Author: Les Arbuckle Publisher: Mango Media Inc. ISBN: 1633536343 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 307
Book Description
This memoir of an American teenager coming of age in 1960s Vietnam “is a rip-roaring historical snapshot of a capitol teetering on the brink of war” (Rick Frederickson, Vietnam Magazine). In 1962, when US Navy Chief Petty Officer Bryant Arbuckle brought his wife and three sons to his new post in Southeast Asia, Saigon was a vibrant, dirty, exciting, and perilous metropolis filled with exotic temptations. Young Leslie Arbuckle was fourteen at the time. A fearless and inquisitive American boy, he was eager to explore the city’s forbidden wonders, from its bustling black market to its late-night brothels. The new world surrounding him was intoxicating, and he enthusiastically drank it all in. But Saigon in the mid-sixties was a lit powder keg about to explode, as an expanding war in the Vietnamese countryside began creeping closer. For Les, an exciting overseas lark would soon turn darker and more dangerous. Instead of running from angry street vendors, he found himself fleeing machine gun fire and witnessing the self-immolation of Buddhist monks protesting a corrupt political regime. As life went on within the confines of the US military compound, Les watched the city dissolve into chaos on the other side of the barbed wire. At once vivid, funny, beautiful, and frightening, Les Arbuckle’s Saigon Kids is an unforgettable evocation of a unique adolescence spent in a strange and volatile world—a remarkable memoir of growing up American on the edge of a war zone.
Author: Andrea Warren Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) ISBN: 146683448X Category : Juvenile Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 134
Book Description
An unforgettable true story of an orphan caught in the midst of war Over a million South Vietnamese children were orphaned by the Vietnam War. This affecting true account tells the story of Long, who, like more than 40,000 other orphans, is Amerasian -- a mixed-race child -- with little future in Vietnam. Escape from Saigon allows readers to experience Long's struggle to survive in war-torn Vietnam, his dramatic escape to America as part of "Operation Babylift" during the last chaotic days before the fall of Saigon, and his life in the United States as "Matt," part of a loving Ohio family. Finally, as a young doctor, he journeys back to Vietnam, ready to reconcile his Vietnamese past with his American present. As the thirtieth anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War approaches, this compelling account provides a fascinating introduction to the war and the plight of children caught in the middle of it.
Author: Sandy Hanna Publisher: Post Hill Press ISBN: 1682617955 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 293
Book Description
The Ignorance of Bliss tells the true story of ten-year-old Sandy, who moves with her American military family to Saigon, Vietnam where her father, the Colonel, serves as a military advisor to the South Vietnamese Army. In 1960s Saigon, Sandy finds a world of crushing poverty and extraordinary beauty; a world of streets, villas, and brothels, where politics and intrigue reside between plot and counterplot. Blissfully living a life of French decadence, Sandy maneuvers between coups, spies, bombings, corruption, and scandal as she and her thirteen-year-old brother, Tom, run an illicit baby powder and Hershey bar business on the black market and live a life of school, scouts, dance parties, and movies at the underground theater. When the Colonel’s counterpart, Colonel Le Van Sam, delivers an expose on the current ruling Diem regime, Sandy finds that her constant spying on her father’s activities has brought her face to face with the reality of Vietnam and the anti-American sentiment that pervades it. This coming-of age story takes place in a turbulent country striving for nationalism, giving the reader a stunning look into the life of military dependents living abroad and the underlying ignorance that surrounded a little understood time in history.
Author: Thanhha Lai Publisher: Univ. of Queensland Press ISBN: 0702251178 Category : Juvenile Fiction Languages : en Pages : 227
Book Description
Moving to America turns H&à's life inside out. For all the 10 years of her life, H&à has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by, and the beauty of her very own papaya tree. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. H&à and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, H&à discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape, and the strength of her very own family. This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.
Author: Ralph White Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1982195193 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
A “captivating” (The Washington Post) true story of “courage, resolve, and determination” (Christian Science Monitor), author Ralph White’s successful effort to save nearly the entire staff of the Saigon branch of Chase Manhattan bank and their families before the city fell to the North Vietnamese Army. In April 1975, Ralph White was asked by his boss to transfer from the Bangkok branch of the Chase Manhattan Bank to the Saigon Branch. He was tasked with closing the branch if and when it appeared that Saigon would fall to the North Vietnamese army and ensure the safety of the senior Vietnamese employees. But when he arrived, he realized the situation in Saigon was far more perilous than he had imagined. The senior staff members there urged him to evacuate the entire staff of the branch and their families, which was far more than he was authorized to do. Quickly he realized that no one would be safe when the city fell, and it was no longer a question of whether to evacuate but how. Getting Out of Saigon is an “edge-of-your-seat” (Oprah Daily) story of a city on the eve of destruction and the colorful characters who respond differently to impending doom. It’s a remarkable account of one man’s quest to save innocent lives not because he was ordered but because it was the right thing to do.
Author: Bill Richards Publisher: ISBN: 9780615696539 Category : Children Languages : en Pages : 204
Book Description
Pack your bags, hop a plane, and take a trip! Embarking on a journey with your kids can be a thrilling and rewarding adventure. Family travel is also a great way to expand your cultural horizons and help cultivate our next generation of global citizens. This book offers hundreds of easy-to-use ideas for:* Drumming up excitement for the journey ahead* Teaching your kids to pack themselves* Having fun at the airport and on the plane* Easing jetlag and schedule changes* Involving everyone in setting itineraries and expectations * Making museums and tourist stops engaging for everyone* Enriching your travel experience through journaling* Keeping the joy of the journey alive long after your return* Discovering cultural education in your own back yardThis book is intended for well-seasoned travelers and newbies alike who enjoy being with their children, want to enrich their education, and are excited to discover, as a family, the vast and unique experiences this world has to offer.
Author: Caren J. Town Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476676968 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 174
Book Description
With hundreds of thousands of current and former military brats in the United States, their lives as children of service members are surprisingly little documented. Reading about the experiences of fellow brats can help these children of warriors understand both themselves and the unique world in which they were raised. Learning of the challenges that these children face will also help the general population consider how to honor and to help those whose lives were shaped by the military without volunteering or being drafted. This book explores the military brat experience as reflected in novels intended for adults, adolescent fiction, autobiographies and biographies, and highlights the common elements: frequent moves, the ever-present sense of danger, the potential loss of the service member, and isolation from the larger civilian world. By understanding the lives of brats, we can better understand the very real costs--beyond the lives of service members themselves--that families bear in the name of our collective freedom and security.
Author: Harold Southwick Publisher: Tate Publishing ISBN: 1607997517 Category : Christian fiction Languages : en Pages : 308
Book Description
Through the bloody battlefields of Vietnam and Iraq, to the most precious moments in life, Hal and his son, Eddie, find themselves on separate journeys as they seek to find their way in life. As Hal takes up his call to ministry, Eddie begins a spiral of pain, anger, and resentment toward God after many of life's tragedies. Both will come to understand why life is full of pain and hardship and how God's presence never leaves. Harold Southwick's "The Way Back Home" is the fascinating story of not only the Edwards family's struggles and triumphs but of a God who relentlessly pursues and draws them to himself. Anyone who has a reason to resent God will find this book full of His goodness and grace through the good times and the worst. A story of war, love, and hope⎯"The Way Back Home" shows how God uses the ordinary and weak in extraordinary ways through life's many battles. Harold Southwick is a retired rancher-farmer who served a tour of duty in Germany, and then was recalled for another tour during the Berlin Crisis and the early days of the Vietnam conflict. He and his wife, Sue, are the parents of three grown daughters and are grandparents to seven grandchildren. They reside in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, which is nestled along the banks of the Snake River.
Author: Les Arbuckle
Author: Katie Kelly
Author: Andrea Warren
Author: Sandy Hanna
Author: Thanhha Lai
Author: Ralph White
Author: Bill Richards
Author: Caren J. Town
Author: Harold Southwick
Author: