Sign Here for Sacrifice: The Untold Story of the Third Battalion, 506th Airborne, Vietnam 1968

Historian Gardner (Tonight We Die as Men) continues his series on the Third Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in this action-packed account of the unit’s tour-of-duty in Vietnam. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Gardner recounts how the unit was reactivated after WWII and sent to Vietnam in May 1967. The Currahees, as they were known, took part in many combat operations, including the battle for Phan Thiet during the 1968 Tet Offensive, and the bulk of the narrative consists of long, detailed depictions of firefights, search and destroy missions, and more. In admiring, sometimes breathless prose, Gardner captures the men in action: handed a grenade launcher by a wounded soldier, medic Tom “Swede” Lundgren “immediately put it to good use and obliterated the enemy machine gun with a volley of 40mm.” There are also scenes of terror and anguish, including the discovery of Lt. Dennis Kinnard’s “mangled remains” after he stepped on a howitzer shell “fitted with a cleverly designed bamboo pressure pad.” Though the steady drumbeat of missions grows monotonous, Gardner convincingly argues that the Vietnam Currahees “stood every inch as tall as their forebears in World War II.” This is a comprehensive history of one airborne infantry regiment’s Vietnam War. (Feb.)