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Baptism: A Vietnam Memoir
"The 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry had the dubious distinction of being the unit that had fought the biggest battle of the war to date, and had suffered the worst casualties. We and the 1st Battalion."
A Yale graduate who volunteered to serve his country, Larry Gwin was only twenty-three years old when he arrived in Vietnam in 1965. After a brief stint in the Delta, Gwin was reassigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in An Khe. There, in the hotly contested Central Highlands, he served almost nine months as executive officer for Alpha Company, 2/7, fighting against crack NVA troops in some of the war's most horrific battles.
The bloodiest conflict of all began November 12, 1965, after 2nd Battalion was flown into the Ia Drang Valley west of Pleiku. Acting as point, Alpha Company spearheaded the battalion's march to landing zone Albany for pickup, not knowing they were walking into the killing zone of an NVA ambush that would cost them 10 percent casualties.
Gwin spares no one, including himself, in his gut-wrenching account of the agony of war. Through the stench of death and the acrid smell of napalm, he chronicles the Vietnam War in all its nightmarish horror.
A Yale graduate who volunteered to serve his country, Larry Gwin was only twenty-three years old when he arrived in Vietnam in 1965. After a brief stint in the Delta, Gwin was reassigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in An Khe. There, in the hotly contested Central Highlands, he served almost nine months as executive officer for Alpha Company, 2/7, fighting against crack NVA troops in some of the war's most horrific battles.
The bloodiest conflict of all began November 12, 1965, after 2nd Battalion was flown into the Ia Drang Valley west of Pleiku. Acting as point, Alpha Company spearheaded the battalion's march to landing zone Albany for pickup, not knowing they were walking into the killing zone of an NVA ambush that would cost them 10 percent casualties.
Gwin spares no one, including himself, in his gut-wrenching account of the agony of war. Through the stench of death and the acrid smell of napalm, he chronicles the Vietnam War in all its nightmarish horror.
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 2, 1999
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September 3, 2020It seems that recently there has been a flood of Vietnam memoir books. Those of you born after 1965 can now turn your interests elsewhere. For a baby boomer, like me, born in 1947, Vietnam was an all-consuming, ever-present, presence. We could not escape it effects. It permeated our lives, dictated careers, education, relationships, everything. We worried about getting drafted, philosophized about religious beliefs not to mention our feelings about imperialism and war and America's role in the world. (Obviously, we learned nothing, and the chickenhawks went onto rule and then make more mistakes than the "best and the brightest."
Anyway, I'm pleased that publishing one's memoirs and recollections has become so much easier. Most are not literature although there are some very good books o come out of all wars, I expect, like Matterhorn, Red Flags,and many others. I've been reading many. Obviously each GI's experience was different so to look for an"average" experience is ridiculous. All of them are fascinating. This one was no exception.
Gwin had joined ROTC at Yale, mostly because all of his predecessors had fought in an American war, even if one had been on the Confederate side. Commissioned after graduation he was sent to Vietnam as part of the advisors (this was in 1965+) before things got totally out-of-hand. I graduated in 1969 when things were definitely murky, but as you'll see the quagmire was already forming in '65. Anti-vaXXers take note, you will not like the military. They give shots for everything. "We got our gamma globulin shots the next day, at the naval hospital across town. Five cc's in each cheek for the big guys like me. I spent the afternoon in bed, on my stomach, waiting for the pain to go away. We'd received by that time the full gamut of immunizations, shots for cholera, typhus, yellow fever, and plague." Unfortunately, no shots for malaria.
After six boring weeks with ARVN (filled with the need for Kaopectate, otherwise known as GI cement, for his dysentery) that conveyed a sense that the Vietnamese army was doing its best to avoid the enemy, Gwin was transferred to the 1st Air Cavalry Division, not a pleasant new job, as he had witnessed how vulnerable helicopters were.
Larry Gwin was not a sniper, not tunnel rat, nor anything unusual. "He was a conventional soldier in a conventional unit doing conventional things. His story will hit home with the vast majority of readers who, like him, are more or less conventional."* But perhaps that makes him, and those like him, extraordinary.
Gwin is unsparing in recounting events you'd never see in a John Wayne book or movie. On one mission the plane ferrying his entire 3rd platoon, some forty plus men, crashed on take-off, everyone was killed, and Gwin was tasked with trying to help identify bodies that had been reconstructed by the unsung heroes of the GRU (Graves Registration Unit). A searing memory.
The strategy was unsustainable. Send patrols out to scour for the enemy, i.e. get used as bait, call in artillery and air support to kill them, and then return to base, leaving the enemy to return to where he was. If you run across a hamlet, destroy it, after sending all those of fighting age back to base. "It made me angry. Who the hell were we to march in and disrupt this hamlet—march in, tear it up looking for weapons, drag everyone out of their homes like Gestapo in the night, and send the men off somewhere to be interrogated? Maybe it was necessary. Maybe not. Who knew? ... After the Hueys flew away, we picked up and continued southward, leaving the village behind us. But the wailing of those poor, terrified women seemed to stay with me all day. ...A young boy, four or five years old, stood motionless near the door of a burning hootch. He stared at me as I walked by. His face expressionless. No tears. Nothing. He just stared. I'll never forget the look on his face." Perhaps not the best way to win the hearts and minds of the locals.
As an appalling aside, this is what President Bone Spurs said about Vietnam. "Trump sometimes bantered about Vietnam with radio host Howard Stern. He referred to trying to avoid sexually transmitted diseases on the dating scene as “my personal Vietnam.” “It’s pretty dangerous out there,” he said in 1993. “It’s like Vietnam.”** That is probably the most egregious insult to Vietnam Vets I have ever read.
Note that Gwin makes an appearance in Harold Moore's We were Solders Once and Young and there is a Youtube documentary on LZ X-Ray.
If you are looking for a company level commander memoir, I highly recommend Company Commander by Charles B. MacDonald. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...)
*https://www.historynet.com/book-revie...
**https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
Anyway, I'm pleased that publishing one's memoirs and recollections has become so much easier. Most are not literature although there are some very good books o come out of all wars, I expect, like Matterhorn, Red Flags,and many others. I've been reading many. Obviously each GI's experience was different so to look for an"average" experience is ridiculous. All of them are fascinating. This one was no exception.
Gwin had joined ROTC at Yale, mostly because all of his predecessors had fought in an American war, even if one had been on the Confederate side. Commissioned after graduation he was sent to Vietnam as part of the advisors (this was in 1965+) before things got totally out-of-hand. I graduated in 1969 when things were definitely murky, but as you'll see the quagmire was already forming in '65. Anti-vaXXers take note, you will not like the military. They give shots for everything. "We got our gamma globulin shots the next day, at the naval hospital across town. Five cc's in each cheek for the big guys like me. I spent the afternoon in bed, on my stomach, waiting for the pain to go away. We'd received by that time the full gamut of immunizations, shots for cholera, typhus, yellow fever, and plague." Unfortunately, no shots for malaria.
After six boring weeks with ARVN (filled with the need for Kaopectate, otherwise known as GI cement, for his dysentery) that conveyed a sense that the Vietnamese army was doing its best to avoid the enemy, Gwin was transferred to the 1st Air Cavalry Division, not a pleasant new job, as he had witnessed how vulnerable helicopters were.
Larry Gwin was not a sniper, not tunnel rat, nor anything unusual. "He was a conventional soldier in a conventional unit doing conventional things. His story will hit home with the vast majority of readers who, like him, are more or less conventional."* But perhaps that makes him, and those like him, extraordinary.
Gwin is unsparing in recounting events you'd never see in a John Wayne book or movie. On one mission the plane ferrying his entire 3rd platoon, some forty plus men, crashed on take-off, everyone was killed, and Gwin was tasked with trying to help identify bodies that had been reconstructed by the unsung heroes of the GRU (Graves Registration Unit). A searing memory.
The strategy was unsustainable. Send patrols out to scour for the enemy, i.e. get used as bait, call in artillery and air support to kill them, and then return to base, leaving the enemy to return to where he was. If you run across a hamlet, destroy it, after sending all those of fighting age back to base. "It made me angry. Who the hell were we to march in and disrupt this hamlet—march in, tear it up looking for weapons, drag everyone out of their homes like Gestapo in the night, and send the men off somewhere to be interrogated? Maybe it was necessary. Maybe not. Who knew? ... After the Hueys flew away, we picked up and continued southward, leaving the village behind us. But the wailing of those poor, terrified women seemed to stay with me all day. ...A young boy, four or five years old, stood motionless near the door of a burning hootch. He stared at me as I walked by. His face expressionless. No tears. Nothing. He just stared. I'll never forget the look on his face." Perhaps not the best way to win the hearts and minds of the locals.
As an appalling aside, this is what President Bone Spurs said about Vietnam. "Trump sometimes bantered about Vietnam with radio host Howard Stern. He referred to trying to avoid sexually transmitted diseases on the dating scene as “my personal Vietnam.” “It’s pretty dangerous out there,” he said in 1993. “It’s like Vietnam.”** That is probably the most egregious insult to Vietnam Vets I have ever read.
Note that Gwin makes an appearance in Harold Moore's We were Solders Once and Young and there is a Youtube documentary on LZ X-Ray.
If you are looking for a company level commander memoir, I highly recommend Company Commander by Charles B. MacDonald. (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...)
*https://www.historynet.com/book-revie...
**https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
April 30, 2024
A Yale grad enlists and finds himself in a position of authority in Vietnam.
He screws up as much as anyone else. Maybe the Ivy League has been overrated for a long time.
Very gruesome in parts.
He screws up as much as anyone else. Maybe the Ivy League has been overrated for a long time.
Very gruesome in parts.
August 20, 2012
This is a very good memoir by a line infantry officer who spent most of his tour as a Company XO. It is told in a very straightforward matter of fact style, without pretension or exaggeration. The author served with 2/7th Cavalry between the first US main unit commitment in 1965 through till 1966. He saw action as part of the relief for 1/7th at LZ XRay Of "We Were Warriors" movie fame and the following debacle at LZ Albany.
One of the primary facts to come out of this account was the relatively poor quality of key leaders im this man's tour including the Battalion Commander who led the battalion into the ambush at Albany and one of the Company Commanders, who was ultimately relieved for incompetence, but not before he had been responsible for the unnecessary deaths of several of his own men, perhaps the 80/20 rule in operation. Remembering that this book recounts events that took place during the early phases of American involvement that particular failing did not bode well the general quality of counterpart commanders on the other side. The dead wood had been weeded from their ranks or killed before the Americans arrived, that left battle hardened competent officers in charge for the most part and it told.
It seems that the poor quality of much of the American officer corps and its poor usage, (ticket punching for career purposes)was to plague the entire length of American involvement and it got progressively worse as indicated by the ever rising incidences of fragging of incompetent or dangerous officers as time went on. This fact is also mentioned frequently as a major contributing factor in psychological breakdown among American combat troops who served in Vietnam
One of the primary facts to come out of this account was the relatively poor quality of key leaders im this man's tour including the Battalion Commander who led the battalion into the ambush at Albany and one of the Company Commanders, who was ultimately relieved for incompetence, but not before he had been responsible for the unnecessary deaths of several of his own men, perhaps the 80/20 rule in operation. Remembering that this book recounts events that took place during the early phases of American involvement that particular failing did not bode well the general quality of counterpart commanders on the other side. The dead wood had been weeded from their ranks or killed before the Americans arrived, that left battle hardened competent officers in charge for the most part and it told.
It seems that the poor quality of much of the American officer corps and its poor usage, (ticket punching for career purposes)was to plague the entire length of American involvement and it got progressively worse as indicated by the ever rising incidences of fragging of incompetent or dangerous officers as time went on. This fact is also mentioned frequently as a major contributing factor in psychological breakdown among American combat troops who served in Vietnam
July 18, 2019
This is a great story of one man's tour of duty in Vietnam. The author, Larry Gwin, was an officer in Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry from 1965 to 1966, at the very beginning of the "big war" phase of America's involvement in Vietnam. His account of what happened to the 2/7th Cavalry, in a way, takes up where Hal Moore's account left off (Moore's battalion, the 1/7th Cavalry was the main force involved in the LZ X-Ray phase of the four-day running battle. The 2/7th was left to mop up, but was ambushed while on a foot march to LZ Albany, also in the Ia Drang Valley). The 2/7th Cav actually suffered more killed in action than the 1/7th had during the first phase of the battle. There are many other smaller (but just as deadly) battles that follow their "baptism" in the Ia Drang, and the author does an excellent job in describing them all. It is not just the battles, however, that he describes in great detail. Everything from their endless marches through the rice paddies, to the adrenaline-filled air assaults are described uniquely and eloquently. He also describes some very humorous moments during their brief stays at base camp (An Khe). I very highly recommend this to anyone who wants to know what life was like for an infantryman during the Vietnam War.
October 27, 2015
I can't explain it, but I'm addicted to Vietnam memoirs. Possibly growing up in the military before the Gulf Wars the ghosts of Vietnam still had a presence in the US Military all the way up to the 90's. It has always felt to me like Vietnam was the American "Coming of Age" war, when our innocence as a nation was lost forever. Though other wars had cost the US so much more in lives and treasury, Vietnam had a psychological toll that indelibly scarred the country to its core.
This is the story of a young Lieutenant and his experiences as Company XO for an Air Cavalry company and the brutal engagements he witnessed and lived to tell. Try as one might, even with the best descriptions, without actually being there I can tell how impossible it is to fully understand the full range of emotions experienced by those who have descended into the heart of madness. Seeing the absolute worst horrors that the human experience has to offer and still, somehow, manage to cling desperately on to one's sanity in the aftermath of all the senseless carnage.
This is the story of a young Lieutenant and his experiences as Company XO for an Air Cavalry company and the brutal engagements he witnessed and lived to tell. Try as one might, even with the best descriptions, without actually being there I can tell how impossible it is to fully understand the full range of emotions experienced by those who have descended into the heart of madness. Seeing the absolute worst horrors that the human experience has to offer and still, somehow, manage to cling desperately on to one's sanity in the aftermath of all the senseless carnage.
October 23, 2017
Listening to this gave me a good look into what the war in Vietnam was like. This was not my first book on the subject, having read "The things they carried" and "Matterhorn" before this one. Having actually served in the US Army (though in the 1990's) I had to have a strong BS filter in place while reading the prior ones.
Baptism was much more believable, no wild BS about civilian girls joining the SF patrols or other 1970 - 80 anti-war propaganda passed off as "what we really did over there". Just the telling of battles, patrols, and lost friends as the author did his "364 and a wake up".
Baptism was much more believable, no wild BS about civilian girls joining the SF patrols or other 1970 - 80 anti-war propaganda passed off as "what we really did over there". Just the telling of battles, patrols, and lost friends as the author did his "364 and a wake up".
September 12, 2011
Very interesting as a companion to We Were Soldiers Once and Young. Reccomended by my friend James Barton. Interesting side note, Rick Rescorla was a pkatoon leader in this company and would later be killed on 9/11 while acting as security head for Morgan Stanley.
April 15, 2020
I first knew of LT Gwin when I saw him on a 90 minute You Tube clip with a number of his comrades discussing their experiences in the Ia Drang Valley in the LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany battles. Out of curiosity I went on Amazon to see if he may have written a book on his time in VietNam and lo and behold I found Baptism.
I have read many books by veterans of this war and this has to rank in the top three. He does a great job of making the reader feel how it must have really been to be there. He tells a straight forward story that talks about fear, leadership, camaraderie, good officers, bad officers, brave grunts, humor, air assaults, big battles, small battles, being wounded, times at base camp the whole gamut. It reads as a really honest and unvarnished story and his writing style makes it a page turner.
If you want to read a real meaningful book on the VietNam experience then add this to your reading list. And check out the documentary on You Tube as well.
I have read many books by veterans of this war and this has to rank in the top three. He does a great job of making the reader feel how it must have really been to be there. He tells a straight forward story that talks about fear, leadership, camaraderie, good officers, bad officers, brave grunts, humor, air assaults, big battles, small battles, being wounded, times at base camp the whole gamut. It reads as a really honest and unvarnished story and his writing style makes it a page turner.
If you want to read a real meaningful book on the VietNam experience then add this to your reading list. And check out the documentary on You Tube as well.
January 25, 2023
The author provides a truly personal account of his time in Vietnam. The detail depends on his memory (which he admits is not perfect), flight logs, and his personnel record.
There are a lot of books written by vets of this and other wars that try to make themselves into a slightly better version of their actual selves, but Gwin does not even try to gloss over his failures, vices, or any other part of his personality and experiences. It makes this memoir easier to read, giving it both a flow to the events and a better sense of being at the author's side through it all than many others written by Gwin's peers.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
There are a lot of books written by vets of this and other wars that try to make themselves into a slightly better version of their actual selves, but Gwin does not even try to gloss over his failures, vices, or any other part of his personality and experiences. It makes this memoir easier to read, giving it both a flow to the events and a better sense of being at the author's side through it all than many others written by Gwin's peers.
Find it! Buy it! READ IT!
September 21, 2017
Vietnam war veteran writes his story
Great book by the author, in which he recounts his experiences in a very difficult time and place. He was in Vietnam and was accountable for his men, because he was an Officer in the U.S.Army. The book is intense , it is real, and is as timely today, as it was fifty years ago. I highly recommend this book, simply, because of the author's honesty to call out his fellow officers that put soldier's in unnecessary danger. He is a man of courage and a hero in my eyes. Welcome home!
Great book by the author, in which he recounts his experiences in a very difficult time and place. He was in Vietnam and was accountable for his men, because he was an Officer in the U.S.Army. The book is intense , it is real, and is as timely today, as it was fifty years ago. I highly recommend this book, simply, because of the author's honesty to call out his fellow officers that put soldier's in unnecessary danger. He is a man of courage and a hero in my eyes. Welcome home!
June 6, 2019
This is a gut wrenching, no holds bar tale of one young man's tour during the Vietnam War. He and the rest of 2nd Battlalion are thrown into the horrific battle in the Ia Drang Valley, which was later made into the movie We Were Soldiers Once....And Young. Later that day they are ambushed heading to another LZ and suffer horrendous losses while spending a excruciating night of terror waiting to be airlifted out. Gwin bluntly tells of mistakes made by him and others while trying to survive this nightmare called war. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the Vietnam History genre.
February 10, 2018
Excellent Infantry Primer.I
Good book. I knew Col. Mcdade when I was a sergeant in the 11 Air Assault. Seemed laid back and quiet guy just doing his time. General Kinnard was a petite guy who took care of business. Got a lot of his men KIA too later. Two were my pals in D/2/7 at LZ ALBANY. Went to their dedication in the Pa. Senate in 2002 and met Joe Galloway there. 52 Pennsylvanians were KIA at ALBANY and X-Ray.
Good book. I knew Col. Mcdade when I was a sergeant in the 11 Air Assault. Seemed laid back and quiet guy just doing his time. General Kinnard was a petite guy who took care of business. Got a lot of his men KIA too later. Two were my pals in D/2/7 at LZ ALBANY. Went to their dedication in the Pa. Senate in 2002 and met Joe Galloway there. 52 Pennsylvanians were KIA at ALBANY and X-Ray.
December 4, 2023
I'm certainly not an expert on the Vietnam War, but I felt like this gave a very good picture of a "normal" soldier's experience. He faces a wide variety of circumstances which many soldiers would have faced, from dysentery and digging holes to being ambushed and intense firefights.
I can't compare it to other Vietnam Memoirs, (since I haven't read any others) so there might be a better one, but judging it on its own, I would say that it's worth picking up.
I can't compare it to other Vietnam Memoirs, (since I haven't read any others) so there might be a better one, but judging it on its own, I would say that it's worth picking up.
March 26, 2018
Ágætis endurminningar undirforingja sem gerðist sjálfboðaliði fyrir Vietnam stríðið og lærði sína lexíu. Liðssveit hans var fyrir grimmilegri fyrirsát sem kostaði hana 10% mannfall og Gwin er ómyrkur í máli þegar hann bæði gagnrýnir og hrósar liðsfélögum sínum fyrir axarsköft og hetjuskap. Fínt sjónarhorn í blóðugan hildarleik Víetnamstríðsins.
March 24, 2022
Baptism of Fire
One of the best reads about the Nam war. Accurate and believable and filled in a lot of the blanks about LZ Albany. The author supplied a lot of detail that I hadn't read before. He brought the horror and sadness to the forefront that only a witness to the events could tell. Great book.
One of the best reads about the Nam war. Accurate and believable and filled in a lot of the blanks about LZ Albany. The author supplied a lot of detail that I hadn't read before. He brought the horror and sadness to the forefront that only a witness to the events could tell. Great book.
February 17, 2021
Great story. Another fresh view of the Vietnam War. Kept me enthralled to the end.
Very interesting story that connects with book/move "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young."
Author Larry Gwinn shares his perspective of the battle Lt. Gen. Haorld Moore made so famous.
Highly recommended.
Very interesting story that connects with book/move "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young."
Author Larry Gwinn shares his perspective of the battle Lt. Gen. Haorld Moore made so famous.
Highly recommended.
February 13, 2025
Book started out slow and it took me about a week to get going. But once it got going it was very informative and enjoyable. I recomend this book for any Vietnam vet or anyone interested in seeing how it was.
G kurtz.
B Btry 3/6 Artillery
105 self propelled
RVN. 69-70
G kurtz.
B Btry 3/6 Artillery
105 self propelled
RVN. 69-70
June 25, 2019
An excellent memoir of a tragic war. If you study war or the impact of war at the grunt level, this book belongs on your shelf.
January 4, 2020
Great book and dovetails very nicely with We Were Soldiers Once due to both covering the battle at LZ Albany from different viewpoints.
June 22, 2022
There are honest accounts, and then there is this book...which pushes the limit on being a bit too honest.
Brilliant book. Read as part of research for the Honor Them Project.
Brilliant book. Read as part of research for the Honor Them Project.
Read
January 26, 20243/4 into this I got tired of the narrator/author praising himself as though he was a super soldier. Needed to take a break in order to finish.
December 9, 2017
Great Book
I have read dozens of books on Vietnam but this was the best. It was hard to put it down.
I have read dozens of books on Vietnam but this was the best. It was hard to put it down.
February 1, 2022
Good well written book
January 23, 2010
This is an excellent log of the day to day front-line existence in the early days of Vietnam. It covers in detail a view of the war at the platoon and company level. The graphic details of the pain and agony of the war make the book a good read for anyone who wants to know what the Vietnam vets went through.
November 21, 2015
I think if you were a military buff you might enjoy this book, however for a "lay" person not versed in military jargon I felt it was not an enjoyable/easily understood book. Big on details - much less on understanding the personalities. A lot of military terms I did not understand.
February 3, 2009
Want to know what it was like on a 365 day tour of Vietnam? Want to see it from the "Grunt's" perspective? This is the book to read!!!
May 13, 2015
Staggering account of one man in the war. Unbelievable that this was real life for him, and a half million other soldiers in the war.
May 31, 2015
Well written memoir, but I can't recommend it on audio since the narration wasn't so great.
September 22, 2016
Very good book laced with gallows humour in the intensity of war.
January 7, 2017
Excellent novel of the war in Vietnam and the life in the field, its battles and struggle - I went though this in two and half days, very enjoyable and interesting read, well written and told.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews