately with the newly formed and poorly trained 3rd ARVN division. The tremendous faults that still beset the ARVN manifested themselves during the North's "Easter Offensive" in 1972. As his unit was first surrounded and then left for dead, despair over his country's lost opportunities and the pointless deaths of his men so filled him that rather than fight to the death as ordered (while his commander played tennis, no less) he elected to surrender the unit, preserve his men's lives, and in his mind, take a step toward ending the war. He was actually made an officer in the North Vietnamese army following a brief period of imprisonment.
One of the things I enjoyed about this book is the depth into which it goes in describing the state of the ARVN with and without US involvement. It also touches on issues of Vietnamese culture in such a way that the acts of both men - defiance and surrender - "make sense" in their own ways. While it's easy at first to dismiss the one officer's traitorous behavior, in the light of the information presented, it becomes understandable, if regrettable. The other man was ultimately allowed to emigrate to the US with his family where he built a new life in a new home. In some ways, each man won and lost.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in the Vietnam war.
July 29, 2015
This is an excellent in-depth analysis of the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. Two career ARVN officers are used as case studies, one who surrendered to and joined the Viet Cong and one who was captured and became a POW. No punches were pulled. Interviews with both officers serve as the main focal point.
November 11, 2011
One of the best Vietnam war books I've read of a too often overlooked critical aspect of the war; the ARVN.
January 6, 2022
If you are interested in the Vietnam War this is a must read. Details to inadequacies of the ARVN and the South Vietnamese political system during this phase of their history. Interesting diagnosis of the American conduct of the war by analysing Counter insurgency and the use of conventional war tactics which proved costly to the US but the shear weight of effort and firepower winning through in 1968. Post 1968 the US had lost its taste for Vietnam and commenced handing over the war to an organisation that was not in a position to carry on the fight without logistical support and fire support.
This book does not only follow the lives of Dinh and Thanh but details very well the war as a whole and why the ARVN suffered as they did.
I have read may books on this subject and highly recommend as an interesting and easy to read book
This book does not only follow the lives of Dinh and Thanh but details very well the war as a whole and why the ARVN suffered as they did.
I have read may books on this subject and highly recommend as an interesting and easy to read book
May 25, 2024
Fascinating read following the lives/careers of two distinguished South Vietnamese Officers whose lives go in different paths during the war. Provides a good insight to the workings of the ARVN and demonstrates that a lot of what has been written about them is not true, they were a fighting force to be reckoned with!
April 25, 2018
Politicians, military incompetence and the lost of thousand of lives cannot even begin the sorrow and sadness that has afflicted both the vietnamese and americans. Even today there still bitter arguments as to why the Vietnam war failed.
April 10, 2022
Outstanding account of ARVN.
May 30, 2022
A must read for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. It is a story not often told in the United States.
June 21, 2023
Fantastic book.
February 23, 2017
A sympathetic biography about two characters in the ARVN, this book explores a greatly neglected part of the historiography of the Vietnamese War. There is a clear attention to detail and military operation that expertly switch between a top-down view of the Vietnam war and its strategic fronts, and the on-the-ground experiences of the men themselves. Excellent narrative and lucid prose.
One thing to note, however, is a relatively transparent bias against the DRV that manifest themselves occasionally: phrases like 'human-wave' tactics or the varying descriptions of North Vietnam ('swarms', 'overrunning', against ARVN troops) don't seem to be necessary and in fact seems to undercut the heroics of the ARVN. Low 4/5.
One thing to note, however, is a relatively transparent bias against the DRV that manifest themselves occasionally: phrases like 'human-wave' tactics or the varying descriptions of North Vietnam ('swarms', 'overrunning', against ARVN troops) don't seem to be necessary and in fact seems to undercut the heroics of the ARVN. Low 4/5.
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August 19, 2008Great book- Iam really getting to understand what our boys went thru
in Vietnam.
in Vietnam.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews