Laurence - The Cat From Hue : a Vietnam War Story

PRAISE FOR THE CAT FROM HU

The Cat From Hu should take its place among the most evocative and illuminating American Vietnam War memoirs.

Dallas Morning News

Magnificent ... an indispensable contribution to the literature on the Vietnam War.... This book offers the reader narratives of combat as gripping as that of the best novels on the war.... The Cat from Hu is equally a powerful indictment of the U.S. political and military leadership that chose to fight in Vietnam and persisted in deluding itself about prospects for victory until it was too late.

Dr. Jeffrey Record, Naval Institute Proceedings

Those of us who, with virtually unstinted admiration, followed Jack Laurences seemingly fearless reporting from Vietnam have waited thirty years for this book. He does not disappoint. It is a classic of war reporting.

Walter Cronkite

Laurences eloquent, at times acerbic recollection of Vietnam is one of the finest books in its genre, comparable to Michael Herrs Dispatches. His Vietnam reportage was exceptional, almost artful; his summary and recapitulation more than three decades later is formidable, gripping and always informative. He deserves to be read thoughtfully and carefully.

Stanley I. Kutler, New York Times Book Review

Above all, he matter-of-factly counters the familiar literary images of stylized characters in a surreal conflict. What stands out in this book is his plain, fair, and sympathetic observation of recognizably real Americans of every rank and the everyday detail that accumulates into the experience of war.

Foreign Affairs

In this book, Jack Laurence becomes the Odysseus of the Vietnam War, returning years later with fresh news of the battles and tales of his journey so vividly told that readers will feel they accompanied him and saw what combat was really like and what it does to the mind and soul.

Frances FitzGerald

If you want to know how it was in Vietnam, read this bookit is superb.

Col. Bob Thompson, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired)

Few accounts of the Vietnam War bring readers closer to the battlefield.... Laurence takes his readers on a hair-raising tour of the front lines.... It is ... war journalism at its finestbrutal, intense, yet compassionate.

Far Eastern Economic Review

A powerful account of what Vietnam was like and why U.S. efforts there failed ... filled with graphic detail about combat, as well as intimate descriptions of its effects on participants and Vietnam in general.

Newsday

The Cat from Hu is engaging and informativebetter still, it is a good read.... Even Meo, were he still alive, would be purring.

Washington Post Book World

Filled with fascinating anecdotes, illuminating insight and hard facts, the memoir emits a sense of having been written during the war instead of 30 years later ... [It] certainly articulates the feelings of many of those who fought the war or covered it.

Associated Press

A devastatingly effective first-hand account of what went wrong and why.

Seattle Times/Post-Intelligencer

An extraordinary grunts-eye view of the Vietnam War.

Kirkus Reviews

Riveting, searingly evocative depictions of the U.S. Army, Marines and the South Vietnamese Army in action ... frighteningly realistic ... extremely readable.

Publishers Weekly

One of the ... most thorough memoirs of the Vietnam War ... powerfully written ... a major accomplishment ...

Library Journal

Those truly interested in learning about the Vietnam War from someone who was there will find this a must read.

Booklist

A great read and highly recommended.

Leatherneck

The Cat From Hu is wonderfully vivid, wonderfully written. On our long shelf of Vietnam books, I dont think Ive read anything that captures so immediately the peculiar taste of the war.

John Balaban

Worthy to stand beside such other Vietnam classics as Neil Sheehans A Bright Shining Lie.

London Sunday Times Book Review

A fascinating story that captures the tragedy of Vietnam superbly. I hope it finds a place on the bookshelves of all professional soldiers. They will profit from its incisive observation and masterful storytelling.

General Robert Shoemaker, U.S. Army (Retired)

THE CAT
FROM HU

A VIETNAM WAR STORY

John Laurence

PUBLICAFFAIRS NEW YORK

Copyright 2002 by John Laurence.

Map 2001 by Anita Karl and Jim Kemp.

Published in the United States by PublicAffairs, a member of the Perseus Books Group.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, Suite 1321, New York NY 10107. PublicAffairs books are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the U.S. by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at The Perseus Books Group, 11 Cambridge Center, Cambridge MA 02142, or call (617) 2525298.

Book design and composition by Mark McGarry, Texas Type & Book Works.

Set in Monotype Dante.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data

The cat from Hu / by John Laurence.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-78672-468-0

1. Vietnamese Conflict, 19611975Personal narratives, American. 2. John Laurence

I. Title

DS557-7.L376 2001

959.704'3'092dc21

2001019190

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For the fine memories of Bill Wilson and Robert Smith, and for all who follow in their steps.

Contents

What follows is true. All the events described here actually happened. Details have been taken from film and still photographs that were shot at the scene, from audiotapes recorded during the events, and from notes, maps, descriptions and sketches written in notebooks at the time. Also from letters home, interviews during and after the war, and from contemporary accounts by other reporters, writers and historians. Some descriptions are taken from memory, but knowing the fallibility of memory over time, I have trusted only those for which there is supporting evidence. No actions have been invented.

Quotes are described two ways. Spoken words that appear in full quotation marks (i.e., Hello there, cat), were recorded on film, tape or in a notebook at the time, or were recalled and written down soon after the event. Where words are quoted in single quotation marks (i.e., Cease fire! Cease fire!), no record exists other than in my knowledge of the conversation or remark having taken place, or in written notes to myself of the substance of what was said rather than the words. I have tried to recreate those words and conversations honestly and accurately.

In a few cases where I had no precise record of the weather or physical terrainthat is, other than when they were important to the event or when I had a specific recollection of themsome descriptions of the sun, rain, wind, clouds, heat and light are portrayed as they usually were in that location at that time of day and year.

The actual names of the people involved in these events are used throughout, except in a few cases where noted to avoid embarrassment. I apologize for any errors of fact, interpretation or omission.

J.L.

The worlds an orphans home. Shall

we never have peace without sorrow?

without pleas of the dying for

help that wont come? O