If you want to understand why Vietnam Vets have such a difficult time reentering society, this novel will answer your question. This is a fitting book to have read then reviewed on Memorial Day. We honor all those who sacrificed so much and gave their lives.
MATTERHORN is a startling contrast to my last read, A DANGEROUS FRIEND although both are set in Vietnam. It was a revelation to me, a realistic, often hard to read description of what it was like to be a Marine, a grunt, 'in country.' The author, a highly decorated Marine, wrote the novel over a 30-year span.
Second Lieutenant Waino Mellas is a green platoon leader with ambitions. Unlike most of his men, he's Ivy League and an officer, which separates him from most of the other soldiers. It's 1969, both Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy have been assassinated but on the peaks of Matterhorn, politics holds little sway. The madness and absurdity of war fill the book, as the Marines take Matterhorn, dig in to hold it, then are ordered to move on, only to be asked to take it once again as the NVA have moved in. SNAFU reigns. War is hell. Young men die, are maimed, all in the name of democracy. Madness stands along side the courage of these teenage Marines.
Mellas questions everything about the war and its execution, especially the competence of its leaders yet remains in it. Racism rears its ugly head mostly in down time and complicates the prosecution of the war. When the battles begin, however, all is forgotten as the Marines care only about two things: kill or be killed, save or be saved. And if you survive, it's time for a beer or two and shower before heading back. I have read many books about the Vietnam War but none affected me as much as this one.
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