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Book details
  • Genre:BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY
  • SubGenre:Military
  • Language:English
  • Pages:656
  • Paperback ISBN:9781737443506

Hail and Farewell

A Vietnam Era Memoir

by Frank T. Jodaitis

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Overview

Written in the first person and with a strong annotated historical and political background, "Hale and Farewell: A Vietnam Era Memoir" is a personal journey of a patriotic soldier who served through the social maelstrom and political upheaval that accompanied the Vietnam Era. His ideals, ambitions, perseverance, traumatic heartbreaks, and abandonment carry the reader back in time in this personal reflection on American history from the end of the Kennedy Presidency to the resignation of President Nixon..

Description

Written in the first person and with a strong annotated historical and political background, "Hale and Farewell: A Vietnam Era Memoir" is a personal and emotional journey of a patriotic soldier who served through the social maelstrom and political upheaval that accompanied the Vietnam Era. His ideals, ambitions, perseverance, traumatic heartbreaks, and abandonment carry the reader back in time in this personal reflection on American history. Commencing at the dawn of the Digital Age, Sexual Revolution, and the Assassination of JFK, this captivating memoir describes the impact of the American Indochina War on the lives of the author, his friends, and American Society in general. A coming of age story of engineering students, it covers their academic challenges, and ROTC training under the menacing cloud of the war in Southeast Asia. After graduation, Cadet Jodaitis prepared for assignment to Vietnam at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania, the US Army Engineer Officers Basic Course at Fort Belvoir, VA and troop assignments in the 83rd Engineer Construction Battalion at Fort Riley, KS. In August 1969 at the outset of the US withdrawal from Vietnam, LT Jodaitis was assigned to HQ Da Nang Support Command. Where he was identified as being highly imaginative and judicious, but he lacked tact, a tragic flaw in the Vietnam Era soldier-diplomat – zero defects U.S. Army. With each KEYSTONE retrograde phase he was moved to a new job closer to the DMZ and increasing enemy activity. Some of his superior officers considered him a renegade, others a valuable asset. His first move was to the 26th General Support Group staff near Hue and later the perimeter. Shortly before the Cambodian Incursion while the FSB Ripcord Battle raged in the A Shau Valley, he was moved to the 555th Maintenance Company at Camp Evans that was notorious for fragging. After the deactivation of the 555th he moved to the respected Nam Nomads, 57th Transportation Company, at Quang Tri. The Nomads serviced heavy artillery firebases and others along the DMZ and QL-1. Discharged in late August 1970, he returned to liberal anti-war Greater Boston. His difficult adjustment to civilian life was aided by compulsory service in the U.S. Army Reserve and his request for transfer to a combat engineer battalion in the Massachusetts Army National Guard. That helped him realize the scope of the politicized war during which the Global Elites continually sabotaged the United States efforts. The memoir ends as President Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign.

About the author
Frank Jodaitis earned his BS in Civil Engineering and Army Corps of Engineers commission at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1968. On August 19, 1969, he arrived in Vietnam and served one year in staff and line company assignments throughout northern I Corps for the DaNang Support Command. He was a combat engineer company commander in the Massachusetts Army National Guard for three years and completed his military obligation as a Captain in 1974. Before his retirement he worked as a Professional Engineer and was the manager of water and sewer utilities for twenty-eight years. He earned his MBA at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute using the GI Bill. His interests in military history began in grade school and continues today. He received the Massachusetts Sons of the American Revolution Washington and Franklin Medal for excellence in the study of United States History in 1965 as well as a joint presentation from the Department of the Army through the Chief of Military History and the Association of the United States Army for excellence in the study of Military History.

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