Memoir

Title: West Pac: A Young Sailor's Journey
Author: Scott F. Schmidt
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1930486928

When a carrier goes to sea, those who work on the dangerous flight deck are at an average age of twenty years old. To add to the danger, those who work with aircraft ordnance, the bombs and missiles of these planes, are at even more risk of injury on the pitching deck. This is a true story of one young man, an aviation ordnanceman, who went to sea on his second cruise in 1978 at age twenty. What he discovered in the hot Pacific and Indian Oceans would change his life forever and set him on a path to discovery. Follow the author on his personal and poignant journey as he explores the universal truths of those who must succeed under arduous conditions.

Title: The Mailman Went UA: A Vietnam Memoir
Author: David W. Mulldune
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Flournoy

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0557025516

Memoir by a Marine who served in Vietnam with the 27th and 7th Marines from May 1968 through June 1969. His book is not so much about the Vietnam War but about the experiences, horror, and tragedy of war, based on his experience, so that others will see the futility of it, unless there is absolutely no other way. He hopes that what he has written will be the next best thing to actually being there, and that it will give a taste of what it is like to go through it, and his hope that it will change the way people look at war as a viable solution. He wants people to see it from the less privileged viewpoint and get a taste of real war. The title, The Mailman Went UA, came from their little song and dance routine that they performed when they didn't receive any mail. Strong language, racial and sexual references. 18 photos, glossary.

Title: Last Roll Call (One of the last Memoirs of WWII. The adventure of a B-17 Tailgunner, volume 1)
Author: Kenneth Tucker & Wanda T. Goodwin
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Don Farinacci

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0975474952

Synopsis of the book, submitted by the author.

Title: Ten Months in Iran
Author: John F. Simpson
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Carmen Stenholm

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 097550990X

This is an account of the developments in Iran prior to the 1978 collapse of the Shah's government. It details the civil and political conditions that led to the collapse and subsequent anarchy. It answers to the question of why Iran is now our enemy when, at the time, it was our best friend and a stabilizing force in that area of the world.

He gives you an idea of what went wrong in our foreign policy that caused the loss of Iran to religious fanatics and he points a finger at the person responsible for losing Iran's friendship and support. He worked for Bell Helicopter in Isfahan, Iran as a cobra test pilot. The story begins with a vivid account of his final trip through the city of Isfahan amidst gunfights between soldiers and rioters. On his return home, the author was stunned to learn that many of the people he knew had been executed by the cleric dictator Ayatollah Khomeini.

Title: Coyote Jack: Drawing Meaning from Life and Vietnam--A Memoir
Author: Jack Lyndon Thomas
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Charles E. Gibbs

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0965984311

Coyote Jack overlays a fascinating exposition of life and death in the most enigmatic of American conflicts with an individual's struggle to free himself from the enemy that stands ready to thwart a full and authentic life. Through Jack, we live in sandbag bunkers, bathe out of wells, and dodge booby traps, as he learns the privations and landmines of his personal life are as complex as the clashing cultures and divisive politics that created, and ended the war in Vietnam.

Thomas was an Infantry Lieutenant who lived and fought with South Vietnamese Regional and Popular Forces.