cover image A Shau Valor: American Combat Operations in the Valley of Death, 1963–1971

A Shau Valor: American Combat Operations in the Valley of Death, 1963–1971

Thomas R. Yarborough. Casemate, $32.95 (336p) ISBN 978-1-61200-354-2

Yarborough (Da Nang Diary), a retired Air Force colonel who served as a forward air controller in the Vietnam War, ably covers eight years of military action in chronological, episodic fashion in this detailed military history. The A Shau Valley, located about 25 miles south of the Vietnamese city of Hue and near the border with Laos, was a main entry route into South Vietnam for North Vietnamese forces on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the war. Widely known among U.S. troops as the “Valley of Death,” this area was the site of many vicious engagements between the North Vietnamese Army and the U.S. military, the latter backed by its South Vietnamese allies. Yarborough takes a close look at a series of these vigorously contested fights, including the infamous 1969 battle for Hamburger Hill. Stressing the valor of the American fighting men throughout the book, Yarborough has harsh words for the “tone-deaf senior U.S. leaders and planners,” including Gen. William Westmoreland, who devised the strategy of attrition that was akin to “poking a finger in a hole in the dike.” While much of this ground has been covered before, Yarborough’s volume is the first that looks solely at fighting in the A Shau during virtually the entire conflict. [em](May) [/em]