Mourning Headband for Hue: An Account of the Battle for Hue, Vietnam 1968

I received the book today and read my way through the translator's introduction, which is 75 pages long. The translator, Olga Dror, is Russian-born and educated, studied graduate work in Israel while working for the Israeli government, earned her doctorate at Cornell and teaches at Texas A&M. I was struck by how uninformed by personal opinion her writing is. She even-handedly weaves an accurate portrait of Tet in Hue, addressing all sides of the story equally and revealing the views of various actors on both sides of the conflict. Her knowledge of the event, which I have researched extensively, is thorough and broad, and she doesn't try to color what happened in Hue with her personal agenda (if she even has one.) I am looking forward to reading the translated work, which I will review separately. I expect her translation will accurately reflect the author's work while making it accessible to an English-speaking audience that cannot access the work in its original tongue. One point she makes should be strongly emphasized. There is a dearth of scholarship on the South Vietnamese view of the war. For far too long scholars, especially American scholars, have been almost xenophobic in their studies of the war. If the South Vietnamese exist at all, they exist as innocent victims ravaged by the massive firepower of the American invading force or corrupt and incompetent boobs who couldn't succeed without massive support from the US. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. Many South Vietnamese fought bravely and died for their country's freedom. (If you doubt that, read Jay Veith's Black April) Even after the US pulled out, the South Vietnamese fought against overwhelming odds (the North had the full support of both China and Russia while America abandoned the South completely) until it was no longer possible for them to fight. Only now are their stories being told. They will never be told by the communist government of Vietnam, who, as Professor Dror points out, have never admitted the massacre in Hue and removed most of the eyewitnesses to other areas of Vietnam in an effort to wipe the story of the Hue Massacre from history. Edited to add: I finally completed reading the book. It's not an easy read. I found the author's prose difficult and ponderous. She wrote an account of her experience in Hue during the Tet offensive. The book is valuable in that it provides the viewpoint of a civilian not involved in the fighting yet horribly affected by it. Throughout the book civilians are scurrying around in every direction trying to escape the bullets, bombs and artillery. Despite their desperate efforts, death finds some of them, and they often lay where they died. The living remain in horrible straits, scrambling for any scrap of food to stay alive and living in filthy conditions in hastily dug shelters to avoid death. While not containing a lot of detail about specific events, the book does confirm three accounts of the behavior of communist soldiers given in other works; some civilians were chained to buildings so that they would be exposed to the massive firepower of the American military, the communists brutally killed civilians systematically and often for little reason and some NVA soldiers in Hue were chained to their machineguns and died where they fought. The book ably displays the horrible dilemmas that confront civilians caught in the crossfire of battles between two modern armies. Exposed to constant shelling, bombing and crossfire between opposing forces while the normal activities of civil society completely break down, life becomes a daily struggle for survival. Food and water become precious commodities, bad characters take advantage of the situation to steal and loot, and neither opposing force completely trusts civilians exposed in the open so death often comes to them simply for being there.

I had tó read this book in sections as it was ,at times , gut wrenching. Her candid ànd often strong telling of thé horrors that the people of her fàmily and her neighbors went through were emotional testament to her eyewitness of a country rent apart by a terrible war. It would be difficult to find another book like hers that so aptly reveals the citizens clinging to thé barest of survival. There were so few civiliàns untouched by the war.

I would recommend this book to any adult. It’s a horrible story, well told, but people need to know what happens when the liberal socialist communist take over. Not pleasant at all, and it was written by someone who was not in favor of the South Vietnamese government.

This book is translated from Vietnamese into English. It is a firsthand account of civilians caught in the midst of one of the epic battles of the war. It is a perspective rarely expressed and the Author describes it as if you were there. As a Marine who fought for two years in and around Hue and points north, it's a very compelling account of tragedy from the innocent victims side of war. While the Author doesn't say it directly, her words go down as the worlds greatest argument for peace.

This book was undoubtedly one of the most painful revealing books on the Vietnam Nam conflict written to reflect the pain and tragic brutal losses experienced by the people of Hue A visceral punch to the stomach unmasking the horrors of terrible losses experienced by those living in Hue in ‘68 and also presenting a clear look at atrocities as yet ignored and remain unanswered even to this day

I started my tour in Vietnam at the start of Nha Ca story. I was a co-pilot with the BlackCats at the start of the helicopter landing of reinforcements. The book follows my memories of the battles. Blackcat 29

Very good

Excellent book. I spent nearly four years in Viet Nam; two in I Corps (Phu Bai, Hue, Quang Tri) as a Marine Officer 1967-69 and two more with USAID in Nha Trang as an advisor with USAID . I share the difficult experience of the author but remember the beauty of the land and it's people. David Lewis

Passionné par la guerre du Vietnam, j'ai lu beaucoup d'ouvrages et suis désireux de ne pas avoir la seule vision des américains (celle d'en face est impossible et néchappera à la propagande - incapables de reconnaître leurs erreurs) - Nha Ca étant une auteure sud vietnamienne réputée, cet ouvrage étant a priori son meilleur, j'ai été très déçu par son style narratif, et répétitif, et on apprend en fait trés peu sur les évènements de Hué- je suis resté sur ma faim au plan historique - A la limite, on en apprend plus par le long prologue de la traductrice

Thank you.100% Satisfaction.

Amazing account of a citizen of Hué during the Tet offensive. However I nearly didn’t read it as the introduction by the translator is such self referential drivel it made me want to peel my face off with a spoon.

Thank you!