Overview

In 1966, at the age of 20, Thomas Elliott was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps. The transformation from carefree surfer to a hardened U.S. Marine required some serious re-programming. After boot camp assigned as a radio operator Thomas embarked on a harrowing adventure that would change his life forever, an odyssey that thrust him into the fire of combat in Vietnam. Painstakingly recounted after more than 50 years, many spent trying not to remember, his unflinching memoir describes with honesty and vulnerability what it was like to go through boot camp and then endure firefights, battles, victory, and profound loss in Vietnam. Thomas recalls how friendships were built, and the trust between fellow Marines needed to survive. He tells in gripping detail the events and daily grind of life as a grunt in Vietnam. He shares his raw emotions at seeing friends killed in combat, and at digging up enemy graves for the body count. We experience his unflinching firsthand account of living in a muddy hole eating nothing but C-rations, suffering through endless days of relentless monsoon rain with no shower, hot meals, or beer for months, and the chaos and utter terror of combat missions. Then later in his tour assigned to a Combined Action Platoon, he witnessed the difficult lives of the Vietnamese civilians Written from the perspective of a young draftee who did not want to be there, Thomas's memoir of battles, heroes, and everyday bravery is hard to put down and harder to forget.

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At the age of 20, Thomas Elliott was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served for two years, including ten months in Vietnam. After discharge, he attended commercial diving school, and for the next 50 years he worked as a diver on oil rigs off the coast of California, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and Alaska. He has lived and worked in Scotland, Australia, Egypt, Hawaii, Chili, Columbia, and islands all throughout the Pacific. In 2002, his former platoon commander suggested he write an account of their platoon's actions in Vietnam, which Thomas then reconstructed through letters home, declassified action reports, and stories swapped at reunions. Fifty copies of his 68-page journal were gifted to the surviving members of the platoon and the families of the men who had been lost. Later, Thomas decided to expand the journal into a full memoir of his two years in the Marines, and the result is this book. Thomas currently lives in Santa Barbara, California, where he is on the board of directors of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 218. He also volunteers at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. He has been married for 46 years, and he and his wife enjoy cruising whenever possible.

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