William R. Phillips (1) (1940–)

Lang Vei is one of those little battles that make up the fractal FUBAR of the Vietnam War. On the night of February 6th, 1968, a massive NVA force including tanks attacked a small Special Forces outpost near Khe Sanh held by 24 Americans and several hundred Montagnards of the Civil Irregular Defense Group. In the intense battle that followed, seven Americans were killed, three captured, and all but one wounded. All of them were decorated for valor, including a Medal of Honor and 17 Silver show more Stars.

Philips does an admirable job contextualizing Lang Vei in the larger picture of the Battle of Khe Sanh. He draws upon interviews with the survivors and radio transcripts of the attack to depict the chaos of battle, and the desperate struggle of the men trapped within the Tactical Operations Bunker, and the post-battle blamesharing. Who should have given the A teams antitank weapons? Who should've mounted a rescue operation? The final chapter is dedicated to the struggles of Phillip's aunt, who lost a son MIA at Lang Vei, and the personal experience of those who searched for clear answers about the dead and missing in the late 70s. I'd like to give this book a higher rating, but despite the quality of the research and writing, it never quite rises above good to great, and as a minor and very unusual skirmish, is not much like the rest of the vietnam War. show less

Recounting of the legendary battle with strange ending of Americans being left behind to be captured and tortured with no accounting of them.