Vietnam’s Forgotten Army is both a history of the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) and a biography of two of its most distinguished junior officers, Pham Van Dinh and Tran Ngoc Hue. One was captured on the battlefield and spent thirteen years in captivity; the other surrendered his unit and defected to the North Vietnamese Army. Combat, fate and regret have scarred them both in surprising ways.

The author deftly explains the formation of the ARVN and its tutelage under the United States Army, a course of education so focused on the firepower, logistics and technology of “big unit” war that it would tragically lead to the ARVN’s eventual demise and the downfall of South Vietnam. The structural flaws or the ARVN, the weaknesses of the US advisory system and the complexities and ambiguities of the war are well-explained. His descriptions & analysis of several key campaigns – the Battle of Hue and Lam Son 719 in particular – are wonderfully clear and insightful and match the quality of work produced by war correspondents such as Bernard Fall and David Halberstam.

Vietnam’s Forgotten Army documents how, contrary to popular perception, many ARVN units fought with courage and skill, an observation missing from most US-centric accounts of the Indochina conflict. In fact, the self-absorption of the US Army in Vietnam and its subsequent spillover into popular American history becomes a major theme in the book. The disdain of the US Marine commanders for the ARVN, despite the bravery of the 2nd Battalion/3 ARVN Regiment at the battle for the Hue Citadel, is disturbing. The fact that US Army commanders orders this same unit off the crest of Hamburger Hill so that American troops of the 101st Airborne could officially “take it” is shameful and illustrates one of the fundamental disconnects of America’s involvement in the conflict.

I would highly recommend this book to any military history student interested in learning more about the failures and the forgotten heroism of the ARVN. History isn’t always written by the victors, and we are fortunate Wiest has written such a moving account of an army that lost not only a war but its very nation. ( )