A Life in a Year: The American Infantryman in Vietnam [Paperback]

This provocative in-depth book focuses on the experiences of the infantry soldier in Vietnam. More than 60 Army and Marine Corps infantrymen speak of their experiences during their year-long tours of duty.James R. Ebertholds a master's degree in history and teaches social studies and history at the secondary level. He lives in Wisconsin.CHAPTER 1

Induction

April 25, 1966

Dear Folks,

We had to work last Saturday night so we stayed in Janesville last weekend. We got a nice paycheck this week. I made $132.50. I am going down to the bank today and put in a hundred dollars. I'll have over $400.00 in the bank then.

I wish they'd call me into the Army pretty soon, I'd like to get in there and get it over with. I'm still hanging doors down at the plant, and I am starting to like the job pretty good. Chuck and I are going to Black River [Falls, Wisconsin] this weekend. I'll try to talk him into stopping down to the farm.

Your Youngest,

Len



In October 1966, at the request of their "friends and countrymen," Leonard Dutcher and some thirty thousand other American males aged nineteen to twenty-five reported for induction into the armed forces as a result of escalating American involvement in the war in Vietnam.

Eleven million Americans served in uniform during the Vietnam era, yet only one in four made it to Southeast Asia. Of the 2.8 million who did, fewer than 10 percent served in the "bush" as line infantry soldiers engaged in seeking out the enemy. Yet it was on their shoulders and backs that most of the burden of the fighting fell in a war that left the vast majority of their peers, even those in uniform, untouched. Line infantry soldiers were the tip of the sword. It would be their lot as well to suffer much of the pain and the dying. Eighty-three percent of all U.S. casualties in Vietnam resulted from infantry combat operations. In a typical twelve-month tour, an infanl2