Tunnel rats vietnam stories book

Most of us who served as tunnel rats during the vietnam war quickly realized that crawling through underground enemy bunkers would be the least of our worries. The tunnels also hosted armament workshops, training depots, headquarters, and a variety of other facilities. Tom mangold and john penycate, authors of one of the definitive accounts of tunnel warfare in the vietnam war, reported that u. Auburn author recounts life in vietnams harrowing tunnels. This network connected villages, cities, and districts. The campaign in the tunnels of cu chi was fought with cunning and savagery between viet cong guerrillas and special teams of us infantrymen called tunnel rats. Keep in mind that its not the story of a particular unit or person who explored the tunnels but an overview of the whole tunnel.

I was a kid during the vietnam war, and am not a war buff so my history on this topic was not the best. Tunnel rats were generally men of smaller stature 56 and under, who were able to maneuver more comfortably in the narrow tunnels. In vietnam, the aussie sappers were the forward scouts, the mine clearers, the bridge builders and the tunnel rats. In the midst of all the difficulties, the tunnel rats. Most of us who served as tunnel rats during the vietnam war quickly. Keep in mind that its not the story of a particular unit or person who explored the tunnels but an overview of the whole tunnel war. The tunnel rats contribution to the war paved the way for the adaptation of the united states military to a new level of nonconventional warfare. This special breed of soldier lived hard and played. These were the terrifying dangers of being a tunnel rat in. The book is presented like a school text book or course work book, so a good place to start for the beginner. Feb 09, 2018 geoff knew that one of our fellow tunnel rats, sapper robert earl, known as yogi, was the no. Sappers war aussie tunnel rats vietnam war books on war.

Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read tunnel rat in vietnam. Those were the guys who wriggled their way through the ridiculously narrow tunnels the viet cong used to transport personnel and weapons. Sep 03, 2018 the description of that final descent into a viet cong tunnel is the climax of the book rat six, written by flowers, that documents his service in vietnam and the littleknown story about. Their unofficial motto was non gratum anus rodentum. Another short osprey book that i read quickly for a section of my dissertation. Tunnel rat is one of those truerthantrue stories, in which the facts are only a conduit to the underlying emotional truth. Tunnel rats were us, australian and newzelander soldiers who went inside viet cong vc tunnels to kill any vc inside, gather any intel, recover arms and finally demolish the tunnels by planting explosives. Living up to their motto of we make and we break, they created the legend of the tunnel rats.

In their 1985 book, the tunnels of cu chi, bbc reporters tom mangold and john penycate told the story of the american tunnel rats, a saga they learned. Those e books were so popular i am combining all of those stories into a softcover 55,000 word book so that those heroic stories will reach more. Crooked cops and kings cross crims by the man who saw it all. Sep 05, 2011 chris masters, a great tv journalist, did this story for page 1 channel 10 more than 20 years ago in 1988.

Feb 20, 2012 buy tunnel rat in vietnam warrior by gordon l rottman isbn. A sappers war, published in 2012 and reprinted in pocket format in 2014, tells the story of the entire sapper involvement in vietnam, from before the tunnel rats arrival until the very last convoy out of the country in 1975. The story of an extraordinary campaign in the vietnam war fought in a. While the book has lots of photos of tunnel rats in vietnam and while rottman describes what the men went through, he never mentions the name of any individual who served as a tunnel rat. The book goes into detail about the cuchi district of south vietnam, telling. I am a veteran and i am trying to help a fellow veteran who served in vietnam as a tunnel rat his army.

A good little book, gives a good overview of tunnel warfare in vietnam. A second murder in bangkok links the deaths to a group of vietnam veterans who worked as tunnel rats, one of whom is about to become vicepresident of the usa and cannot have their secret revealed, so he sends a mercenary to take care of any revelations. I would never have done it myself for all the tea in china. Chris masters, a great tv journalist, did this story for page 1 channel 10 more than 20. The place was quang nam province in the mountainous northern region of south vietnam. I must apologize, as it isnt about tunnel rats, but since you seemed to accept recommendations on interesting books with unique perspectives on the vietnam war, i highly recommend. A press release about the new book featured on this podcast was provided by prnewswire and made available via the benzinga website. Wikipedia commons in 1946, the viet minh were the viet cong resistance fighters who began digging the tunnels and bunkers to combat the french, whom they would eventually defeat. What was it like to be an american tunnel rat in vietnam. The pistols that were carried by the tunnel rats were varied, the. Special us soldiers called tunnel rats would crawl through the systems to find the enemy. Thirty minutes later we soon heard another explosion, from the. The job was time consuming, difficult the tunnels were a tight squeeze for a typical vietname. During the vietnam war our government never anticipated that tunnel warfare would.

One of those e books was titled tunnel tales from vietnam. Tunnel rats were us, australian and newzelander soldiers who went inside viet congvc tunnels to kill any vc inside, gather any intel, recover arms and finally demolish the tunnels by planting explosives. Chops and i were some of the original tunnel rats and all our training was ojt. These were the terrifying dangers of being a tunnel rat. Sorry to say i havent read it, but its author did serve in vietnam. I wrote my memoir, falling through the earth, about my relationship with my father, who was a tunnel rat in vietnam in 1968, while i was living in sofia, bulgaria. There is one big reason to read this book, and thats the fact that the story.

The story my grandfather told about why he got sent home from vietnam might be the worst fucking thing ive ever heard. Compiled by stephen coester 63 supplement to the list of over three hundred classmates who served in vietnam 1 phil adams i was on the uss boston, guided missile cruiser patrolling the vietnam coast in 67, and we got hit above the water line in the bow by a sidewinder missile by. They lowered the tunnel rat into the hole and he proceeds to walk about six feet along the tunnel. There were numerous underground guerilla bases in south vietnam that had been built and supplied by forced labor from the surrounding villages. Jun 28, 1985 american officers in vietnam viewed the short, wiry combat engineers as swat teams to be summoned whenever a suspicious hole was found in the ground. Jack flowerss new book rat six is a riveting novel based his true story as the.

His hunt for a motive takes him to the vietnam, where the american tunnel rats fought the dirtiest battle of the war against the viet cong. These unsung heroes of the vietnam war were american, australian, and new zealand soldiers specially trained as combat engineers, who carefully crawled through the cramped viet cong underground to perform perilous covert search and destroy missions. The story of a marine grunt in the first battle of khe sanh april 1967 duration. One of these was master sgt flo rivera who acquired and used a 9mm german luger. His hunt for a motive takes him to the tunnels in vietnam, where the american tunnel rats fought the dirtiest battle of the war against the viet cong. For a soldier during the vietnam war, one of the most dangerous of obstacles was faced by a select few soldiers known as tunnel rats. In their 1985 book, the tunnels of cu chi, bbc reporters tom mangold and john penycate told the story of the american tunnel rats, a saga they learned about for the first time from the viet cong, who admired the tunnel rats as the best soldiers among the american forces. They came to be known simply as tunnel rats with the unofficial motto. He was working on a new book titled avenger and wanted the main character to be somewhat based on my experiences in vietnam. The larrikin aussie legends who discovered the vietcongs secret weapon. Two of us were sent into the tunnel that day, myself and benoit. The tunnel rats were american, south vietnamese, new zealand, and australian soldiers who. The army engineers, were literally everywhere in the fighting against the vietcong. This is one of the best books on the vietnam war, mainly because it includes a.

The vietcong used elaborate tunnel systems to store food and ammunition as well as housing medical and combat facilities. Geoff knew that one of our fellow tunnel rats, sapper robert earl, known as yogi, was the no. He interviewed me while i was living in new jersey one sunday afternoon and a year later he sent me the book and to my great surprise he had dedicated avenger to the tunnel rats. There is little mention of tunnel rats in unit histories. It is the next story, tunnel rat, however, that makes the book. A network of enemy tunnels viet minh forces initially developed a complex system of underground tunnels to combat the french colonial invasion of vietnam known as the cu chi tunnels. The story of an extraordinary campaign in the vietnam war fought in a 200mile labyrinth of underground tunnels and chambers. The description of that final descent into a viet cong tunnel is the climax of the book rat six, written by flowers, that documents his service in vietnam and the littleknown story about. We will use this occasion to honour our 36 comrades who lost their lives while serving as tunnel rats with 1 troop, 2 troop and 3 troop of 1 field squadron 35 kia and with 3 field troop 1 kia. The tunnel rats encounter on reddit, a terminallyill vietnam veteran recounted a story of his time in vietnam that he was going to take to his grave but opted to put it on rnosleep instead. Standing only five foot tall in a line of thirty other young men, kennith ritchie waited for what everyone knew what was to come they were going to viet nam. Viet cong guerrillas and special american forces known as tunnel rats. During the vietnam war, tunnel rat became an unofficial specialty for volunteer combat engineers and. Episode 1259 of the vietnam veteran news podcast will help introduce a recently published book titled rat six penned by jack flowers, a vietnam veteran.

Tunnel rats, as american soldiers who worked in the cu chi tunnels during the vietnam war were known, used the evocative term black echo to describe the experience of being in the tunnels. Hed heard horror stories from the squadmates whod lost others underground, never to be seen again. Simple history merchandise get the simple history vietnam war book. Grunts digital books firefights grunts infantry jungle warfare military tunnel rats vietnam conflict vietnam heroes vietnam war vietnam war blog war books war story.

It was long known that such complexes existed, but it was not realized just how extensive they were in some areas, how important they were to the viet cong, and how difficult it was to detect and neutralize. The viet cong amassed around 250 kilometres of underground tunnels. They were not just on the front line, but frequently right at the sharp end of the action. Payne, a tunnel rat, bravely searches a tunnel s entrance during vietnam war. Tunnel rats in vietnam cherrieswriter vietnam war website. There are two more videos tunnel rats 2, vietnam and tunnel rats 3, vietnam. Tunnel rats were us, australian and newzelander soldiers who went inside viet congvc tunnels to kill.

Tunnel rats were all volunteers as they soon realized that if a person really didnt want to do the job, he would just report the tunnel as a dead end. The vietcong had been using tunnel systems for many years against the chinese, japanese and french invaders. Here is another good book by osprey publishing, tunnel rat in vietnam. Jan 01, 2012 another short osprey book that i read quickly for a section of my dissertation. The iarrikin aussie legends who discovered the vietcongs secret weapon. Dec 06, 2014 tunnel rats were all volunteers as they soon realized that if a person really didnt want to do the job, he would just report the tunnel as a dead end. Account of americas tunnel rats in the underground battlefields of vietnam. But his search places him in grave danger with a killer determined to protect the secrets of the tunnels. They helped conduct military operations on behalf of communist forces. A graduate of the royal military college, duntroon, as a young captain sandy macgregor commanded 3 field troop in vietnam, where he won the military cross. Other tunnel rats procured their own personal firearms to suit their own needs. It is a story about the first allied tunnel rats in the vietnam war jan 1966.

Cw bowman, gerry schooler and art tejeda spent days maneuvering through the tunnel complexes, clearing and destroying lethal boobytraps. War underground, chu chi district, operation crimp, the guerillas of the viet cong, the tunnels, survival underground, born in a tunnel, the tunnel rats, not worth a rats ass, stop the americans. Their unofficial moto was non gratum anus rodentum in latin. Most of us who served as tunnel rats during the vietnam war quickly realized that crawling through underground enemy bunkers would be the. One of the more remarkable but littleknown campaigns of the vietnam war was fought. If the tunnels were the secret weapon of the viet cong, the tunnel rats were the unsung heroes of the american forces. The story my grandfather told about why he got sent home. American officers in vietnam viewed the short, wiry combat engineers as swat teams to be summoned whenever a suspicious hole was found in the ground.

I believee alot of those guys are bothered by it today. In 1965, soon after the first us combat troops had arrived in vietnam, it was realized that in some areas the viet cong had developed vast tunnel complexes in which to hide from the enemy. Jun 20, 2015 men who hid in tunnels during wars viet nam. Choose a print and ebook format above and get 25% off both. Now usually black guys managed to avoid becoming tunnel rats on account of them being so tall, but benoit was burdened with the double misfortune of being short and black during the vietnam war, a curse i wouldnt wish on my worst enemy. It got tremendous responses from readers, some of whom were family members who never knew that their father was a much respected tunnel rat. However, according to sapper jim marrett, a former tunnel rat, there was a surprisingly lower casualty rate than one might expect among the tunnel ratsmost war casualties occurred above ground. The tunnel rats, those who survived, did not tell their own story. The tunnel rats gently prodded for potentially armed mines in order to disarm them and prayed that they survived with both their legs. Now, in an unfinished, unsupported tunnel like he was in, a rainstorm usually meant death for a tunnel rat. This site is for vietnam veterans to tell their stories and shares pictures.

Viet cong and nva tunnels and fortifications of the vietnam war. Though americans, australians, and new zealanders claim to know these hideouts existed. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read tunnel rats. The bravery of these men led to the discovery of several viet cong facilities, including their headquarters. Jimmy thomson is a journalist, author and screenwriter whose credits include the abctv series rain shadow. Army s 1st engineer battalion, whose exploits are featured in mangold and penycates book, later claimed a special place for tunnel rats in american military history during their rotation through the cu chi district of vietnam in 1969. In 1965, soon after the first us combat troops had arrived in vietnam, it was realized that in. Rottman, served in vietnam with the 1st cavalry division in the late1960s, and witnessed some of what tunnel rats did personally.

To fellow gis, these tunnel rats were cocky members of a spitandpolish clique who kept to themselves, ridiculed rank, disdained drugs and selfdoubts, and exulted in jobs that no sane man. Full text of vietnam stories see other formats members of the usna class of 1963 who served in the vietnam war. Such a terrifying prospect was reality for the brave tunnel rats of vietnam, soldiers tasked with entering and clearing the makeshift tunnels dug by the vc in vietnam. The largest tunnel systems in south vietnam some under us bases could be as vast as 200 kilometers 125 miles long and were built to withstand bombings, explosions, poison gas etc. Nick wright is the detective trying to solve the mystery of the double killing. Jan 14, 2016 tunnel rats were us, australian and newzelander soldiers who went inside viet congvc tunnels to kill any vc inside, gather any intel, recover arms and finally demolish the tunnels by planting explosives. In the midst of all the difficulties, the tunnel rats were largely successful. I seem to remember a book my friend read in high school about 20 years ago that was about or had a section on the tunnel rats, i can picture the cover but i cant see the name in my minds eye. Vo hoang letunnel surgeon, psychological operations, fighting science.

Those were the guys who wriggled their way through the ridiculously narrow tunnels the viet cong used to transport personnel and weapons, set boobytraps, and all that. In this 59page novella, barnes makes up for whatever sins of craft he may have committed earlier. Dedicated to the men of 3 fld troop and 1troop, 2troop and 3troop 1 fld sqn rae, the aussie tunnel rats. From jockey to tunnel rat viet nam vet tells his story. Jan 28, 2018 documentary on tunnel rats in vietnam. The vietnam tunnel rats association has reserved the australian war memorial last post ceremony for 18 february next year.