Product Description
In Ride the Thunder, Richard Botkin breaks new ground in telling the heroic story of a few American and Vietnamese Marines who fought brilliantly and turned the tide of the Vietnam War, only to have policymakers surrender the battlefield. Botkin recounts the exploits of the American Marines and their Vietnamese allies who were largely responsible for thwarting the North Vietnamese invasion of the northern portions of South Vietnam?known as the 'Easter Offensive of 1972' in the West3that was intended to bring the nation to its knees. These are the men who 'rode the thunder' and almost saved a nation. Botkin tells the story of Captain John Ripley's daring raid to destroy the Dong Ha Bridge; Major Le Ba Binh and his seven hundred Marines bravely holding off more than 20 thousand North Vietnamese troops; Lieutenant Colonel Gerry Turley's leadership and bravery that helped thwart the Easter Offensive?and much more.

Foreword xv

Preface xvii

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction xxi

Prologue xxvii

Chapter 1 Red Tide 1

Chapter 2 Drawing the Bamboo Curtain 15

Chapter 3 Captain Ripley-Lima Six 37

Chapter 4 Suicide Squeeze 49

Chapter 5 Lima Company Moves Out 67

Chapter 6 Ripley's Raiders 87

Chapter 7 Little Bit of Heaven...and then Straight Back to Hell 99

Chapter 8 The End of the Beginning 109

Chapter 9 1968 Beginning of the End 117

Chapter 10 Tet Offensive Opening Rounds 139

Chapter 11 Hearts and Minds at Home 155

Chapter 12 Forward Observer with Bravo 1/26 165

Chapter 13 My Lai 175

Chapter 14 Back to Vietnam 187

Chapter 15 Back in the States 203

Chapter 16 Going Back Over 215

Chapter 17 King Kong Lives! 225

Chapter 18 "Talk, Fight. Talk, Fight." 237

Chapter 19 The Easter Offensive 251

Chapter 20 One Link in the Chain 259

Chapter 21 Their Finest Hour 269

Chapter 22 "No Place for a Nice Jewish Boy..." 281

Chapter 23 Easter Morning at Dong Ha 301

Chapter 24 Easter Morning in Saigon 313

Chapter 25 High Noon at Dong Ha 325

Chapter 26 Ripley at the Bridge 337

Chapter 27 A Four-Hour Eternity 355

Chapter 28 The Ongoing View from Dong Ha 375

Chapter 29 "We're about to be Bombed!" 397

Chapter 30 Lonely Bull 413

Chapter 31 Turley Faces MACV 429

Chapter 32 Ongoing Action at Dong Ha 439

Chapter 33 Second Lieutenant Nguyen Luong 453

Chapter 34 Going Home 469

Chapter 35 "Cease Fire" 483

Chapter 36 Operation Homecoming 499

Chapter 37 Operation Frequent Wind 517

Chapter 38 Fall of Saigon 533

Chapter 39 Reeducation 549

Chapter 40 Binh Survives the Bamboo Gulag 565

Chapter 41 American Dreams 579

Chapter 42 Binh the American591

Epilogue 601

Characters 605

Notes 609

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations 617

Bibliography 623

Index 631