David Doyle Books News #79

An Important Anniversary

At 10:48 on 14 November 1965 the first elements of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry (1/7) arrived by Huey at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley, Vietnam, launching the Battle of Ia Drang - a five day battle that pitted US and ARVN forces again the People's Army of Vietnam. The battle, upon which the Mel Gibson file "We were Woldiers" was based, pitted well-equipped and supported US Airmobile forces against an enemy seeking to engage at close quarters so as to negate the advantage of the US artillery and aerial support, the latter including Skyraiders as well as the first use of the B-52 Stratofortress as a tactical support aircraft.

The agonizing five-day battle included numerous acts of heroism, including three Medal of Honor recipients.  Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, Lt. Col. Hal Moore later wrote, "We had problems on the awards... Too many men had died bravely and heroically, while the men who had witnessed their deeds had also been killed... Acts of valor that, on other fields, on other days, would have been rewarded with the Medal of Honor or Distinguished Service Cross or a Silver Star were recognized only with a telegram saying,"The Secretary of the Army regrets..."

The same was true of our sister battalion, the 2nd of the 7th."

Dear Friends,

The soldiers of WWI are gone, and it has been well-publicized the rate at which WWII veterans declined.  Many of us grew up with the Vietnam War - either serving during that time, or seeing it on the evening news. Denise and I have had several good friends who served in Vietnam, and sadly most of them has now passed.  If you know some, listen to their stories - and share there stories with others so that their experiences don't fade away.

We have a lot of books dealing with the equipment used in the Battle of Ia Drang, and the Vietnam war as a whole - from Vietnam Scrapbook by our friend and Vietnam helicopter pilot Bob Steinbrunn, Aeroscouts in Vietnam, books about the Huey Cobra, the Skyraider,  and weapons of the North Vietnamesearmy. We also have myriad of books about the the ground equipment used by US troops in Vietnam, Vehicles and Heavy Weapons of the Vietnam War to books on individual subjects ranging from the M48 Patton to the M151, and the powerful M107/M110 artillery, and multiple volumes about the M113.

These week a number of new publications have arrived, including new Airmark books about the P-61 Black Widow and AV-8A/B Harrier, Brett Green's book about modelling the P-40E-N Warhawk, featuring the Eduard kit, and from Phoenix Publications new volumes about the F-100 Super Sabre and the Sea Harrier.

Also arriving this week were many long-awaited magazines - far too many to list individually - so please visit our Hobby Newsstand page (we also got in several back issues).

Denise and I appreciate your ongoing support!

David and Denise Doyle

https://daviddoylebooks.com