Rating: 
Summary: Gripping account
Review: A much needed telling of a forgotten incident that occurred after the fall of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalist Wetterhahn gives several different viewpoints of the capture of the SS Mayaguez by the Khmer Rouge and from the captain of the vessel. Adding some autobiographical detail, Wetterhahn travelled with an American recovery team to Cambodia, interviewed a Kmer Rouge officer and helped as much as he could with the recovery of American remains.
Although the prose is choppy in parts, this is a gripping account of the attempted rescue of the crew of the SS Mayaguez and how the White House micromanaged it and later covering up the deaths of Marines and Air Force policemen in the attempted rescue. Most poignant of all, is the backstory of the three Marines who were left behind and whatever fate awaited them.
Informative and good history for those who were not aware of the incident back in May of 1975.
Rating: 
Summary: The Last Battle - USS Mayaguez
Review: For most Americans, the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975 marked the end of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War at the price of over 58,000 dead servicemen and women. For a few hundred sailors, airmen, and Marines however, it ended two weeks later, with 41 more men giving their lives during heavy fighting not with North Vietnamese soldiers, but with Cambodian Khmer Rouge. In The Last Battle, author Ray Wetterhahn tells the story of the seizing of the U.S. merchant ship S.S. Mayaguez in international waters off the coast of Cambodia by Khmer Rouge forces, and the U.S. military operation conducted to rescue the 40 civilian crew members. This operation was hailed as a victory for the presidential administration, a victory by the Khmer Rouge, a failure by troops in the action, and a debacle in leadership and command and control by military officers who participated. As the story of this rescue operation unfolds, Wetterhahn describes in startling detail the mindset of President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, operational commanders, pilots and crews, Marines on Koh Tang Island, the crew of the Mayaguez, and the Khmer Rouge soldiers. A retired officer and Vietnam veteran with service in both the Navy and Air Force, he begins the story on the beaches of Koh Tang, where U.S. military members of Joint Task Force - Full Accounting (JTF-FA) are searching for the remains of 18 men killed during the rescue operation over twenty years before. While researching a story on JTF-FA and their recovery efforts, Wetterhahn discovers that three Marines may have been left alive on Koh Tang during the operation. Over the next five years, Wetterhahn's travels take him from the jungles of Koh Tang and Cambodia to the backwoods of West Virginia, where he tracks down the commanders, the troops, the politicians, and even the Khmer Rouge commander on Koh Tang. Shockingly, he confirms the worst fears of the Marine Commanders in 1975: a three-man machine gun team was left alive on Koh Tang, captured, imprisoned, and subsequently executed. With the ending of America's involvement in the Vietnam War falling during the Ford presidential administration, a resounding victory and show of force was needed to prove to Americans that the administration was well equipped to handle any crisis. The Johnson administration failed to act when a similar event happened in 1968 as the North Koreans seized the USS Pueblo, and were criticized by the American media during the eleven months of the crew's captivity, and interrogation, prior to their release. President Ford would not let this happen on his watch. The advanced communications capabilities available in 1975 allowed President Ford, with Secretary Kissinger close at hand, to control nearly the entire operation from the comfort of the Oval Office. Breaking every rule of leadership and command and control, and him being a former Naval Officer, Ford and his staff began directing naval and air forces, and U.S. Marines toward Cambodia and Thailand. Not to be surpassed in poor leadership decisions, the Marine Corps chose as its ground combat element 2d Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, a newly reported unit to Okinawa, instead of 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, which was nearing completion of a one-year rotation and was fully trained and acclimatized to the South Pacific. Extension of a unit past its 12-month mark required extensive administrative efforts, and would not be approved by Headquarers, Marine Corps. In the 48 hours following the seizure of the Mayaguez, reports from pilots, imagery analysis, and diplomatic information began pouring in to Ford. Critical information was summarized ad reduced to little value and a key item was lost in the shuffle: a pilot saw numerous Caucasian men being transported to the Cambodian mainland in a trawler from Koh Tang Island.
Wetterhahn's interviews of military commanders and soldiers reveal that the Marines received no imagery of Koh Tang island prior to the mission, radio frequencies were not exchanged between air and naval forces, and the mission commander attempted to direct the entire mission, to include forward air control, on one tactical radio frequency. When the Air Force helicopters attempted to land the first Marines on the beaches, they landed directly in the line of fire of entrenched machine guns and within rocket range. Three helicopters were shot down in the first 40 minutes. Just three hours after the first Marines hit the beach of Koh Tang, Cambodia released the Mayaguez crew from where they were held on the mainland. As the celebration and press conferences begin in Washington, Ford orders the cessation of operations in Cambodia. The battle raged on for nine more hours before the Marines could be extracted. Two hours later, it was determined three Marines were unaccounted for. When Wetterhahn asked former President Ford if he was ever told that three Marines were left behind, he replied, "Not to my best recollection." Wetterhahn's investigative reporting is unparalleled, as he doggedly sought to find the truth behind the missing three Marines and what really happened on Koh Tang. Previous books have been written regarding the Mayaguez Incident, but The Last Battle encapsulates all aspects of the operation and lets the reader see the chaos of war and the results of poor leadership, at every level. While this story is titled The Last Battle, only through respect for the men who gave their lives attacking an island with no value and no prisoners, should it not be named The Last Blunder.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Battle - USS Mayaguez
Review: For most Americans, the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975 marked the end of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War at the price of over 58,000 dead servicemen and women. For a few hundred sailors, airmen, and Marines however, it ended two weeks later, with 41 more men giving their lives during heavy fighting not with North Vietnamese soldiers, but with Cambodian Khmer Rouge. In The Last Battle, author Ray Wetterhahn tells the story of the seizing of the U.S. merchant ship S.S. Mayaguez in international waters off the coast of Cambodia by Khmer Rouge forces, and the U.S. military operation conducted to rescue the 40 civilian crew members. This operation was hailed as a victory for the presidential administration, a victory by the Khmer Rouge, a failure by troops in the action, and a debacle in leadership and command and control by military officers who participated. As the story of this rescue operation unfolds, Wetterhahn describes in startling detail the mindset of President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, operational commanders, pilots and crews, Marines on Koh Tang Island, the crew of the Mayaguez, and the Khmer Rouge soldiers. A retired officer and Vietnam veteran with service in both the Navy and Air Force, he begins the story on the beaches of Koh Tang, where U.S. military members of Joint Task Force - Full Accounting (JTF-FA) are searching for the remains of 18 men killed during the rescue operation over twenty years before. While researching a story on JTF-FA and their recovery efforts, Wetterhahn discovers that three Marines may have been left alive on Koh Tang during the operation. Over the next five years, Wetterhahn's travels take him from the jungles of Koh Tang and Cambodia to the backwoods of West Virginia, where he tracks down the commanders, the troops, the politicians, and even the Khmer Rouge commander on Koh Tang. Shockingly, he confirms the worst fears of the Marine Commanders in 1975: a three-man machine gun team was left alive on Koh Tang, captured, imprisoned, and subsequently executed. With the ending of America's involvement in the Vietnam War falling during the Ford presidential administration, a resounding victory and show of force was needed to prove to Americans that the administration was well equipped to handle any crisis. The Johnson administration failed to act when a similar event happened in 1968 as the North Koreans seized the USS Pueblo, and were criticized by the American media during the eleven months of the crew's captivity, and interrogation, prior to their release. President Ford would not let this happen on his watch. The advanced communications capabilities available in 1975 allowed President Ford, with Secretary Kissinger close at hand, to control nearly the entire operation from the comfort of the Oval Office. Breaking every rule of leadership and command and control, and him being a former Naval Officer, Ford and his staff began directing naval and air forces, and U.S. Marines toward Cambodia and Thailand. Not to be surpassed in poor leadership decisions, the Marine Corps chose as its ground combat element 2d Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, a newly reported unit to Okinawa, instead of 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, which was nearing completion of a one-year rotation and was fully trained and acclimatized to the South Pacific. Extension of a unit past its 12-month mark required extensive administrative efforts, and would not be approved by Headquarers, Marine Corps. In the 48 hours following the seizure of the Mayaguez, reports from pilots, imagery analysis, and diplomatic information began pouring in to Ford. Critical information was summarized ad reduced to little value and a key item was lost in the shuffle: a pilot saw numerous Caucasian men being transported to the Cambodian mainland in a trawler from Koh Tang Island.
Wetterhahn's interviews of military commanders and soldiers reveal that the Marines received no imagery of Koh Tang island prior to the mission, radio frequencies were not exchanged between air and naval forces, and the mission commander attempted to direct the entire mission, to include forward air control, on one tactical radio frequency. When the Air Force helicopters attempted to land the first Marines on the beaches, they landed directly in the line of fire of entrenched machine guns and within rocket range. Three helicopters were shot down in the first 40 minutes. Just three hours after the first Marines hit the beach of Koh Tang, Cambodia released the Mayaguez crew from where they were held on the mainland. As the celebration and press conferences begin in Washington, Ford orders the cessation of operations in Cambodia. The battle raged on for nine more hours before the Marines could be extracted. Two hours later, it was determined three Marines were unaccounted for. When Wetterhahn asked former President Ford if he was ever told that three Marines were left behind, he replied, "Not to my best recollection." Wetterhahn's investigative reporting is unparalleled, as he doggedly sought to find the truth behind the missing three Marines and what really happened on Koh Tang. Previous books have been written regarding the Mayaguez Incident, but The Last Battle encapsulates all aspects of the operation and lets the reader see the chaos of war and the results of poor leadership, at every level. While this story is titled The Last Battle, only through respect for the men who gave their lives attacking an island with no value and no prisoners, should it not be named The Last Blunder.
Rating: 
Summary: An alternative view
Review: I have read LTC Wetterhahn's book and find that, while it makes interesting reading, it is factually lacking in numerous areas.
As a crewmember on the mission, I find many of the details of LTC Wetterhahn's book to be inaccurate, and thus he is led to some erroneous conclusions. As a low-ranking aircrew member (I had recently been promoted to first lieutenant at the time, flying as copilot aboard one of the HH-53 Jolly Green rescue helicopters), I was obviously not privy to many of the "behind the scenes" decisions which were unfolding during the incident. However, the aircraft I was on was involved in the battle from the initial insertion to the final pullout, logging 16 hours of flight time during the mission. Based on that, I feel relatively well qualified to comment on the tactical side of the operation.
As an example, on page 102, LTC Wetterhahn states "A talented A-7 strafer can routinely get off a very tight quarter-second burst, sending twenty or so rounds within a two-square-yard area." As a former project engineer at the Air Force Armament Laboratory, Guns and Rockets Branch, Eglin AFB, FL, I can tell you that, even if all weapons mounting and aiming tolerances were to be magically reduced to zero on the A-7s gun, the manufacturing tolerances of propellant load and projectile weight alone would still put the ballistic performance of the 20-mm gatling cannon on the A-7 outside of the range quoted in the book. Add back in the mounting, boresight and aiming system tolerances, and this statement is ludicrous. If the A-7 gunnery system was so accurate, why did it take multiple passes for the A-7s to neutralize the sunken gunboat off the north end of the island, as stated on p. 226? The fact is that the gunnery skills of the fighters, particularly the F-4s, was nowhere near what LTC Wetterhahn claims.
As to his major conclusions, on page 311, he writes: "Off the shores of Cambodia, the strategic imperatives of showing a "clear, clear" American victory resulted in the conscious abandonment of three Marines."
I, and all of the crewmember with which I have spoken since this book was released, take serious exception with this statement. There was no conscious decision to abandon anyone on the island. LTC Wetterhahn himself describes how TSgt Wayne Fisk stepped off the last departing helicopter, not once but twice, in an attempt to make sure we had everyone. TSgt Fisk did this at great risk to his own life. All of the crews still flying at the end of the day asked the command section numerous times to verify that all ground personnel were accounted for, and we were given an affirmative answer. To the best of our knowledge, we had all of the personnel on board with the departure of the last helicopter. All of the crewmembers who took part in this operation felt a great loss upon learning that some Marines were not recovered from the island, and we all salute the memories of the valiant servicemen who gave their lives in service to their country. However, as far as any "conscious abandonment" is concerned, I seriously disagree with LTC Wetterhahn's assessment on this point.
I further take exception to his conclusion, on page 259, that the seizure of the ship was the result of a decision by a local official rather than of the central government. I, for one, find it much more likely that the new government in Phnom Penh did, in fact, order the seizure of an American vessel as a way to show the world that it was in charge of the country which it had just taken over. With the example of the Pueblo to go on, and the fact that the US had just three weeks before been ejected from Vietnam, the Pol Pot government saw the situation as a prime opportunity to assert its authority and gain (at least, in its view) credibility with the world community by "tweaking the tiger's tail." They did not figure that President Ford would respond with a military action, and when it turned to mud around them, the high officials searched for a scapegoat. For LTC Wetterhahn to accept the word of an official of a government which went on to murder one-third of its own population is, in my opinion, excessively naïve. Such naivete casts doubts on the credibility of other statements credited to Khmer officials.
I agree with his assessment on one point, however, and that is that attempting to run tactical military operations from the highest levels of the government has been shown, on numerous occasions, to be a less-than-optimal method. In my opinion, it is the function and duty of the executive branch to determine the goals and objectives of the country's foreign policy. When such policy involves the use of military force, the determination of how to best do that should be in the hands of the military, with appropriate executive and Congressional oversight. Lyndon Johnson proved that running a war from the White House only guarantees defeat. Henry Kissinger, in this case, underscored that fact with his meddling in affairs with which he was unfamiliar. The failure of the command and control of this operation is well documented in LTC John Guilmartin's book "A Very Small War." This the lesson which should be remembered from the Mayaguez incident.
I further salute LTC Wetterhahn's dedication to investigating this incident. It is obvious from his writing that he has spent considerable time and effort, not to mention personal funds, to pursue this investigation. I merely disagree with most of the main conclusions of the book.
By the way, what happened to the review by Charles Brown? As a crewmember on one of the participating aircraft, I should think that his opinion would be represented.
Bob Gradle
Copilot, Jolly 43
Rating:
Summary: Book of the Year!
Review: I started a new Memorial Day tradition this weekend ... to read a book about an American war/battle/or so-called 'police action' ... every year. I tend to read a lot of military history during the course of the year anyway, but since America was reminded of how sacred our Memorial Day truly is last year, I thought it proper to secure the weekend from this year forward to reading about our military heroes past and present. THE LAST BATTLE is billed as the story of the Mayaguez incident at the very end of the Vietnam conflict. It is, in fact, the story of our last battle with the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian Reds who instituted a strain of Mao's 'Cultural Revolution' called 'Angkor Wat' ... an attempt to start life over from 'Year Zero' where all forms of western civilization were severed with ultimate brutality and the citizens of Cambodian cities were evacuated to the fields for 're-education' ... Author, Ralph Wetterhahn, does the three marines left behind a great service in telling their individual stories (their life at home before the war and during) ... and the three marines' names were recently added to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. THE LAST BATTLE is a riveting read. The men who died deserve the remembrance Mr. Wetterhahn affords them. We, the benefactors of their ultimate sacrifice and heroism, owe them the attention and place they deserve in our nation's history. THE LAST BATTLE scores a perfect 10 on my scale ... a perfect 5 on the Amazon scale.
Rating:
Summary: Book of the Year!
Review: I started a new Memorial Day tradition this weekend ... to read a book about an American war/battle/or so-called �police action� ... every year. I tend to read a lot of military history during the course of the year anyway, but since America was reminded of how sacred our Memorial Day truly is last year, I thought it proper to secure the weekend from this year forward to reading about our military heroes past and present. THE LAST BATTLE is billed as the story of the Mayaguez incident at the very end of the Vietnam conflict. It is, in fact, the story of our last battle with the Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian Reds who instituted a strain of Mao�s �Cultural Revolution� called �Angkor Wat� ... an attempt to start life over from �Year Zero� where all forms of western civilization were severed with ultimate brutality and the citizens of Cambodian cities were evacuated to the fields for �re-education� ... Author, Ralph Wetterhahn, does the three marines left behind a great service in telling their individual stories (their life at home before the war and during) ... and the three marines� names were recently added to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. THE LAST BATTLE is a riveting read. The men who died deserve the remembrance Mr. Wetterhahn affords them. We, the benefactors of their ultimate sacrifice and heroism, owe them the attention and place they deserve in our nation�s history. THE LAST BATTLE scores a perfect 10 on my scale ... a perfect 5 on the Amazon scale.
Rating:
Summary: Passionate work -- some flaws
Review: I'd really like to give this book ***1/2, but I upped it to four, because of Wetterhahn's obvious passion and effort that he put into this book. Not only was he an author, he was a participant in the effort to shed the light on an the last, sad ignominous episode in America's Southeast Asian adventure. This book does a lot to demystify the 'Mayaguez Incident,' give honor and remembrance to the fallen, and shed light on the mediocrity of Washington leadership. Long ago I read Larry Bond's novel, VORTEX, and I remember towards the end one of the characters thinking of the badguy leader, "Our president is no longer a president, but just another incompetent batallion commander" (a paraphrase, obviously). That line came to mind when reading of Ford, Kissinger, Schelsinger & Co. screwing the whole thing up in an effort to demonstrate "will" and "resolve" for Ford's legitimacy. One of the most comic and tragic moments of the book came when the White House photographer spoke up in the NSC meeting to point out the obviousness of the Cambodian situation. It's comic because it is seems such an absurdity in a modern democracy that spends zillions of dollars to know what the hell is going on, it's tragic because the chutzpah of the nation's leadership led to the tragic outcome of the Mayguez Incident. Wetterhahn himself was actively involved in searching for the Marines left behind, and this book will serve an important role in bringing to the fore the results of a political leadership that consumed its own men as a way to communicate strength to the world, and garner political legitimacy at home. Watterhahn's personal involvement in researching the lives of the three lost Marines, and searching for them in death, needs to be honored. Other reviewers --some personally involved in the Koh Tang battle-- have posted here, pointing out flaws in Watterhahn's work. I can't argue with any of them, and I think the criticisms of his scholarship are apt. What the book needed most was some serious editing. We read 1,000 times about how Em Son was injured in battle 16 times. If it had been 1,001 I would have bashed the book through the wall. Probably a good thirty pages could have been cut with a focus on clarity and precise writing, and the elimination of blatant redundancy. However, this was --at it's utmost-- a war story, and that sort of thing is to be expected, I suppose.. My biggest peeve was the citing. If you are not going to have direct cites in a historical work, you better have your act together when you reference other works. Somewhere along the line, three pages got inserted into the book, and nobody bothered rechecking and adjusting his references. So you had to subtract some pages (or add, I can't remember), to get to the document he was citing. That's just plain bad oversight, and is not excusable in a serious work.
Rating:
Summary: well done
Review: mr. wetterhahn did a very meticulous research job on this book.he went to cambodia personally several times.a very moving and troubling story.to disagree with his assessments of the politics of this campaign is one thing,but some of the review critisms seem to be nitpicking details.thank you for a wonderful book mr. wetterhahn.
Rating:
Summary: More dramatic and real that Hollywood could ever be.
Review: There are so many heroic, frightening and bizzare faces to warfare that it is difficult show common citizen what it is really like. This book gives the reader a perspective which can only be fully realized with meticulious research and the objectivity which is brought with the passage of time. From the Geo-political ramifications considered by the Ford Administration to the life and death heartbreaking realities of the Marine on the beach, this book gives the reader the view from several angles. I was on the bridge of one of the ships involved in this action and I can tell you from my experience that this is a well researched and well put together cronicle of events gone bad and overdue tribute the young lives that were lost. I thought that I knew the events that day, but what I knew was such an infinetly small piece of a much larger event. What I can tell you for sure is that one particular description in this book is of the downed helicoper pilot who called in air strikes while under fire and using the wreckage of his bird as cover, with his only form of communication being an emergency radio. It was right on the mark. I stood on the bridge of my ship with many others listing to him, calmly, delebrately and with measured words direct air support. Even at that time I was amazed that someone could remain calm and focused in such an enviornment. This is not a combat book, although there is significant detail of the battle. Rather it welds together all the elements of this event top to bottom while getting its arms around the human element of the story. And finally honoring the men left behind and the questions of why did this happen. In war as in life things can go wrong. In war when things go wrong it costs good young mens lives.
Rating:
Summary: Hard to put down even after I finished reading it.
Review: There may be, as pointed out in earlier reviews, a detail flaw and/or a mis-statement in this book, but I for one would like to personally thank Mr. Wetterhahn for his efforts in bringing this story to the public. While a Marine in the 80's I had heard rumours and comments about the events of the battle...I had even read "The Four Days of Mayaguez," but nothing prepared me for the depth and detail that this book achieves. And, too, I was pleased to find that it was so well written. Thank you again Mr. Wetterhahn. The Marine Corps, and Marines past and present, owe you a debt of thanks. Semper Fi.
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