DISTANT WAR: RECOLLECTIONS OF VIETNAM, LAOS, AND CAMBODIA

by Marc Phillip Yablonka

A Merriam Press Original Publication: Military Monograph MM27

This is a newly-edited compilation of eighteen years of Yablonka’s reportage on American involvement in Indochina and the people affected by America’s connection to that part of the world. After all those years and numerous articles about an indelible mark on American history published in the likes of the U.S. Military’s Stars and Stripes, Army Times, American Veteran, the Weider History Group publication Vietnam Magazine and others, these stories needed a wider audience for the world to know what they suffered, how most survived, and how they overcame adversity.

Distant War: Recollections of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, will be the vehicle to the reader’s understanding of a war and its aftermath that may seem distant now, but what is important is that it will make readers realize—if they haven’t already—that in war, whether in the jungles of Vietnam or the sands of Iraq, in a very real sense, while who wins and who loses is obviously important, what is equally necessary is that good somehow must and shall prevail.

Contents
Prologue
Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Doctors in a War Zone: The Ultimate Training Ground
Chapter 2: Wounded Four Times and Still Proud: Major Jim Morris
Chapter 3: A Gold-Plated Mission
Chapter 4: Indomitable Spirit at the Hanoi Hilton: Vice-Admiral James Bond Stockdale
Chapter 5: Everything is Okay Now: Nick Ut
Chapter 6: From AFVN to Wheel of Fortune: Pat Sajak
Chapter 7: $100, a Leica, and a One-Way Ticket to Saigon: Catherine Leroy
Chapter 8: Air America: The Truth
Chapter 9: If the Walls of the Continental Could Talk…
Chapter 10: When Art and Life Blur: Kieu Chinh
Chapter 11: Cambodia Revisited
Chapter 12: Bringing the War Home: Requiem
Chapter 13: Standing by Their Men: Donut Dollies
Chapter 14: Q&A Time with Steve Stibbens
Chapter 15: Lest We Ever Forget: The POWs
Chapter 16: Chopper Chums Reunite: Pilot Association Remembers Vietnam’s Good Times
Chapter 17: Heaven Helped Them: Oliver Stone and Le Hy Haislip
Chapter 18: Back to the Present
Chapter 19: Canada Just Lost Track of Something: Vietnam Vets From North of the 49th Parallel
Chapter 20: Dog Tags Take the Long Road Home: David and Kurt Arnold
Chapter 21: Unfriendly Skies for Air Vietnam
Chapter 22: So Long Bob: Obit for Bob Hope
Chapter 23: Burying the Hatchet: Nguyen Ngoc Hung
Chapter 24: Shadow of War: Cherie Clark
Chapter 25: A Shepherd in Laos: Bishop Jean Khamse Vithavong
Chapter 26: Radio Japan Manager is Tuned in to Vietnam: Masako Yuasa
Chapter 27: Serving with Distinction…on Four Legs! Dogs in Vietnam
Chapter 28: The Longest Yards: The Mountain People
Chapter 29: The Long Journey of Bounlieng Philavong
Chapter 30: Big Trouble in Little Saigon
Chapter 31: He Hated War but Loved the Work: A Q&A with Allen Cates

Acknowledgments: Thank You to Magazines and Newspapers
Specifications

First Edition (July 2009)
Paperback: ISBN 978-0-557-08441-8 — $19.95
Perfect bound, full-color wrap-around cover
Hardcover: ISBN -0-557-08483-8 — $36.95
 Blue linen cover with title stamped in gold on spine, full-color dust jacket
PDF file on CD disc — $10.00
Complete copy of the book including the cover images in a single PDF file.
258 6 × 9 inch pages
67 photos/illustrations
 Testimonials

It is a truism that everything that can be said about Vietnam, Watergate, and that terrible era in our history has been said or written. Marc Yablonka proves this wrong, as he explores those days from odd and untouched angles. He creates an unforgettable portrait of something you thought you knew well, and find you did not know at all.
—Jim Morris, author of War Story

Marc Yablonka captures the nuances and sidelights of Vietnam and the personalities of the war in South East Asia. I spent two tours flying Army helicopters in this conflict and Marc brought out some views that I was not aware of. Combat is not all war stories and he artfully fills in a lot of blank spaces for veterans like me. His writings will help others understand the war better. Yablonka has a skill and it shows in his recent work. Hope there is more to come …
—LTC (Ret) Tom Lasser, RVN, 1967-68, 1969-70

The Author

Marc Yablonka is a graduate of the Professional Writing School of the University of Southern California. He served as a Public Affairs Officer (CWO-2) with the 40th Infantry Division Support Brigade and the Installation Support Group, California State Military Reserve, at the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, California, between 2001 and 2008. He also served with the Sar-El unit of the Israeli Defense Forces. He lives with his wife Cammie and their long-haired orange Tabby named Ruffy in Burbank, California.

Availability
 
Published July 2009. Available now direct from the publisher by mail, phone or the Merriam Press web site, as well as from Amazon and other online booksellers. Available from most bookstores by special order.
 
Booksellers: This title will be available soon through Ingram.