The author describes his memoir: “It’s based on wartime letters. Upon arriving at the United States Marine Corps Boot Camp one of the first things my drill instructors told me to do was to write at least two letters home a week. I did what they told me. My father, a World War II combat veteran, kept my letters, all 146 of them (and the 250 images I sent home). I continued to write all through my combat tour in Vietnam and my hospital stay in Japan recovering from wounds. I have selected and edited the most meaningful correspondence and added a narrative thread so I could tell the full story of my military experience as a high school kid from rural Ohio transformed into a Marine. The letters describe my further transformation into a war fighting Marine grunt in combat and finally will take you through my metamorphosis into a war-altered ex–Marine but a Marine still.”

Rodger Jacobs lives in Newland, North Carolina. Check out his Facebook page at Stained with the Mud of Khe Sanh.

Rodger Jacobs
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 260
Bibliographic Info: 48 photos, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7215-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0125-0
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vi
“The Best Are Washed Away” viii
Preface 1
Abbreviations and Slang Terms 5
1. USA: Boot Camp and Training: Letters 1 to 38 7
2. Vietnam: Da Nang Area, A Company, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marines: Letters 39 to 96 43
3. Vietnam: Phu Bai, CoCo Beach, H & S Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines: Letters 97 to 104 130
4. Vietnam: Phu Bai, Dong Ha, Quang Tri: “A” Company, 1st Platoon, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines: Letters 105 to 133 143
5. Japan: 106th General Hospital, Ward F-4, Yokohama: Letters 134 to 146 200
6. USA, Afterword: 1969 to 2012 223
Appendix 1: A Letter from Colonel Albert Slater 235
Appendix 2: The Woodturner 241
Index 243

“The book is exceptional for its collection of 250 b&w battlefield photos taken by the author and never published until now”—Reference & Research Book News; “Rodger Jacobs’ memoir of his combat experiences as a Marine during some of the heaviest fighting in the early years of the Vietnam War is truly a “must-read” for any historian or history buff, and especially for those who want to learn about the truths of combat.”—Nicholas Warr, author and U.S. Marine.