Bury Him: A Memoir of the Viet Nam War
In this frank, engaging memoir, Captain Chamberlain chronicles the missions, personal courage and sacrifice of the Marines he was privileged to command; painfully recalls the unspeakable order he and his Marines were forced to obey; and the cover-up which followed. Nearly four decades later, Captain Chamberlain makes right what was wrong; brings closure to the family of a fallen and abandoned warrior; and attempts to put to rest the guilt which plagued his military career and life. Unlike most books on the Viet Nam War, this book is written at a tactical level by a Marine Company Commander who was there.
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-Grady T. Birdsong, Corporal USMC - 1/27, 2/9 & 3rd MarDiv Communications Company, RVN 1968-1969. Author of To the Sound of the Guns.
"I have known Doug Chamberlain to be a man of constant character and integrity since I first met him as a student athlete at John Brown University in the 1960s. His book recounts his agonized response to a direct order to "bury" the remains of a fallen Marine in Vietnam, followed by a prompt retraction at Doug's urging and a heroic recovery and return of that body to the family. However, the confusing and critical response from a few officers in the Marine Corp Command set Doug upon a difficult 50-year journey of unanswered questions and great personal stress. His final victorious discovery of the "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is a gripping and tough personal narrative that will inspire every reader in difficult circumstances to speak truth, regardless of the consequences."
-John E. Brown, III Past president of JBU, and former AR State Senator
"Captain Chamberlain's searing memoir of combat in the southern I Corps zone, during the height of the Vietnam War, not only tells gripping stories of heroism and tragedy... it also unveils, for the first time, the truth of a sorry episode in Marine Corps history that has remained buried for fifty years. Chamberlain's earnest prose reveals a burdened conscience, but it also demonstrates his unflinching courage in fulfilling his duty as a Marine and a patriot, ultimately proving himself a warrior with his honor intact. I was privileged to help him uncover documentary evidence of the events at the heart of his story, bringing closure after half a century for a company of Marines who were asked to do the unthinkable, and for a family who never understood why they had to bury a loved one--not once, but twice. Bury Him can stand proudly alongside such enduring classics of Marine Corps literature as Robert Leckie's Helmet for My Pillow and Philip Caputo's A Rumor of War."
-Paul T. Semones, P.E., Semones Forensic Engineering