Mekong Memoirs

Facing imminent conscription, University of South Carolina graduate L. Glen Inabinet entered the Army in 1968, with a tour of Vietnam service inevitable. Scarcely six months later, he was fighting mud, mosquitos and Vietcong adversaries in the heart of the Mekong Delta. Armed with a liberal arts degree and an artillery MOS, Inabinet served in a 105mm howitzer section, as RTO with an artillery FO team, and as TAERS Clerk managing his battery’s equipment records. Between filling in logbooks, he filled in for short-handed gun crews, served guard duty, defended against enemy attack, and countered stateside-like harassment with an imperishable sense of humor.
Containing previously unpublished photographs and documentary records, Inabinet’s memoir is the personal voice of an on-the-spot reporter with a unique perspective as a writer of history and of human experience. Equipped with his camera, Inabinet preserved war-related images of Vietnam’s exotic land and people as well as the GIs daily grind and dangers. His memory of his 401-day tour is bolstered by near-daily letters to his wife. This book presents Inabinet’s stunning account of his time in the Mekong, more well-documented than would be possible for most tours of service. In a troubled war, Inabinet remained convinced of the strengths of faith and of camaraderie with brothers-in-arms, and his memoir tells this story in striking and illustrative detail.

L. Glen Inabinet, researcher, photographer, freelance writer, and retired high school history teacher, is active in local and state historical societies and veterans’ organizations. He lives in Camden, South Carolina.

L. Glen Inabinet
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 236
Bibliographic Info: 88 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9679-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5507-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vii
Preface: Why I Am Writing 1
Introduction: America’s War in Vietnam to 1969 5

 1. Personal Beginnings: “We will draft you!” 9
 2. Reception: “Responsibilities which Americans inherit” 13
 3. Basic Combat Training: “In 8 weeks … teach you how to kill” 21
 4. Bivouac: “Really a mess … completely exhausted” 35
 5. Training ­Post-Bivouac: “Keeping us occupied and allowing us no sleep” 39
 6. Advanced Individual Training: “Different post, same Army” 44
 7. 1969, a New Year: “What I will be, I’m not sure; they haven’t told us yet” 56
 8. Officially Holdovers: “The thought that some of them might not return” 65
 9. RVN Training: “Charlie has some really nasty booby traps” 73
10. Oakland Departure: “So much to be thankful for and so much to return to” 76
11. Vietnam ­In-Country: “A stench then unrecognized” 80
12. RTO: “I didn’t volunteer for this job but … I must … do my best” 96
13. Back in Charlie Battery: “Mixed feelings leaving the grunts” 128
14. Monsoon, Mosquitos, Mortars: “It don’t mean nothing. It’s only temporary.” 137
15. Independence, Illness, Inspections: “Wet, muddy, cold, and quite peeved” 151
16. Penta Prime, Photography, Pestering: “I was on a treadmill” 163
17. Shorthanded on the Guns: “Don’t know … if I’m a clerk or a cannoneer” 177
18. Tet 1970, a ­Two-digit Midget: “We were keeping vigilant” 186
19. Extension: “36 days remaining” 205
20. Coming Home: “Stopped… That was not going to happen to me” 211

Afterword: “Young men taken way too soon” 214
Bibliography 219
Index 221