Green Berets in the Vanguard: Inside Special Forces, 1953-1963

The author of an award-winning memoir about growing up black in Mississippi, Chalmers Archer turns his attention in this book to his experiences as one of the first members of the U.S. Army's Special Forces. His perspective is unique, not only as one of the first to wear the Green Beret but as a black man in the early days of armed forces integration.

Archer participated in some of the earliest forays into Laos, long before Southeast Asia was in American headlines, and he was a member of th...