Force Recon Diary, 1969
Force Recon Diary, 1969

Author: Major Bruce H. Norton

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2015-09-16

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 039917771X

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Elite and highly trained, the 3d Force Recon's eight-man teams were assigned to obtain vital information about NVA operations. Alone, the men of these small teams were sent behind enemy lines, where they all knew that a single mistake could cost everyone their lives. United States Navy Hospital Corpsman Bruce Norton was the only navy corpsman to act as a Marine Force Recon Team Leader. In Force Recon Diary, 1969 Doc Norton chronicles his life, mission by mission, with the 3d Force Recon in the DMZ and the A Shau Valley. He describes the tense patrols, the supreme courage, the sacrifices—in ambushes and hot landing zones—that made this courageous company one of only two Marine units during the entire Vietnam War to receive the United States Army's Valorous Unit Citation.

Force Recon Diary, 1970
Force Recon Diary, 1970

Author: Bruce H. Norton

Publisher: Quadrant Books®

Published: 2013-11-15

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1937868222

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The quiet of the night was again shattered by the thunderous roll of incoming artillery shells, spaced five seconds apart, ripping the jungle to pieces, as huge chunks of earth and vegetation blew skyward under the brilliant flashes of orange and white explosions . . . The possibility of encountering more NVA troops moving through our area was high, as we had pushed a very great stick into their nest. But our demonstrated ability to find the enemy and wait for the most opportune time to hit him, while remaining totally undetected, gave us reason to be pleased. It also gave the NVA reason for concern. In Force Recon Diary, 1970, Bruce "Doc" Norton offers a harrowing sequel to his best-selling Force Recon Diary, 1969, continuing the true story of a navy corpsman who became a Force Recon Team Leader behind enemy lines in the jungles of Vietnam. In the midst of a war set deep in the jungle, the Force Recon Marines often found themselves lacking food, drinkable water, explosives, or even enough radio batteries. Armed with only their own courage, skills, and loyalty to their brothers in arms, the Marines used stealth and cunning to survive in the harsh conditions of Vietnam, where one mistake could prove fatal not just for an individual Marine, but for the entire unit.

First Force Recon Company
First Force Recon Company

Author: Bill Peters

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 1999-01-30

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0804118736

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In 1st Force Recon you performed at a very high level of proficiency. Or you died. . . . In 1969, First Lieutenant Bill Peters and the Force Recon Marines had one of the most difficult, dangerous assignments in Vietnam. From the DMZ to the Central Highlands, their job was to provide strategic and operational intelligence to insure the security of American units as the withdrawal of the troops progressed. Making perilous helicopter inserts deep in the Que Son Mountains, where the constant chatter of AK-47 rifle fire left no doubt who was in charge, Peters and the other men of 1st Force Recon Company risked their lives every day in six-man teams, never knowing whether they would live to see the sunset. Peters's accounts of silently watching huge movements of heavily armed NVA regulars, prisoner snatches, sudden-death ambushes, and extracts from fiercely fought firefights vividly capture the realities of Recon Marine warfare, and offer a gritty tribute to the courage, heroism, and sacrifice of the U. S. Marines. . . .

Stingray
Stingray

Author: Bruce Norton

Publisher: Quadrant Books®

Published: 2012-05-01

Total Pages: 449

ISBN-13: 1937868052

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One of the most influential strategies of the Vietnam War, the Stingray Patrol comprised seven to ten marines in small teams, inserted by chopper deep in enemy territory. Surrounded on all sides by North Vietnamese Army troops and Viet Cong guerillas, these small, high-effective teams brought death and destruction to the enemy without ever going head-to-head in a gunfight with them. Like todays Special Forces, Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, and Marine Force Recon units that operate behind enemy lines, these Stingray Patrols helped target the enemy for artillery and air strikes . . . with devastating accuracy and effect. Force Recon Marine and team leader Bruce "Doc" Norton participated in many Stingray missions and he takes the reader behind enemy lines, telling the full story of Stingrays origins and operations. STINGRAY is the definitive history of these units and missions, available now for the first time in eBook format.

Killer Kane
Killer Kane

Author: Andrew R. Finlayson

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2013-10-03

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0786477016

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The leader of one of the most successful U. S. Marine long range reconnaissance teams during the Vietnam War, Andrew Finlayson recounts his team's experiences in the year leading up to the Tet Offensive of 1968. Using primary sources, such as Marine Corps unit histories and his own weekly letters home, he presents a highly personal account of the dangerous missions conducted by this team of young Marines as they searched for North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong units in such dangerous locales as Elephant Valley, the Enchanted Forest, Charlie Ridge, Happy Valley and the Que Son Mountains. In numerous close contacts with the enemy, the team (code-name Killer Kane) fights for its survival against desperate odds, narrowly escaping death time and again. The book gives vivid descriptions of the life of recon Marines when they are not on patrol, the beauty of the landscape they traverse, and several of the author's Vietnamese friends. It also explains in detail the preparations for, and the conduct of, a successful long range reconnaissance patrol.

Fortune Favors the Brave
Fortune Favors the Brave

Author: Bruce F. Meyer

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2004-08-16

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 9780312996802

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Their Job Was To Get Inside Enemy Territory. And Be Ready To Fight Their Way Back Out... At the end of World War II, when daring marine reconnaissance units made a life-and-death difference in island warfare in the Pacific, a secret unit was formed inside the military. With courageous men risking their lives, Test Unit 1 experimented with new ways of inserting marines behind enemy lines-by sea and by land-and then getting them out again. As America barreled towards a confrontation in Indochina and a new era of warfare, First Force Recon was born... This is the untold, inside story of a super elite reconnaissance force-U.S. Special Operations Forces who practiced clandestine insertion and extraction by submarine, jet aircraft and helicopter, using tools and techniques that had never been tried before. Strapping you in the harness of a HALO parachute, launching from the torpedo room of a submerged submarine or climbing the extraction rig of a hovering marine chopper, Fortune Favors the Brave is a firsthand account of what it was like to build a new strike force from the ground up... to make sure that the next time America fought a war, Force Recon would be there. "A superb job...this book fills a void that needed to be filled." -Major Bruce "Doc" Norton, USMC (Ret.)

Grown Gray in War
Grown Gray in War

Author: Len Maffioli

Publisher: Quadrant Books®

Published: 2014-11-11

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 1937868400

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"Generation after generation of Marines have grown gray in war in both hemispheres and in every corner of the seven seas, that our country and its citizens might enjoy peace and security."--Gen. John A. Lejeune Suddenly, from both sides of the road, came a steady stream of tracers from enemy machine guns. Bullets hit Hawkins's truck and practically shot the engine right out of it. The vehicle stopped dead. Before he could try to get it off to the side of the road, all hell broke loose. During his thirty-three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Len Maffioli saw combat in World War II, the Korean War, and the war in Vietnam. Maffioli was only eighteen when he stormed Saipan on D-Day in 1944. Shortly after, he was involved in combat operations on Tinian and Iwo Jima--and that was just the beginning of a long and distinguished career. In Korea, he was captured by the Chinese Communist Forces and endured icy prison camp conditions so appalling that four out of ten POWs died. Yet Maffioli not only survived, he escaped and earned himself the Bronze Star. He went on to see combat in Vietnam and serve in many posts and stations around the world, distinguishing himself not only as a combat veteran, but as the very definition of a "Marine's Marine." Vividly depicted by the deft hand of experienced author and Vietnam combat veteran Bruce "Doc" Norton, Grown Gray in War is the story of a man who could be anyone's father, brother, or son, a man who served in a series of wars that changed the Marine Corps and the nation forever.

Never Without Heroes
Never Without Heroes

Author: Lawrence C. Vetter, Jr.

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2011-02-02

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 0307784215

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FOUR CONGRESSIONAL MEDALS OF HONOR, THIRTEEN NAVAL CROSSES, SEVENTY-TWO SILVER STARS . . . In four and a half years in Vietnam, the Marines of the Third Reconnaissance Battalion repeatedly penetrated North Vietnamese and Vietcong sanctuaries by foot and by helicopter to find enemy forces, learn the enemy's intentions, and, when possible, bring deadly fire down on his head. Heavily armed, well-camouflaged teams of six and eight men daily exposed themselves to overwhelming enemy forces so that other Marines would have the information necessary to fight the war. It's all here: grueling, tense, and deadly recon patrols; insertions directly into NVA basecamps; last-stand defenses in the wreckage of downed helicopters; pursuit by superior North Vietnamese forces; agonizing deaths of men who valiantly put their lives on the line. NEVER WITHOUT HEROES is the first book to recount the story of a Marine reconnaissance battalion in Vietnam from the day of its arrival to its withdrawal. In Vietnam, Larry Vetter served as a platoon leader in Third Recon Battalion. He supplements his own recollections with Marine Corps records, exhaustive interviews with veterans, and correspondence to capture the bravery, and self-sacrifice of war.

Cleared Hot!
Cleared Hot!

Author: Bob Stoffey

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 1993-01-15

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 1466804319

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Full of vivid detail, this combat diary uncovers the real heroes of the Vietnam War, the behind-the-scenes Marine Corps pilots who helped our boys return home...then went back for more. Daring missions. Dangerous rescues. Deadly accuracy. Many pilots never made it out of 'Nam. This one did. Highly decorated Col. Bob Stoffey-- a Marine Corps pilot for over twenty-five years, who served multiple tours in Vietnam-- has seen and done it all. Cleared Hot! is his story-- a fast-paced, high-casualty flight into heart-stopping danger. Includes eight pages of heroic photographs!

Stingray
Stingray

Author: Bill Keith

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Published: 1994-01-15

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9780061006159

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Leviathan—the world's largest Typhoon-type vessel, a subcarrier equipped with the most advanced twenty-first-century laser technology and the ultimate weapon—a fast, agile fleet of SFV-4B Barracudas, the undersea version of the world's hottest new fighter plane. The ultimate undersea challenge Fresh from bloody battle off the coast of Cuba, Leviathan rides out to meet trouble at its source—Alexandria. There the formidable Islamic navy and its allies gather, sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar to block South American oil supplies and bring America to its knees. Challenged by the Teigei, a Japanese supersub whose superior technology matches Leviathan's, Commander T. Morgan Gray, ace Navy pilot, must lead his intrepid men into a chilling undersea battle—one where only their daring, skill, and courage can snatch victory from the jaws of death and devastating final defeat.