Charles Henderson (2) (1948–)

5 stars for the bravery of this Marine, during and after his service in the Vietnam War. He was indisputably an outstanding, championship winning shooter and a skilled sniper and brave and selfless warrior, and a man who believed entirely in what he was doing. My hesitations around this book maybe center on (1) the almost Pecos Bill or Paul Bunyan style legendary telling; and (2) some kinda uncritically repeated as fact racist sexist stuff in this book. I have no doubt Mr. Hathcock was a show more product of his era and upbringing, at least in part -for good and ill-, as evidenced both by his bravery and the confederate flag tattoo he chose to wear. So my 3 star rating goes to that stuff and the way it’s written about in this book. show less

Charles Henderson wrote two great books on Carlos Hathcock, the famed Marine sniper. This book is not as well done (in my opinion). Henderson tries to show how both sides lost the Vietnam War (American/Vietnamese & North Vietnamese/Russian) and chronicles the final months before Saigon fell. He tries to focus most attention on the final group of Marines who were almost left behind while guarding the embassy. The lasting overall impression of the book, unfortunately, is that the only ones who show more knew what they were doing were the North Vietnamese. American political leaders had gone into escape blame mode and all others (CIA assets) just looked after themselves. These are the true aspects of the book and are given voice by the US Marines depicted throughout the chapters. The enlisted and non-com marines are the 'truth-sayers' but they are never consulted. These are the good parts to the book. The bibliography is short, but Henderson it seems spent most of his time on personal interviews. He seems to want to give fair hearing to the NVA but comes off as being led to print their propaganda without any critique or criticism. The only part that I found interesting was his covering the C-5 Galaxy that crashed killing most of the children being airlifted out (Operation Babylift). I had read in other memoirs that it had been shot down by the North Vietnamese. Here in Henderson's book he says that it crashed by mechanical malfunction. I still tend to believe it was shot down. This work is scary to read because it places many of the people who held powerful positions as actors who took no regard for the consequences of what they are doing. On both sides. The fall of Saigon epitomized the sadness of many things still being learned by America. Many writers want to say that they know what the Vietnam War really meant. But they don't really know. The Civil War is a mystery and so is the Vietnam War. We can learn from it if we first face its gigantic sorrow. Few people are willing to do this. This book shows the absolute fear and confusion prevalent during that time, and what was to come before the normalizing of diplomatic relations with Vietnam. show less

Henderson wrote Marine Sniper, the first book about Hathcock's exploits as a sniper in Vietnam. His publisher at the time forced him to reduce the size of the book for economic reasons. This volume is made of the material from that cull. It to reads like fiction as did the first volume. Hathcock is a legend in the Marine Corps and amongst marksmen of any stripe. In this book, we learn more about the recovery from the burns he received in Vietnam and his follow up career teaching in the show more Marine sniper school. We also learn of his contracting MS and how it eventually destroyed his body and took his life in 1999. show less

Very well told story about Sgt. Carlos Hathcock, a Marine veteran and hero during the 60's. Packed with action and adventure. I'm glad we have people like him.

However, it does return me to questions regarding the moral ambiguity of what must be done to defend our nation.