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This is a magnificent account of the battles, the suffering, the sacrifices, and the enduring courage of the Marines who fought, bled, and died on what Coan calls a red-clay target. - Leatherneck Combat memoirists rarely display such firm authority so engagingly as former Marine Captain James Coan, who commanded a tank unit in 1967-68 during the battles around the encircled bastion of Khe Sahn.... Con Thien was, in Coan's view, a microcosm of America's general failure in Vietnam and the late William Westmoreland's tactical failure in particular. - Military History of the West There are still lessons for the Marine Corps to learn from Vietnam - supply and artillery to name but two - and this book is a good source for those who would like to understand more about actual experience in those areas. - Marine Corps Gazette With this sterling book, Captain Coan, Marine Tanker, wounded Vietnam Veteran, and combat leader of many battles fought against the experienced and professional North Vietnamese Army in and around 'The Hill of Angels,' has arrived as a riveting and knowledgeable Marine Corps historian. - The Khe Sanh Veterans Red Clay 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 Phase Line Green: The Battle for Hue, 1968

"This is a magnificent account of the battles, the suffering, the sacrifices, and the enduring courage of the Marines who fought, bled, and died on what Coan calls a red-clay target. - Leatherneck """"Combat memoirists rarely display such firm authority so engagingly as former Marine Captain James Coan, who commanded a tank unit in 1967-68 during the battles around the encircled bastion of Khe Sahn.... Con Thien was, in Coan's view, a microcosm of America's general failure in Vietnam and the late William Westmoreland's tactical failure in particular."""" - Military History of the West """"There are still lessons for the Marine Corps to learn from Vietnam - supply and artillery to name but two - and this book is a good source for those who would like to understand more about actual experience in those areas."""" - Marine Corps Gazette """"With this sterling book, Captain Coan, Marine Tanker, wounded Vietnam Veteran, and combat leader of many battles fought against the experienced and professional North Vietnamese Army in and around 'The Hill of Angels,' has arrived as a riveting and knowledgeable Marine Corps historian."""" - The Khe Sanh Veterans Red Clay """"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 Phase Line Green: The Battle for Hue, 1968"

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

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