Guns Up!

From AudioFile

Clark was a teenager when he joined the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, serving as an M-60 machine gunner with the 5th Regiment in 1968. This abridgment of his memoir of combat in that eventful year presents all the nastiness and horror of war, as well as the deep bonds men form under such conditions. Jimmy Starace reads this plain-spoken memoir in a no-nonsense staccato voice that suits the text. Nuanced inflections ably bring this exciting tale to life. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Présentation de l'éditeur

THIS GUT-WRENCHING FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE WAR IS A CLASSIC IN THE ANNALS OF VIETNAM LITERATURE.

"Guns up!" was the battle cry that sent machine gunners racing forward with their M60s to mow down the enemy, hoping that this wasn't the day they would meet their deaths. Marine Johnnie Clark heard that the life expectancy of a machine gunner in Vietnam was seven to ten seconds after a firefight began. Johnnie was only eighteen when he got there, at the height of the bloody Tet Offensive at Hue, and he quickly realized the grim statistic held a chilling truth.
The Marines who fought and bled and died were ordinary men, many still teenagers, but the selfless bravery they showed day after day in a nightmarish jungle war made them true heroes. This new edition of Guns Up!, filled with photographs and updated information about those harrowing battles, also contains the real names of these extraordinary warriors and details of their lives after the war. The book's continuing success is a tribute to the raw courage and sacrifice of the United States Marines.
From the Paperback edition.