Book Review: Backtracking in Brown Water
I served with Lt(jg) Kidder on the rivers of Vietnam. I had greatly respect and admiration for the man then, and even more so now. The period for our times in country were essentially identical - mid 1969 to mid 1970. Rolland's book describes experiences on and about the rivers of Vietnam while at the same time gives the reader a sense of being there. His writing style is precise, informative but not labored by heavy technical terms or with slang used on the rivers which might mire the story for a reader who was not there. It is an uplifting book - of how people got on with their lives after the horrors of war.
There are several incidents told in this book that brought me back there. I knew Chief Tozer, but not as well as I would have liked to. We were all shocked, for lack of better words, when he returned to our division to finish his tour of duty after his wife died. He was a very nice man and whenever he was our patrol officer we would talk about our times in the Navy. We were both "snipes" - Navy Engineers.
When speaking of others within our river division we often will know the person but not very well due to the nature of our patrols. The boats never went anywhere alone but always in specific pairs. Two-boat patrols would go to different areas than other two-boat patrols of our ten or twelve boats. Patrol Officers would rotate patrol assignments, so we got to know them better than other boat crews. We were fairly isolated in our work. Our time off from patrol was limited so our social lives, as such, were necessarily at different times than those of other patrols. We might get to know a dozen men fairly well, the rest were more like acquaintances, but we all were and are river brothers.
Another incident Rolland wrote about involved a night ambush and firefight on the Vinh Te Canal. My boat was upstream from the firefight a mile or two and not involved. The following morning several boats, including mine, picked up a number of ARVN troops at their outpost and inserted them in the area of the firefight to check for anything left behind by the enemy. Just as described in this book; the ARVN's found a body that was booby-trapped. I saw the explosion from my boat and witnessed the sorrow that followed.
I was particularly fascinated by Rolland's recent trip back to "modern" Vietnam and how much it has changed since we were there on the boats. The Vinh Te Canal was fifty miles of canal passing through basically empty rice paddies with only a few scattered villages. Now it's got roads, towns and houses the entire length! I never got to know much of Saigon.... other than it was smelly.
Rolland's stories are "right on" and many times I felt like I was back there again. That is not a bad thing. River Patrol service was the best duty I had in my four years in the Navy. I was an Engineman Third Class at the time and the boat engineer on Thirty Boat. After the division left the Vinh Te Canal in early 1970 I advanced to Engineman Second Class and was made Boat Captain of One Twelve Boat. After returning to "The World" (The United States!) I lost contact with all of my brown water river brothers for nearly thirty years. I got a phone call one Sunday afternoon in 2001 from a fellow River Division 535 Engineman; Marshall Hunt. He was living up to his name by "hunting" down as many of us as he could find. Thanks to him I have been able to contact many of our brothers including Rolland and long lost friend, Mike Morris (described in this book). Today Mike and I visit each other several times a year despite living nearly 600 miles apart. I was at Mike's retirement party this year.
I am happy that people are telling theirs and our stories. It's long overdue and the reader will find this book among the best written on the subject. We ARE the Proud, the Brave and now Respected; thanks to the works of authors such as Rolland Kidder.
Gary Holmes
Five Days One One Two, EN2, R/D 535, USN
California resident / Oregon Veteran
Gary Holmes was a boat captain of a PBR with River Division 535. He has also stayed in touch with many Navy veterans of the war, and I appreciate his taking the time to review the contents of the book.
ReplyDeleteAs Gary observed in his review, Patrol Officers were separately scheduled and rotated between various boats depending on the needs of the Division. When we (Patrol Officers) left our supply bases on the "big river" to go on patrol, we would stay on the same boat until it returned. That meant that on the Vinh Te Canal, that when we left the YRBM 20 (our main supply base), we would lead a two boat patrol for the next 3-4 days, and would generally stay on the same PBR over that time. However, on the next patrol we would often be assigned to another boat(s).
I met Gary while in Vietnam, but did not know him as well as some of my fellow patrol officers. Therefore, I look upon his comments as really unbiased and reflective of how the enlisted men in the Division were experiencing the War. Some of the enlisted men I met, stayed in the Navy for a career. However, after Vietnam, Gary went into civilian life and, over the years, has maintained a deep interest in fixing up old cars and in building miniature trains.
I haven't seen Gary since the War but hope that one these days, at a reunion group meeting or in one of his travels, that we can link up and reminisce in more depth about our common experience now forty years old.
Rolly Kidder