The 101st Airborne West of Hue after The 1968 Tet Offensive
When eighteen-year-old Buck Marino first meets Rolley Zwyrkowski, he little realizes the young sergeant and their next year together in Vietnam will change his life forever. The months following the 1968 Tet Offensive and the battles of the 101st Airborne between Hue and Phu Bai, and westward into the A Shau Valley, provide the backdrop for a story about boys becoming men in a paradoxical war. And when he meets Army nurse Janie Jorgensen, Buck believes he has found the love of his life only to crash into the reality that the war has left his heart and soul lost in a futureless void.
Winner of the 2017 Best Indie Book Award for Mainstream Literary Fiction, Valley of The Purple Hearts follows the men of Second Squad through the shadowy jungles and mountains of I-Corps as they fight main force Viet Cong and NVA regulars. With constant enemy contact, booby-traps, sniper fire, and all-out firefights, Buck and his buddies follow their squad leader, Rolley, who puts the lives of his men first. As Rolley faces the young and inept Lieutenant Mallon, Buck realizes his squad leader is becoming jaded and has lost his sense of humor. When the young sergeant sacrifices his safety for that of his men, Buck must step up to face Mallon in the heat of battle, and try to save his friend.
A Reader’s Review of Valley of The Purple Hearts
5.0 out of 5 stars Like Jones, Uris and Wouk – he makes his …
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2018
There is no higher praise than can be afforded an author – then a positive comparison to the literary greats that preceded him. DeStefanis deserves that praise. His style is in the same vein as James Jones in “… From Here to Eternity…”; Herman Wouk in “…The Hope and the Promise…” and Leon Uris in “…Battle Cry…” . Rick DeStefanis captures the essence of what the common soldier endures. He brings us the reality, the sorrow, the fear, and the horror of war in concise and very readable prose. Like Jones, Uris and Wouk – he makes his characters real in our eyes and we are forever changed because of that experience. I have had friends that have endured the Green Hell that was the Au Shau valley.
The stories they told and the mental scars they still endure are detailed in vivid color in his book. He, like Phil Caputo (A rumor of War), has become the chronicler of what scared 19-year-old kids endured in Vietnam. I would urge you to read this book. You will be forever changed afterwards and will look at Vietnam Vets in a different light. They went willingly to a war that they did not fully understand and gave their all in a conflict that few even cared about.
DeStefanis has put a voice to their sacrifice and for that he has the eternal gratitude of all Vets.