Suggested Reading List
Abandoned in Place. The Men We Left Behind, and...The Untold Story of Operation Pocket Change The Joint Special Operations Command Planned Rescue of American POWs in Laos Six Years after the End of the Vietnam War. by Lynn M. O'Shea. Lynn put 25 years of research into telling this story of Americans abandoned in Southeast Asia. She is Director of Research, National Alliance of Families For the Return of America’s Missing Servicemen - World War II + Korea + Cold War + Vietnam + Gulf Wars + Afghanistan
and can be reached at www.nationalalliance.org
An Enormous Crime – The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia. Former U.S. Rep. Bill Hendon and Elizabeth A. Stewart. 2007. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press. 587 pages. Quote from Dana Chwan, p. 351. Beth Stewart is the daughter of Air Force pilot, Peter J. Stewart: MIA: 3-15-1966.
To Heal A Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Jan C. Scruggs and Joel L. Swerdlow. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 1985. With color photos and the names of the 58,000+ who died in or as a result of the Vietnam War. A small cross follows the names of those who are MIA. (Michael D. Chwan’s name is at the start of Line 99 on Panel 2E.)
National Geographic Magazine, May 1985, Vol. 167, No. 5. Article: Vietnam Memorial,
p. 552 and additional 22 pages. Pages 552-3 shows Vietnam veterans atop the memorial as a bugler plays “Taps”. The group shows Dana’s buddies, Swan’s Angels, who met at ‘the Wall’ and hung out together for 3 days there during the Veterans’ Day ceremonies in November 1984. Sgt. Herman “Woody’ Woods of Petaluma, CA is the double-leg amputee with cane. The other ‘angels’ shown are: Dennis Avon, Gary Tobul, Pat Gravelin, and Danny Rose.
The Art of War – by Sun Tzu – Edited & with a Foreword by James Clavell. 1983, Delacorte Press. Thirteen chapters in 82 pages.
The book was written over 2,500 years ago and Clavell feels strongly that every commander in chief, general, officer, serviceman and citizen, as well as students in high schools and universities and anyone interested in peace should read it. The book has been obligatory reading in the Soviet political-military hierarchy and available in Russia for centuries.
Victory at Any Cost: The Genius of Viet Nam’s General Vo Nguyen Giap. Cecil B. Currey. Potomac Books, Inc. 2005. 424 pages. Cecil traveled to Vietnam and took photos of the Ninh Binh Bridge where Michael Chwan’s plane was shot down. Cecil and his son Sam traveled back to Vietnam in 2010 in an attempt to interview Gen. Giap but were denied a meeting. Cecil died on March 12, 2013. Giap died at age 102 on October 4, 2013.
Ed Lansdale – The Unquiet American. Cecil B. Currey. Brassey’s Inc. 1998. 430 pages. An Air Force officer and CIA operative who understood how to develop winnable strategies and win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. His views were ignored and dismissed by America’s generals and presidents.
Long Binh Jail – An Oral History of Vietnam’s Notorious U. S. Military Prison. Cecil B. Currey. Brassey’s Inc., 1999. 193 pages. Dana transcribed some of the taped interviews of local Florida veterans who had been stationed or incarcerated there.
Self Destruction – The Disintegration and Decay of the U. S. Army During the Vietnam Era. Cincinnatus (Cecil B. Currey – he was later outed and acknowledged authorship) W W Norton & Company, Inc. 1981. 326 pages. The book caused a major stir at the Pentagon when released.
About Face – The Odyssey of an American Warrior. Col. David H. Hackworth and Julie Sherman. Touchstone Publishers. 1990. 875 pages. America’s most decorated war veteran. He resigned in disgust at Army policies – or lack thereof, and self-exiled to Australia. He earned 8 Purple Hearts and numerous other medals. He returned to the U.S. for the first time in 20 years and came to Tampa and met Dr. Cecil Currey. Dana arranged for joint TV and radio appearances, a press conference, reception and book signing for both men in June 1989 in Tampa. Hack died in Tijuana, Mexico in May 2005 where he had gone for treatment for bladder cancer, a common consequence of Agent Orange exposure.
Vietnam, Now – A Reporter Returns. David Lamb. 2002. Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group. 274 pages. 30 years after his last job there, he offers a detailed look at the country and people there and how they have healed from the war.
Backfire – Vietnam – The Myths That Made Us Fight, The Illusions That Helped Us Lose, The Legacy that Haunts Us Today. Loren Baritz. 1985. Ballantine Books. 392 pages. Chapter 6 is a must read for anyone seeking an in-depth look behind the scenes of the White House during the time of our negotiations to end the war. This chapter, The Politics of Ego, reveals the games and one-upsmanship of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. Astonishing.
Air War – Vietnam. Introduction by Drew Middleton. The chapters are written by numerous Air Force officers and have hundreds of photographs. 1978. Arno Press, Inc. 361 pages.
The Vietnam War – The Illustrated History of the Conflict in Southeast Asia. Edited by Ray Bonds. 1979. Crown Publishers, Inc. 248 pages. 550 photographs; 40 maps and diagrams.
A Bright Shining Lie – John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. Neil Sheehan. 1989. Vintage. 768 pages. Won Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1989. Sheehan spent 16 years researching and writing this biography; an expose of why America lost this war.
The Best and the Brightest. David Halberstam. 1972. Random House. 720 pages. A very thorough examination of how and why we became involved in the war in Vietnam.
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. Victor Marchetti and John Marks. 1974. Knopf. 398 pages. The U.S. Government went to court to censor it before publication and won the removal of 168 deletions shown in the text as blank spaces. Reprinted numerous times since original.
Secrets – A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg. Viking, published by the Penguin Group. 2002. 498 pgs.
The War Cradle – Vietnam’s Children of War: Operation Babylift – the Untold Story. Shirley Peck-Barnes. Vintage Pressworks. 2000. 318 pages. From the prologue of the book: “ Not all warriors carry guns. Some fight an equally fierce battle without them.” Shirley was certainly one of these warriors on behalf of the abandoned, mostly Amer-Asian orphans of Vietnam. The last chapters of her book detail the realities of the fall of Saigon and the desperation there to get as many children out of the country as possible. The facts and statistics shown about the war and losses are heart wrenching. She did a very admirable job of research for these chapters. See website for additional information.
The Ugly American. Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer. W W Norton & Co., Inc. 1958. New edition printed in 1965. 285 pages. What was wrong with American foreign policy.
Abandoned in Place. The Men We Left Behind, and...The Untold Story of Operation Pocket Change The Joint Special Operations Command Planned Rescue of American POWs in Laos Six Years after the End of the Vietnam War. by Lynn M. O'Shea. Lynn put 25 years of research into telling this story of Americans abandoned in Southeast Asia. She is Director of Research, National Alliance of Families For the Return of America’s Missing Servicemen - World War II + Korea + Cold War + Vietnam + Gulf Wars + Afghanistan
and can be reached at www.nationalalliance.org
An Enormous Crime – The Definitive Account of American POWs Abandoned in Southeast Asia. Former U.S. Rep. Bill Hendon and Elizabeth A. Stewart. 2007. Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin’s Press. 587 pages. Quote from Dana Chwan, p. 351. Beth Stewart is the daughter of Air Force pilot, Peter J. Stewart: MIA: 3-15-1966.
To Heal A Nation: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Jan C. Scruggs and Joel L. Swerdlow. Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. 1985. With color photos and the names of the 58,000+ who died in or as a result of the Vietnam War. A small cross follows the names of those who are MIA. (Michael D. Chwan’s name is at the start of Line 99 on Panel 2E.)
National Geographic Magazine, May 1985, Vol. 167, No. 5. Article: Vietnam Memorial,
p. 552 and additional 22 pages. Pages 552-3 shows Vietnam veterans atop the memorial as a bugler plays “Taps”. The group shows Dana’s buddies, Swan’s Angels, who met at ‘the Wall’ and hung out together for 3 days there during the Veterans’ Day ceremonies in November 1984. Sgt. Herman “Woody’ Woods of Petaluma, CA is the double-leg amputee with cane. The other ‘angels’ shown are: Dennis Avon, Gary Tobul, Pat Gravelin, and Danny Rose.
The Art of War – by Sun Tzu – Edited & with a Foreword by James Clavell. 1983, Delacorte Press. Thirteen chapters in 82 pages.
The book was written over 2,500 years ago and Clavell feels strongly that every commander in chief, general, officer, serviceman and citizen, as well as students in high schools and universities and anyone interested in peace should read it. The book has been obligatory reading in the Soviet political-military hierarchy and available in Russia for centuries.
Victory at Any Cost: The Genius of Viet Nam’s General Vo Nguyen Giap. Cecil B. Currey. Potomac Books, Inc. 2005. 424 pages. Cecil traveled to Vietnam and took photos of the Ninh Binh Bridge where Michael Chwan’s plane was shot down. Cecil and his son Sam traveled back to Vietnam in 2010 in an attempt to interview Gen. Giap but were denied a meeting. Cecil died on March 12, 2013. Giap died at age 102 on October 4, 2013.
Ed Lansdale – The Unquiet American. Cecil B. Currey. Brassey’s Inc. 1998. 430 pages. An Air Force officer and CIA operative who understood how to develop winnable strategies and win the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people. His views were ignored and dismissed by America’s generals and presidents.
Long Binh Jail – An Oral History of Vietnam’s Notorious U. S. Military Prison. Cecil B. Currey. Brassey’s Inc., 1999. 193 pages. Dana transcribed some of the taped interviews of local Florida veterans who had been stationed or incarcerated there.
Self Destruction – The Disintegration and Decay of the U. S. Army During the Vietnam Era. Cincinnatus (Cecil B. Currey – he was later outed and acknowledged authorship) W W Norton & Company, Inc. 1981. 326 pages. The book caused a major stir at the Pentagon when released.
About Face – The Odyssey of an American Warrior. Col. David H. Hackworth and Julie Sherman. Touchstone Publishers. 1990. 875 pages. America’s most decorated war veteran. He resigned in disgust at Army policies – or lack thereof, and self-exiled to Australia. He earned 8 Purple Hearts and numerous other medals. He returned to the U.S. for the first time in 20 years and came to Tampa and met Dr. Cecil Currey. Dana arranged for joint TV and radio appearances, a press conference, reception and book signing for both men in June 1989 in Tampa. Hack died in Tijuana, Mexico in May 2005 where he had gone for treatment for bladder cancer, a common consequence of Agent Orange exposure.
Vietnam, Now – A Reporter Returns. David Lamb. 2002. Public Affairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group. 274 pages. 30 years after his last job there, he offers a detailed look at the country and people there and how they have healed from the war.
Backfire – Vietnam – The Myths That Made Us Fight, The Illusions That Helped Us Lose, The Legacy that Haunts Us Today. Loren Baritz. 1985. Ballantine Books. 392 pages. Chapter 6 is a must read for anyone seeking an in-depth look behind the scenes of the White House during the time of our negotiations to end the war. This chapter, The Politics of Ego, reveals the games and one-upsmanship of Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger. Astonishing.
Air War – Vietnam. Introduction by Drew Middleton. The chapters are written by numerous Air Force officers and have hundreds of photographs. 1978. Arno Press, Inc. 361 pages.
The Vietnam War – The Illustrated History of the Conflict in Southeast Asia. Edited by Ray Bonds. 1979. Crown Publishers, Inc. 248 pages. 550 photographs; 40 maps and diagrams.
A Bright Shining Lie – John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. Neil Sheehan. 1989. Vintage. 768 pages. Won Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1989. Sheehan spent 16 years researching and writing this biography; an expose of why America lost this war.
The Best and the Brightest. David Halberstam. 1972. Random House. 720 pages. A very thorough examination of how and why we became involved in the war in Vietnam.
The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. Victor Marchetti and John Marks. 1974. Knopf. 398 pages. The U.S. Government went to court to censor it before publication and won the removal of 168 deletions shown in the text as blank spaces. Reprinted numerous times since original.
Secrets – A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers. Daniel Ellsberg. Viking, published by the Penguin Group. 2002. 498 pgs.
The War Cradle – Vietnam’s Children of War: Operation Babylift – the Untold Story. Shirley Peck-Barnes. Vintage Pressworks. 2000. 318 pages. From the prologue of the book: “ Not all warriors carry guns. Some fight an equally fierce battle without them.” Shirley was certainly one of these warriors on behalf of the abandoned, mostly Amer-Asian orphans of Vietnam. The last chapters of her book detail the realities of the fall of Saigon and the desperation there to get as many children out of the country as possible. The facts and statistics shown about the war and losses are heart wrenching. She did a very admirable job of research for these chapters. See website for additional information.
The Ugly American. Eugene Burdick and William J. Lederer. W W Norton & Co., Inc. 1958. New edition printed in 1965. 285 pages. What was wrong with American foreign policy.
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I'll Be Seeing You by Joyce W. Glauser (click on image to be directed toward purchase site)
This novel is composed of approximately equal parts psychiatric case history, World War Two love story and metaphysical exploration. A U.S. Army nurse, Addie Bolton, stationed in England in 1944, finds love with a GI in the midst of preparations for D-Day. Sadly, her beloved and three close friends are killed on Omaha Beach.
In 1984, patients in a psychiatric research project, with now-semi-retired Addie as an assistant, discover through dreams, hypnotic regression and Addie’s own memories, that they are, somehow, the same friends who planned a postwar 40-year reunion – and its time has come.
This novel is composed of approximately equal parts psychiatric case history, World War Two love story and metaphysical exploration. A U.S. Army nurse, Addie Bolton, stationed in England in 1944, finds love with a GI in the midst of preparations for D-Day. Sadly, her beloved and three close friends are killed on Omaha Beach.
In 1984, patients in a psychiatric research project, with now-semi-retired Addie as an assistant, discover through dreams, hypnotic regression and Addie’s own memories, that they are, somehow, the same friends who planned a postwar 40-year reunion – and its time has come.