Doyle D. Glass

It is quite obvious that the author spent many hours researching this battle and its warriors in order to write this book. Mr. Glass introduced his characters (those from the battle) telling how they grew up, through military training, and what they did during the battle.

The battle, itself, seemed like a blow-by-blow commentary where the author reported both the 1,000 feet high observations and the action occurring on the ground; one of the fiercest of the war. A single company held off repeated assaults by an enemy four times their strength, only half of the soldiers survived.

After the battle, the survivors discussed how they acted and what they might have done differently during the battle. It was clear that the battalion commander should have paid more attention to those troops on the ground instead of rushing them and also involving Delta Company to support Charlie much earlier in the battle then he did.

Mr. Glass continued to report on the survivors of Charlie Company up to the publication of the book, both the good and the bad. Finally, the book includes both a character summation and a glossary of terms used in the story.

Operation Medina could have ended differently and many more lives could have been saved. The men of Charlie Company were truly the Lions of Medina. Good job Mr. Glass!… (more)

What a compelling read! The author wrote a fantastic story about the battle of the knoll (Operation Swift). Mr. Glass's research was thorough, extensive and evident in the way he presented the battle; it's almost a blow-by-blow account as if he were standing in the midst of these Marines and telling what he sees taking place.

M Company was en route to support two sister companies who were ambushed and pinned down. Led by a lieutenant on his second tour, they too were ambushed and split in half; part on a knoll and the other trapped in a village on the other side of an open rice paddy. Thankfully, an alert point man spotted camouflaged NVA - so good, Marines swore that bushes were moving, and reacted by killing the bush. Otherwise, the company would have been annihilated in a kill zone out in the open.

Greatly outnumbered, the Marines held off repeated waves of attacking NVA soldiers, but at a price. The new M16 rifles were jamming and there weren't enough cleaning rods available to unjam the weapon; many Marines were killed/wounded because they couldn't defend themselves. The pressure was intense which prevented helicopters from landing with ammo and picking up the wounded. There wasn't a lull in the firing and it continued relentlessly all day.

The enemy was within their ranks and artillery could not support the Marines. They were on their own and could only use what they had. How many, if any, will survive?

Thank you, Mr. Glass. Well done!

John Podlaski, author
Cherries & When Can I Stop Running - both Vietnam War stories… (more)