Con Thien: The Hill of Angels

by James P. Coan

Overview

A memoir/history of a much-beleaguered Marine outpost of the DMZ.

Throughout much of 1967, a remote United States Marine firebase only two miles from the demilitarized zone (DMZ) captured the attention of the world’s media. That artillery-scarred outpost was the linchpin of the so-called McNamara Line intended to deter incursions into South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese Army. As such, the fighting along this territory was particularly intense and bloody, and the body count rose daily.

Con Thien combines James P. Coan’s personal experiences with information taken from archives, interviews with battle participants, and official documents to construct a powerful story of the daily life and combat on the red clay bulls-eye known as "The Hill of Angels." As a tank platoon leader in Alpha Company, 3d Tank Battalion, 3d Marine Division, Coan was stationed at Con Thien for eight months during his 1967-68 service in Vietnam and witnessed much of the carnage.

Con Thien was heavily bombarded by enemy artillery with impunity because it was located in politically sensitive territory and the U.S. government would not permit direct armed response from Marine tanks. Coan, like many other soldiers, began to feel as though the government was as much the enemy as the NVA, yet he continued to fight for his country with all that he had. In his
riveting memoir, Coan depicts the hardships of life in the DMZ and the ineffectiveness of much of the U.S. military effort in Vietnam.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817381035
Publisher:	University of Alabama Press
Publication date:	04/23/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	202,668
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

James P. Coan is a former Marine Corps captain who was awarded a Purple Heart for his injuries at Con Thien.

Table of Contents

Contents List of Illustrations and Maps 000 Preface 000 Acknowledgments 000 Prologue 000 Part I: Roots of Conflict 000 1. Before the Americans Came 000 2. The Generals 000 3. McNamara's Wall 000 Part II: The DMZ War Unfolds 000 4. Nguyen of the North versus PFC Jones 000 5. Setting the Stage 000 Part III: The Bloody Month of May 000 6. Battle for Con Thien 000 7. DMZ Invasion 000 Part IV: Summer in Hell 000 8. Buffalo 000 9. Running the Gauntlet 000 Part V: General Offensive, Phase I 000 10. The "Thundering Third" 000 11. Into the Valley of Death 000 Part VI: The Siege 000 12. 3/9's Turn in the Barrel 000 13. Monsoon Misery 000 14. Living in the "V" Ring 000 15. The "Magnificent Bastards" 000 Part VII: Kentucky 000 16. Winter Battles: 196768 000 17. After Tet 000 18. Parting Shots 000 Requiem 000 Appendix A. Medal of Honor and Navy Cross Recipients in the Con Thien Area of Operations, 196668 000 Appendix B. Con Thien/Leatherneck Square Area Casualties, March 19, 1967February 28, 1969 000 Appendix C. Organization of U.S. Marine Corps Infantry UnitsþVietnam 000 Notes 000 Glossary 000 Bibliography 000 Index 000 Photographs follow 000

Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 Vietnam Con Thi��en Mountain Region, Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975 Personal narratives, American, Con Thi��en Mountain Region (Vietnam) History

Editorial Reviews

"The strength of this book lies in the way that Coan weaves his own combat experience and the official unit documents and histories together with . . . personal combat narratives to form a cohesive whole. He gives a realistic portrayal of the miserable living conditions, the monsoons, the heat during the dry seasons, and finally the futility of the fighting over the same pieces of terrain in the eastern DMZ. . . . It is ironic but perhaps apt that the measure of the war in Vietnam was not the capture of terrain, but body count."—Jack Shulimson, author of U.S. Marines in Vietnam

"[Coan] makes an important contribution by detailing what occurred at Con Thien from the moment the Marines arrived there in 1966 until the day they left almost three years later. Indeed, some of the battle accounts are superb, conveying a powerful sense of what combat along the DMZ was like."—Peter Maslowski, author of Armed with Cameras: The American Military Photographers of World War II

From the Publisher