Semper Fi: Vietnam: From Da Nang to the DMZ, Marine Corps Campaigns, 1965-1975

by Edward F. Murphy

From their early days in 1965 when the order of the day was to drive the insurgent Viet Cong from the villages around Da Nang to the final, dramatic evacuation of Saigon ten years later, Semper Fi—Vietnam relates the whole gutsy, glorious saga of the Marines in Vietnam in stark, riveting detail.

Acclimating to their strange new surroundings occupied the Marines’ first few weeks in South Vietnam. . . . Throughout the day, peasants dressed in pajama-like clothing and sporting conical hats worked the paddies behind the heaving water buffalo. . . .

If daytime scenes appeared bucolic, the arrival of sunset quickly changed that perception. Gunfire and explosions erupted at dusk. Marines nervously watched bright tracers cut colorful swaths across the night sky. From distant bamboo thickets, mortar shells flew skyward to crash in the paddies. The Marines were learning that the war in South Vietnam was unlike anything for which they’d been trained.

Genres: History, Military Fiction, Military History, Nonfiction, American History, War

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 1, 1997

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good down in the mud and the jungle history of the United States Marine Corps' involvement in the Vietnam [undeclared] War from the beginning in 1965 through the final withdrawal in 1975. While there are some general policy discussions the author describes many small unit actions. He also looks at the war fighting techniques and policies of the Corps as opposed to political agendas. Semper Fi focuses on the ground war with only a handful of references to Marine air. Overall it is a good review of the war even if written by an army veteran. [I had to get in the inter-service dig].

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dry but detailed history of the leading role the Marine Corps played during the long war in Vietnam. A war I participated in as a young radio operator in 3/3 in 1969-1970. It's a distinguished history indeed and the great adventure of my life. Semper Fi General Murphy and all the Marines who fought there.............Ed

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good account of the Marine actions in Vietnam.