"This book is about our experiences as women reporters covering the
Vietnam War from 1966 until the fall of Saigon, in 1975. Each of us
has written a chapter about what we saw and felt in Indochina--our
adventures, fears, excitement, and the difficulties and
loneliness.
"Vietnam was a unique war for all journalists, because there was no
censorship. The U.S. military provided extraordinary access to
combat operations. We could fly on bombing missions, parachute into
hostile territory with an airborne unit, spend a week with the
Special Forces in the jungle, hitch a ride on a chopper and land
amid rocket and artillery as a battle raged, or be taken prisoner
like a soldier. This access gave women reporters a chance to show
that they could cover combat bravely and honorably, holding their
own even under the most frightening and stressful
circumstances.
"Some of us went on to cover other wars, but there was never any
other quite like Vietnam. We are writing about Vietnam now because
we feel it is important to keep those agonizing yet strangely
exhilarating days alive, those dark days that changed us in ways we
are still trying to understand. Many younger Americans know Vietnam
only as an abstraction--a few paragraphs in a textbook, a
documentary on the History Channel, or as thousands of names on a
black granite wall in Washington, D.C. But for those who served and
those who suffered, for those who fought and those who watched it
unfold on television, Vietnam will always be a part of us."
--from "War Torn
Ask a Question About this Product More... |