Article about keith Nolan in March 2001 VFW magazine

[MORTARDUDE]

VFW Magazine (March 2001)
Author Seeks to Help Complete Vietnam Puzzle
by Al Hemingway

"When I wrote the Battle for Hue in the early 1980's, I was really naive," confesses author Keith William Nolan. "I was politically oriented to the right and my bias really showed in that book."


Naive or not, Nolan has written an astounding 10 books on various campaigns of the Vietnam War. His battle accounts have made his name a recognizable one among military historians, veterans and those just interestedd in reading about the war.


Born in Webster Groves, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis, Nolan grew up in a house full of the martial past. His father, a junior college history professor, was a Marine who served during peacetime. Drawing on his father's keen interest in military history, Nolan read everything he could, expecially about the Vietnam War.


"I was just 10 years old when Saigon fell {April 1975}"," said Nolan. "Even at that age, I knew something of great historical significance was happening. I had to know more."


Holding a bachelor's degree in history, Nolan works part-time in libraries and writes as much as possible. "It takes 18-24 months to write a book," he said, "though my latest work took 3-1/2 years to complete."


A family man residing in rural Missouri, Nolan pursues Vietnam history as a genuine labor of love. "Money is certainly not any incentive," he said, "but on average, my paperbacks, have sold up to 50,000 copies."


Battling Stereotypes


While attending high school, Nolan became angered at the way teachers maligned those who served in the war. "I heard the same old cliches," he recalled. "All Vietnam vets were baby killers, drug addicts, homeless-the dregs of society. But I asked myself: 'How could nerly 3 million people serve in a war and everyone be a drug addict, kill kids, or be homeless?"


"But I must admit, our teachers had limited material to work with at that time. There were very few good, honest books written about the war that took a more balanced approach."


By the early 1980's, however, novels like Fields of Fire by James Webb and The 13th Valley by John Del Vecchio were just emerging on the literary scene. It was in this period that Nolan's Battle for Hue was released by Presidio Press. It became an instant success.


"I was a mere 16 when I started Hue," Nolan said. "I put notices in different veterans association publications to contact those individuals who participated in the battle. Amazingly, I did manage to interview between 35 to 40 guys who were there. They were shocked at my age, and I'm sure if I were older I could have talked to many more vets of that battle."


Hue City, fought during the 1968 Tet Offensive, was one of the few conventional-style battles of the Vietnam War. Marines fought house-to-house to drive Communist forces out of the city.


"I am still somewhat embarrassed by it, believe it or not," Nolan said. "I was really too young when I wrote it. Ironically, it still remains my best-selling book."


He explains that his "political beliefs about the war were extremely conservative at that age. I believed in the 'search and destroy' strategy employed by Gen. William Westmoreland and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara at that time. As I continued my writing and learned more about the war, my thoughts shifted to a somewhat middle-of-the-road view."


Nolan says David Hackworth's About Face and Neil Sheehan's A Bright Shining Lie had a great impact on him. "They illustrated how divided the military was at that time. Advisors in the early part of the war, such as John Paul Vann, were being ignored."


Nolan now believes the war was far more complex: "I really think the CAP (Combined Action Program), organized by the U.S. Marine Corps, was highly innovative. The idea of a squad of Marines living in a village teaching Vietnamese villagers to defend themselves was a sound one. And it enjoyed some success. Unfortunately, even if we used that type of strategy throughout the Vietnam War, I'm not sure we could have still won. I guess I've become more cynical with age about the war."


Grunt's Ground-Eye View


Nolan attempts to tell the story of a particular battle or operation as honestly as he can. He does a tremendous amount of research and, in addition, he relies heavily on those who were there.


"I try to obtain a wide spectrum of people involved," he said. "I want to talk to the officers because they were in a command position. But I rely heavily on the enlisted men as well. Those men were out there doing the fighting and dying."


But he does not lose perspective. "As a historian, I try very hard to distance myself and write the facts and let the chips fall where they may," he say. "It was hard for me at the beginning not to get emotionally involved. By my fifth book, Operation Buffalo, I think I finally got it right."


Oddly enough, the only major criticism leveled against Nolan to date is that he is "overly sympathetic to Vietnam Veterans." America could certainly use a few more writers of this caliber.


His most recent work, Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, 1970, was released in July 2000. It involves the 2nd Bn., 502nd Inf., 101st Airborne Div. and the South Vietnamese army during their desperate effort to defend the besieged firebase in July 1970.


As the publishers wrote in the forward: "The ordeal of Ripcord expressed the ultimate frustration of the Vietnam War: the inability of the American military to bring the resources to win on the battlefield. Ripcord in=s thus the vivid counterpoint to the self-defensive mantra of 'We Won Every Battle but Lost the War.'"


Nolan sums it up best: "What happened at Ripcord bears recording to fill a gap in the historical record and, more fundamentally, to honor the soldiers who fought there. There were moments of stunning courage, and as the men who did their best at Ripcord won a personal victory inside a larger defeat, the circumstances of that defeat-the indecision, the restraints, the limited effort against the enemy's total commitment-make Ripcord something of a tragic metaphor for the entire Vietnam War."


Overall, he is pleased with the way Ripcord came out. "It was my first manuscript that wasn't drastically cut by the publishers," Nolan said. "For example, my original manuscript for Sappers in the Wire: The Life and Death of Firebase Mary Ann was cut by a full third. Numerous quotes by those who participated were eliminated. I feel that personal quotes set the tone for a chapter and an entire book."


Ripcord also earned high praise from America's premier military historian. "Keith Nolan's research, his comprehension of the political as well as the military action, his careful concern for those who were there, and, most of all, his writing, are superb," offers Stephen E. Ambrose.


"Indeed, I've never read a better account of a battle, and I've never been prouder of the American fighting man, nor more scornful of his political and high-ranking military leaders. To those who want to know what it was like to be a grunt in Vietnam, I recommend Ripcord without stint or reservation."


Vietnam's Declining Popularity


With the heightened popularity of WWII because of movies like Saving Private Ryan and Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, the market of the Vietnam War books has dried up. With the completion of Ripcord, Nolan entertained thought of moving away from Vietnam.


But within six months he got the "itch" once again and is now working on his next project. "I wasn't going to write about the war anymore, yet I somehow felt compelled to do so," he said. "I guess I'm drawn to it."


His next topic is a little-known battle that occurred in May 1968 during mini-Tet. "The battle was Hue City-style combat," Nolan explained. "It involved house-to-house fighting by the 3rd Bde., 9th Inf. Div in southern Saigon's 8th District to drive the NVA from that area."


"The battle is surrounded by some controversy. There was a tremendous amount of property destruction and many civiian casualties. There was a big debate centering on the methods involved. Could it be done differently? It piqued my interest, so I decided to write about it. I hope I can talk to many of the veterans involved in the action to get the full story."


Certainly, Keith Nolan has earned his place among Vietnam War historians. His books are well-written and accurate. They strive to bring understanding to a complicated and often emotionally charged period of America's history.


"I attempt to write the truth; good, bad, or indifferent, there can be no other way," he said. "I respect all the veterans who served in that war. I do it for them."


Indeed, he does. "One day, a superior historian will come along-the future Stephen Ambrose," Nolan believes. "He or she will write the definitive account of the ground war in Vietnam. I sincerely hope my books will be of some value to that person.


"All of my accounts are but a small piece of the puzzle. However, if they put all the pieces together, the entire puzzle will be complete. Then, finally, an honest rendering will bring justice and the truth-and vindication-to all those who fought there."



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Al Hemingway, a Vietnam author himself and VFW member, is a frequent contibutor.