Blackjack-34 (Previously Titled No Greater Love): One Deadly Day of Courage, Carnage, and Ultimate Sacrifice for the Mobile Guerrilla Force in Vietnam

by James C. Donahue and Donahue

Book Overview

"Here we go, I said to myself as my system electrified with the familiar rush of adrenaline." On July 18, 1967, Staff Sergeant James Donahue and the men of Special Forces Detachment A-304 were on an... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0804117659
• ISBN13: 9780804117654
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

An outstanding first-person account of small-unit warfare

A fabulous book for anyone looking for firsthand accounts of the great work our fighting men & women did in Vietnam, and an excellent antidote for the overplayed drivel Hollywood & the "mainstream" media try to spoon-feed us. The author provides a minimal amount of background info on himself and the Mobile Guerilla Force, and then jumps right into the action. He gets your heart pumping and your senses instantly alerted through first-person writing, and once you start this book it is very difficult to put down. Mr Donahue does not hold back anything from the reader either; he skillfully relates the sights, sounds, smells, and even tastes of combat in Vietnam. If you are looking for a well-written first-hand account about the experiences of combat in Vietnam, then I highly recommend this book. If you are a little squeamish, or prefer to research the unit histories and command structures of combat units in Vietnam, well, I STILL recommend this book (and all of Mr Donahue's books).

One of the best

This is by far one of the best non-fiction books to come out of the Vietnam conflict. The author takes you right along with the action. No BS or covering the facts or gung ho crap that is in most of the books about the marines. It was most interesting from a medical stand point as you seldom read about this part in any war book. I would say this is a must read for anyone interested in what the early Viet Nam war was like. I am now looking foreward to reading Black Jack 33 and other books by James C. Donahue. Try it, you will like it. I have a collection of app. 300 non-fiction war books and have read around 1500 more over a 55 year span.

Life and death...

This book tells the story of July 16, 1967 with the Mobile Guerrilla Force in Vietnam. Donahue is a medic in Special Forces and from that perspective, this book is written. Special Forces medics are as much a part of the team, as is the weapons man when "the feces strikes the rotating air movement device." Not only does this book sketch the lives saved by the indigenous medics that were trained by Special Forces medics and by himself but the enemy lives that he and others took in combat. There is a compassion for all man, friend and foe.

BLACKJACK 34

This is by far the best book I have ever read on the Vietnam War. Once the fighting starts it is difficult to put down as you have to know what happens to the team and to the individual players. If any book should be made into a film then it should be this one.

God Bless the USA

I just got done reading Blackjack-34 and could NEVER put it down! I read it in 3 days! Mr. Donaue really brings the war into your head and doesn't add all of the REMF bullcrap. Just dirty, bloody, and sweaty soldiers fighting, and dying for our great counrty. He lets you HEAR the bullets crack, the shrieks of friends, the whack of lead hitting flesh and bone. Best book on Vietnam that I have ever read! I can't wait to be a Special Forces soldier too someday.