Marble Mountain: A Vietnam Memoir

Title of Review: Winning The Hearts & Minds of Peo

Is "Marble Mountain" a humorous book, a memoir, a personal legacy, or a war story regarding the author's plight as a Huey helicopter pilot in the early stages of the Vietnam War? The answer really depends on who is reading it. Regardless of who that is, Bud Willis's book revealed disturbing trends of a war that in 1966 was just warming up to its unavoidable climax. This was the year that Bud Willis arrived in Vietnam, brimming with confidence. And why not? he had everything going for him. He had graduated from Tennessee Tech, U.S.M.C. ROTC, Flight School in Pensacola, Florida and the Marine Corps "Observation Station One (VMO-1) at the New River Air Station in Jacksonville, NC. Only the year before, the Marine Corps were the 1st branch of the military to receive a brand new helicopter that was destined to become the symbol of the Vietnam War. Called by many different names, such as a "helo, chopper, gunship, gunbird, the one moniker that stuck was the "Huey." The man that wrote this book, Bud Willis, decided that if he was sent to South Vietnam, which seemed to be the talk of the day, he would journal his experiences in a daily log for the entire 13 month tour. Events conspired to make this vow a self fulfilling prophesy. Just a decade shy of the 10th anniversary of the French debacle at Dien Bien Phu, the arrest and assassination of Ngô Dình Di'm and his brother Ngô Dình Nhu occurred. He was the former president of S.Vietnam, and his Nov., '63 death marked the culmination of a successful CIA-backed coup d'état led by Gen. Minh in The coup was the culmination of 9 yrs.of autocratic and nepotistic family rule in South Vietnam. Following this, chaos ensued. Hanoi took advantage of the situation and increased its support for the guerrillas. South Vietnam entered a period of extreme political instability, as one military government toppled another in quick succession. Increasingly, each new regime was viewed as a puppet of the Americans. JFK, who was disgusted with ARVN incompetence and instability, just wanted America "out" of S.E. Asia. On Nov. 22, 1963, ex Marine Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK, and LBJ, a strict war hawk... moved in to the White House. The next year guaranteed the fulfillment of Willis's pledge, as the August, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution occurred. Willis worked hard at learning how to pilot this new helicopter, and on Feb. 27, 1966 landed in Danang for assignment to the newly established airbase at Monkey Mountain., dubbed VMO2. He had no idea what he was getting into and completely misjudged along with everyone else the degree of ferocity the NVA would be willing to fight and die for a united, Communist ruled nation. Bob Willis chronicles day by day his missions, the troop insertions and extractions he went on, as well as the MedEvac's, SOG Team Black Op Insertions in Laos.There is more heliborne combat assaults, action and gore than the reader is prepared for as nonstop action takes the reader into the Mountains of the DMZ with Willis who with his crew "Razorback Ridge and the Rockpile" are dubbed. Be prepared to sit next to Willis on his Huey flying hi speed desperate missions thru NVA ack ack in the ferocious early days of the Vietnam War. Equally frustrating are the corruption and unreliability of our allies, the ARVN. Very simply put, this is a must read!!!!

Willis also made an excellent critique in examining the official reason given to the world community as to why we were in Vietnam in the first place, vehemently asserting that the premise of the "Domino Theory" was completely flawed. President Eisenhower justified funding the French with 400 million dollars and two atomic bombs (if only they would drop it themselves) prior to Dien Bien Phu. However, after this defeat, both JFK and LBJ would pick up the Domino Theory torch, while carefully eyeing the fertile Mekong Valley rice production as an asset subservient to American whims. Would men really fight a war and risk death over Communism, Socialism, Buddhism, Capitalism, or any "ism?" Willis concluded negatively, instead asserting that wars are fought over useful things that can be loaded on trucks and shipped around the world with price tags attached. The issues the politicians used as a rallying cry to whip up American war fever were smokescreens for their real designs of backing the "Military Industrial Complex." The real reasons wars are fought are to acquire land, natural resources, regional necessities such as food and water for free by placing an occupying force on it and asserting control.


However, Willis went way further then this, and he only saw this once he was in South Vietnam. He observed the American Military machine completely confused, with no singular strategy agreed upon to win the war. The Supreme Commander and Army General was William C. Westmoreland. He believed the path to victory was to wage a war of attrition, simply killing more of the enemy then they could replace, until they gave up. As a method to accomplish this, he ordered endless "Search and Destroy" missions, instituted "body counts" and in the process arrogantly missed the response Ho Chi Minh issued when asked how he planned to defeat a power as great as the U.S. Uncle Ho simply stated: "They will kill many of us, and we will kill a few of them. They will grow tired of it." In 1966, Ho was considered a foolish man and his answer completely preposterous. By 1968, this line of thinking began to make sense and would ultimately prove to be right on the money. Willis also cited the other two top Marine generals, who disagreed completely with Westmoreland. General Walt Lewis believed in winning the hearts and minds of the people with far reaching civic programs. Finally, the man with the intimidating "swagger stick," General Victor Krulak, believed the only way to stop the North Vietnamese was to mine the port of Haipong, which he called "the mouth that was feeding the war." Willis shows the reader that this divisiveness went all the way back to the U.S., with politicians disagreeing on the conduct of the war, and even the American people, who for the most part displayed an almost unbelievable lack of interest during the first nine years of this conflict.


In conclusion, aside from the combatants, those involved in the Anti-war movement and those that fled to Canada, the Vietnam War had little impact on Americans, except for the few who were for the most part from the least privileged elements of our society. To a large extent these were the ones who were called upon to do the fighting and dying. Willis gives countless examples throughout his memoir of how the American military was linked inextricably to the incompetent Army Republic of South Vietnam (referred to by the acronym ARVN). The very same troops that were supposed to be our allies were mockingly referred to by our troops as "The Friendly VC." According to Willis, they were not trusted, unreliable and corrupt. This author joins a long list of Americans that went to Vietnam overconfident and filled with thoughts of an easy quick victory, until they saw many of the issues and false premises this author has clearly pointed out! I will end this with a very telling comment Bud Willis made within the first month of his tour. At the time, he was flying missions out of Marble Mountain, watching his fellow Marines guard the DMZ against NVA infiltration into the South. He lamented: "Taking over a piece of land is a concept that every Marine can wrap his head around. We were trained for that. Sitting around playing defense to protect it is someone else's job. Now, we've been inserted in the middle of a great civil war, playing political ping-ping with no clear-cut objectives." It is truly a shame that Bud Willis did not publish this invaluable, well written and priceless memoir in 1967!