David and Lee Roy: A Vietnam Story (Modern Southeast Asia)

I admit while I was in HS during this war I never paid attention to this needless war.. I cried to realize LeeRoys sacrific when such a true hero who never got to enjoy the life of freedom he died for. 😥

For any man who was of draft age during the ten years of the Viet Nam War (back then referred to as a "conflict"), this book will ring true. If you went to that war and survived, it is a source of pride the rest of your life. If you did not go, you considered yourself extremely lucky at the time, but later would consider the issue of your own manhood as unresolved. After all, we were raised on the John Wayne movie image of manhood (which is pretty interesting in itself, since he ducked WWII), and war was fed to us as the ultimate measuring stick. David Nelson does a good job of describing his admiration for his high school buddy who went to war (and never returned)...and his ambivalence about himself, who joined the marines but didn't have to go to Viet Nam, leaving the "ultimate test" issue unresolved.

I know David Nelson as well as his best friend Lee Roy commanding officer Col. Wes Fox. Col Fox a Medal of Honor Recipient has a lot of information about Lee Roy. This a great and sad story about two buddies that grew up together,went to school together and joined The Marine Corps together.It is hard for one to try to understand that the Marine Corps puts you where you are needed. In David part it was to go to Law School. For Leroy it was to be sent to Nam. Where he was killed and awarded the Navy Cross.It has eaten at David for years and I hope since he has written this book and is sharing it with everyone it will make his life alot better. David is a great guy and has raised a lot of funds for Lee Roys scholarship. This is a great, and easy read,I am sure you will enjoy it.

Outstanding book about outstanding people. Brings back many memories of the Vietnam era and a reminder to those of us who did not serve about what those that did experienced. Extremely well written.

The book was well researched and has plenty of action detail in parts, The different styles of the two authors is obvious, and I much preferred the direct writing style of Mr Nelson. I bought two of these and after reading passed one to a former Texas Tech graduate and one to a Army vet. I would recommend it to any Military veteran.