I Served

Rating:
Summary: Grateful for a thorough, honest account of events.
Review: 'I Served' is excellent. It is a very honest and moving account of
what many young men went through when they served our country during the
Vietnam war. I'm not a military buff, so this was the first military
memoir I've ever read. I learned so much from reading it, and have a
newfound respect and compassion for soldiers who are required to fight
in live combat, and in particularly those who have fought with
inadequate support and equipment. The book is also very well written,
humorous at times and a page turner - always interesting. I'm not the
only one who liked it. Don's commanding officer, Colonel Maus (who died
in 1998), liked the first edition of the book so much that he was
influential in getting General Schwarzkopf to grant Don Hall an
interview for the documentary Don and his wife made about Don's unit,
F/51st LRP. The documentary is also excellent, and won a documentary
award at the 2001 Telluride Indiefest Film Festival. It received
extremely high marks from the festival previewers and from the audience.
I've noticed a few of the less favorable reviews about 'I Served' on
this site, and can only say that if anyone questions the veracity of
details portrayed in 'I Served', they can check the national archive
records which are referenced in the back of the book. I met Don and
Annette last year and have become close friends with them. They told me
one of their goals in writing 'I Served' was to write an exciting book
that was based on fact, and that did not rely solely on 30-plus-year-old
personal memories. That's why Don acquired the thousands of pages of
National Archives documentation on his unit and the units F/51st LRP
operated for. Apparently, most Vietnam memoirs are written without using
any official National Archives documents as reference material. From
what I understand, it's a time-consuming and expensive task to acquire
all that information, or the authors don't know where to get it, so they
rely on their memories to write their books. I was very impressed that
Don and Annette went that extra mile to make sure their book was
accurate. I'm honored that they are my friends, and grateful that they
wrote this very important, and very readable, book.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book!
Review: I have read this book several times, and each time enjoy itmore than the time before...................................... I think that both Don and Annette Hall did an excellent job writing about how their lives were shaped by their experiences. The Halls have a unique ability to write so the reader can hear, feel and smell what's happening. The statistics at the end of the book help the reader understand how much this honored unit contributed to the war in Vietnam. Much like "In Love and War" by Admiral James and Sybil Stockdale, this book artfully uses and interweaves the background of childhood and adolescent events to set the stage for adulthood experiences. This book also lays bare some of the less romantic aspects of war -- that interspersed among the heroic and selfless deeds and acts of compassion by good soldiers and great leaders are also those which do not bring much glory or honor. And that's what makes this a great story - it is how Don Hall remembers the events which make him the man he is today - one who served. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Riveting Truth
Review: I read I served by Don Hall in two nights. It was so riveting I could not put it down I had to read one more page until three in the morning each night. I was in Vietnam during Tet of 1968 at Plantation Army airfield in Long Bien. I served with the 195th. Assualt Helicopter Company. I supported F. Co. 51st Inf. (Airborne) LRPs until May of 1968 when my helicopter was painted Camo (first ones in the Army) and I was assigned to MACV- SOG. Our first platoon kept on supporting F. Co 51st Inf (Airborne) LRPs. Don's story of his upbringing in an orphanage where he met his wife and then his tour with one of the greatest LRP companies to serve in Vietnam is compelling reading for anyone who would like to get a feel for combat in Vietnam. I have given the book to others to read and they all agree with me you can't put it down. As a Soggie I have supported the best and Don Hall's book tells it like it is. Don has searched the Army's achives and obtained the after action reports so his story is woven with the actual facts.

A well written factual account of what it was like to be a LRP in Vietnam.

Rating:
Summary: Truth
Review: There are veterans and there are veterans, but then there are
"Professional Veterans".

Over the years, millions of books
have been written by "combat authors", expounding on their
exploits, their heroics, regardless of war; the main theme which I've
gathered from all of these books has been "This war could not
have been won if it wasn't for me being in it", or "I won
the war by myself". The books being well written, just like a
typical "Hollywood Script", leaving the reader with that
very impression. These "Hollywood Books" will suffice the
average reader, fulfilling a need for adventure. In reading "I
Served" by Don and Annette Hall, the reader isn't left with the
two above characteristics (the book is well written too), it relates
the saga of a unit, not just about a man who served in that unit,
Co. F (LRP), 51st Infantry (Airborne). While I personally didn't care
to read about another's hardship in his early years, it set the stage
for what the author endured for the sake of life, it made the man, THE
MAN. Readers are offended about exposing the fact that mercenaries
were employed by the U.S. in the war, yes the U.S. Government did
employ mercenaries, and they were ruthless
adversaries. ... Recommending the book to a histroy student is a must,
if that student wants to read the facts about one unit and the war
which one man endured. If the student wants to read real fiction, try
one of the other million books available on the subject.

War is
always hell, dying is the easy part, surviving it is harder.


Rating:
Summary: ? The differances between the 2 I Served books ?
Review: Why was the nun that got sucker punched in the frist book name changed from Cathrine John to Mary Joseph ? I heard they went home and went to Mid-night Mass the old nun started to get up and go after Don but the wheels on the wheele chair weren't locked and it rolled back and she fell back into it. Don ran out and hid in the back seat of the car. She found him and he begged and pleaded and said he would change the name in the book if she would let him go. That's the reason the name cgangw.