Unheralded Victory; The Defeat of the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, 1961-1973

Arlington: Vandamere Press, 1999. presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Mark Wolf (Cover photograph). The format is approximately 5.75 inches by 8.5 inches. xiv, 338 pages. Illustrations. Figures. Maps. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Foreword by James L. Jones, General, U.S. Marine Corps. Along with a half million other young men, Mark Woodruff put his life on the line to serve his country in Vietnam. Like so many others, he returned home to find himself regarded not as a hero but as a humiliating reminder of the only war the United States ever lost. This Marine, however, is determined to set the record straight. Woodruff never wavers from the cold, hard facts in this riveting book. Battle by battle, Unheralded Victory provides incontrovertible proof that the United States won this war, from the vaunted 1968 Tet Offensive, in reality a shattering defeat that decimated the Viet Cong, to Linebacker II, the final knockout blow that forced North Vietnam to the table. Make no mistake: our warriors in Vietnam were victorious. It's time America sat up and took notice. Mark W. Woodruff enlisted in the Marine Corps in July 1967, serving in Vietnam with Foxtrot Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment from December 1967 to December 1968. After leaving the Marine Corps, he received his B.A. and M.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University in California. He was a lieutenant commander in the Royal Australian Navy and a psychologist with the Vietnam Veterans Counseling Service in Perth, Australia. He is also the author of Foxtrot Ridge. "As we are forced to relearn every few years, victory in war can be as difficult to define as peace can be to achieve. In Unheralded Victory, American-born Australian author, Mark Woodruff presents a clear and compelling case detailing an allied military victory over the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War. Far from the commonly seen portrait of allied forces as dispirited, drug-ridden, and self-defeated, the author points to tactical victory after tactical victory by the allies. He shows the allied forces as well-trained, well-equipped, and in general well-led. From small engagements to main force battles, the author paints a picture of consistent allied victory over the forces of the North. Nobody should be misled, the author acknowledges that these victories were costly and bloody for the allies, but they were even worse for the North Vietnamese and their allies. He further investigates the myths and popular stories that have over time grown into unchallenged fact, and finds that much of the commonly accepted folklore of the war and its aftermath have little or no basis in reality. Unheralded Victory does not seek to rewrite history - the allied forces did leave, senior American military and political leadership made mistake after mistake, South Vietnam did collapse under the onslaught of the North Vietnamese forces, American geopolitical goals were thwarted -- but the author does challenge the popular concept that the conduct and performance of the allied troops on the ground was substandard. Well written and complete with maps, diagrams, and illustrations, Unheralded Victory is a book not to be missed by the thoughtful and serious reader." -- Publisher.