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Anonymous
Posted June 21, 2007
This book, which was researched and written over a period of years,accurately chronicles the life and death of nearly all of the men Killed In Action 'KIA' who served with the 3rd. Battalion, 506 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, in Viet Nam. As horrible as any death in any war is, Mr. Berry gives a loving and deeply respectful account of how every lost Trooper, lived and died. Personal anecdotes from friends of the Trooper,who knew him,speak of times before, during or even after the war, vividly bring to life the honor and memory of our loved ones and fellow Troopers. Actual members of the Trooper's unit present and fighting along side him on the fields and jungles of battle give their accounts. The book also gives a detailed account of the war in general and the overall theater of operations history. This book provides the reader the opportunity to understand what things were like during those days of great conflict, heroism and loss. If you really want to know what those days were like, read this book. It will take you instantly back to that time in America's history. It is not clouded by any political or other biased opinions. You may ask yourself, 'What does this guy know what this book accurately describes?'. My answer is simple. 'I know, because I was there'.
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Posted June 17, 2007
As a widow of one of the men KIA'd in the Viet Nam 'war', I am grateful to Jerry for bringing out this 'memorial' to his 'brother's' in arms. These, and all those that fought and/or died during this era deserve their stories to be told. To show that these men were somebody. They were someone's husband, son, brother, friend, hero. To show the bond that was formed between so many of them. It shows in the end, that the fight was really not about winning the 'war' but the survival of the men - whether it was their survival or that of their 'brothers', they were there. They sacrificed so many times themselves in order to make sure that their 'brother' survived. What greater love could that have been. And those that did survive - many with guilt over having done so. Yet without them, we might have never known exactly what did happen so many years ago. Many of us left behind to mourn have had lingering doubts,and questions that have since been answered due to Jerry's book. (it has lead us to survivors that have opened themselves up to letting us know the truth) As said before, it may not be for everyone but it is a good read on history. I will be sharing it with my children and grandson. My thanks again Jerry, for keeping his memory alive..
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Posted June 15, 2007
This book is for anyone who does not fully realize the lasting ripple effect war can have. We should never enter into war lightly or romantically. This book features my brother who served with this group of men and lost his life in Viet Nam. I have met many of the family of the killed in action featured in this book and know that their loss, as mine, will forever haunt them. I am thankful to Jerry for writing this book and for helping me to connect with others who served together. For the first time, I have put the puzzle pieces together and have gained true knowledge of what it was like in Viet Nam for my brother, learned how he died, and learned about the real relationships he had with his 'brothers'. Please read this book in honor of the men and women who served in Viet Nam, in any division. And in honor of those who died and those who returned home.
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Posted July 4, 2007
Two of my uncles served in Vietnam, one with the 101st Airborne - thankfully they both returned home.I was too young to understand what was going on at the time, but have since done a good amount of reading about Vietnam and other American wars. My interest has always been less in the military logistics and tactical maneuvers, but more in the experiences of the soldiers on the ground. At first glance, this book appears to be a written memorial to those who didn't make it back home to grow old with their families. While it is that, it also does a wonderful job of chronologically connecting the battles with the men who actually fought those battles, so much so that you can actually picture each soldier in the book in the battle being played out in front of you. Their stories, containing all of their fears and joys and hopes and pride, deserve to be heard, and I thank Jerry Berry and Uncle Tony for sharing them with me.
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Posted June 30, 2007
This book is about men who came from all walks of life and I am proud to have been with the ones who gave all.A fantastic job by Jerry Berry.Jerry has help many of us to connect with some of the families and having lost 12 friends we now have a chance for others to see the heroes we fought with.
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Posted June 15, 2007
This book is outstanding. Every book store and Library should have this book available to know our history, courage and death of our soldiers. Jerry Berry's book 'My Gift to You' is one of a kind, This had to be a lot of hard work to get us important information about our soldiers. This book has given our family answers about the death of our Brother Ronald. Ronald Marquez was one of the soldiers who died in Vietnam on January 2, 1968 while serving with the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. At the time of Ronald's death the only information given his family was that he was killed in action and coming home sealed. For all these years we always wondered if Ronald was really sent home. After reading 'My Gift to You' we now know what really happened. The book 'My Gift to You' on behalf of all your brothers-in-arms, has given our family peace in our hearts to know what really happened to our Brother Ronald and to know that he was not alone, but with his Brothers when he died. Mother died this last year and before she died knowing this information let her die in peace. Ron's write up on Page 57&58. Jerry Berry, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, you will alway be in our hearts.
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Posted June 26, 2007
It has been said that time is a great healer but for some, time cannot soften or even erase certain painful experiences. Time instead only prolongs the anguish of undying memories. Such is the plight of veterans who have witnessed and survived the horrors of war. Forty years ago, I was a young lieutenant during the Vietnam War and commanded many young, brave troopers of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. As their Platoon Leader, I was responsible for these men and realized firsthand just how fragile life is on the battlefield. Among the 152 soldiers featured in 'My Gift to You' is Specialist Four Guy Franklin Brooks, who was assigned to me as my radio operator 'RTO'. The job of RTO was a skillful, yet hazardous voluntary assignment. Guy not only possessed the operational knowledge required of an RTO, but shouldered the extra weight of the radio and the additional exposure to enemy fire willingly. The distinctive silhouette of the radio made the RTO 'stand out' among the rest of the troops and made him a prime target for the enemy. Guy was well aware of the additional peril of being an RTO, but this 19-year-old soldier was an exemplary trooper and was always at my side when I needed him. On February 2, 1968, Guy volunteered for his final mission. That fateful day found our platoon pinned down by enemy sniper fire. As I tried desperately to bring the men on line facing the enemy fire, for some reason the radio was not working. Guy made the decision to relay my orders on down the line verbally. In doing so, he left the safety of his position, crossed into open ground, and was immediately struck down by an enemy sniper. Despite the best efforts of our platoon medic, Guy died within a few minutes after being mortally wounded. The horrific, unending battles of the 1968 Communist TET Offensive claimed the lives of many brave 3-506 paratroopers, yet Guy Brooks was the only soldier killed in action under my command. I left my command as 1st Platoon Leader later on that same month, after being wounded in another decisive battle with the enemy. My platoon subsequently lost two other members--Sergeant Keith William Rowell and Specialist Four Marshall Nelson--after my departure from South Vietnam. This book gives the reader a distinct view of exactly what it was like as an American soldier fighting in the Vietnam War. From the personal perspective of infantrymen, the history set forth in 'My Gift to You' is a factual account of one unit's participation in the war. Even though the material would not appeal to everyone, the book should be particularly interesting to veterans, family members who lost a loved one to the Vietnam War, or those who wish to learn more about the most unpopular war ever fought by American soldiers. The Vietnam War claimed the lives of 58,000 American soldiers according to the statistics used as the basis for the thousands of names etched into stone on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D. C. The men featured in 'My Gift to You' represent only a small percentage of the lives lost in this war, but they are greatly deserving of respect and remembrance for their dedication to duty and the bravery they displayed in the defense of freedom. They each had a life, a loving family, and a young face that is permanently etched in the minds of those of us left to remember.
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Posted June 27, 2007
SP4 Timothy Wayne Keller (Paratrooper, Rifleman, CSF/LRRP 1967/1968 - KIA. I've had these images and have relived this one event (of many) for the last 39 years. On page 166 of 'My Gift To You', I found the trooper who's memory has been with me all these years. I was the medic on the Dust-Off that hoisted SP4 Timothy Wayne Keller onto the chopper. Your description of the events that day are correct for the most part. SP4 Keller had a terrible head wound. He was not strapped to the penetrator properly. When we got him up to the open door of the ship, I swung him inside and immediately checked for a pulse and respiration! No pulse and not breathing. The crewchief 'Pappy' and I tried furiously to get him unstrapped from the penetrator, but could not, Keller's body was limp. Pappy and I were trying to position Timothy flat on the floor of the chopper to start resuscitation. We started CPR, but it was too awkward in the cramped quarters inside the chopper. We stopped CPR, finally got him unstrapped from the penetrator. We got him successfully intubated and started CPR again, feverishly. On the flight back to LZ Betty, I told SP4 Keller 'your not going to die on me, no one dies on me!' When the chopper set down on the tarmac, an ambulance was waiting to unload Timothy. It all seemed too surreal! It seemed like we were resuscitating him for hours, it was that intense. As the corpsmen at the 568th unloaded him onto a litter, the blades of the chopper were at full revolution, we were going back out on another pick up after unloading our patient. SP4 Keller's head tilted toward his left side and his endotracheal tube appeared to have become dislodged. I started screaming and yelling at the other medics to continue CPR, no seemed to hear me over the noise of the chopper blades in all the confusion. The last image was of Timothy being loaded on the ambulance with no one resuscitating him. I know he was only a few yards from the aid station, but damn it, we kept him alive the whole trip back to the aid station. After refueling and settled back into the revetment, Dr. Lovy came out sometime later that afternoon. I asked him about the trooper we brought in earlier. He told me he had died and there was nothing I or anyone else could have done for him considering the seriouness of his head wound. However, that didn't make it any easier for me. The death of SP4 Keller was the beginning of the end for me. I was on my third tour and was burned out by now. SP4 Keller didn't die alone and appeared not to be aware of veryone's efforts to keep him alive that day. I want to thank Jerry Berry for helping me find the identity of this one particular SPECIAL TROOPER who's memory has lived with me all these years. Maybe now I can start to find some closure. I'm just pleased to know that most of the brothers while serving in Vietnam that survived and did not make it back to the states were family. I guess that is why I kept going back, I just did not understand it at the time. I just knew if I was there watching out for them we would all come home safe.
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Posted June 8, 2007
Though this is not the right book for everybody, it is still a truly a great book. I guess I should say up front that I served in 3/506th, and that Jerry Berry is my friend. Having said that, it means that I also know the truth of many of the stories related in the book, and to my knowledge, they all happened. If you are seriously interested in the way people actually fought the Viet Nam war, if you are interested in the history of the greatest American combat division, the 101st Airborne Division, or if accurate descriptions of courage under fire are what you want to know about then, read this book. It will tell you this, and much more, in lucid, factually-accurate prose. Every library should have a copy so that their readers can see this most difficult war from the vantage point of those that fought it. There are no axes ground in this book except that the valor of those that fought the war has often been overlooked in a search for more ammunition for more arguments about the war. The battle of Tet '68 was the largest infantry battle ever fought by the U. S. military. There were both more troops engaged, over 1.5 million vs. about 1.1 million in the Battle of the Bulge, another famous 101st Airborne battle, and it lasted longer. We, the Unites States armed forces, particularly the Marines and the Army won both of those battles after taking some hard hits in the beginning. (I know there were no Marines at the Bulge, but there were a lot in Viet Nam including my brother.) How many American know that we won the battle of Tet '68? How many Americans know that there were more Marine causalities in Viet Nam than in all of World War II? There is a real argument to make that the Viet Nam War is America's most talked about, but least understood war. While the book emphasizes the involvement of the 3/506th, in truth the stories told are very close to that of every infantryman in this war. The story shown at the end of the movie Full Metal Jacket is substantially the same as the story of the death of Private Daniels on February 3, 1968. Daniels was airborne, Full Metal Jacket dealt with the Marines. This is the way it happened. This is the infantry at work.
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Posted July 28, 2007
This book is about the real Hero's of Vietnam those that never returned,those that gave there lives so fellow Brother in arms could. Jerry Berry author of this book was there with us the Rain,Sweat ,Blood and Tears we shared it all among us. It is an honor to know this man who kept records,took pictuers and brings us toether every year. We will never,ever forget those the never came back they will forever be in our minds,in our souls,Brothers Forever in War and in Peace we band together as our fore- fathers did before us and as the new CURAHEE troopers do to this day. We went to war mostly young Men and some still Boys not knowing what the future held for us. War makes you grow up fast the pain,the horror, and yes the glory of it all it changed each and everyone of us, war scared our minds,our bodies and souls. Band of Brothers Vietnam style we live life for those that did not come home. Having served with these Men has been a part of my life I will never forget. Vietnam was a war like no other it touched the lives of millons around the world we fought for America, right or wrong we did our job the best we could and that is that. Airborne Troopers 101 ST Airborne 3rd 506inf. CURRAHEE is our battle cry hear it loud and clear and remember our fellow Brothers. I served in Vietnam 67-68 I would like to think we made a differance and our scarfice was not in vein. For those of our Brothers who are war now, we support you and have your back, you also will not be forgotton. Thanks Jerry for this Gift.
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Posted June 21, 2007
This book is outstanding. It helps you to understand just what these men went through and to hear how the ones who survived are feeling. Viet Nam was a tragic war and there were a lot of misunderstandings about this war and this book helps you to understand the men who were there and to let everyone know that these men were brothers over there and are still brothers who can relate their stories and be able to get in touch with their brothers who survived and be able to keep in touch with everyday. These men were our husbands, fathers, brothers, sons and friends who still need each other and this book keeps them together. This truly is a great book for all to read.
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Posted June 20, 2007
'My Gift to You' has opened a new window in my life that I was never able to see through.I now have the full perspective on the bravery and sacrifice of my fallen brothers,some of which I served with in 68/69.This book bestows the greatest honor on our fallen comrades,keeping their memory alive and never forgetting their sacrifice. Through his endless research and consideration for the families of the KIA's Jerry has forged a new bond between those of us who served and the families of the KIA's.
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Overview
The stories of soldiers who died in Vietnam while serving with the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry (Currahees), 101st Airborne Division.