Vietnam Through Rose-Colored Glasses

Dick Rose spent a year in Vietnam (September 1967-September 1968) in Vietnam, as a Navy senior chief petty officer in Saigon and throughout the Mekong Delta. He was in charge of a team of twelve photojournalists who accompanied the forces of the Brown Water Navy, the rivers and canals of the Delta. He had fourteen combat missions, earning the Navy Commendation Medal with combat 'V', as well as the Combat Action Ribbon and various campaign ribbons. He wrote while in Vietnam, and for 25 years afterward-essays, commentaries and newsletter columns. He had to face the dilemma of telling his wife of his early orders to Saigon, which he describes with an underlying humor. He sat in on briefings for the commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Vietnam. He was at a Special Forces camp one mile from the Cambodian border when Robert Kennedy was assassinated. Humor, anger, disillusionment and admiration, poetry, and even an epiphany are part of this collection, as are a review of Robert MacNamara's book, a fictionalized version of one of his combat missions and a short story that is universal. While serving as president, vice president, and newsletter editor of the San Fernando Valley Chapter 419 of the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), he wrote many of these articles. All participants experienced their own war in Vietnam. Some speak of it, others do not, will not, cannot. This is one man's view. Dick Rose is also the author of the award-winning novel, Tarnished Brass Curtain.