The War Above The Trees

Rating:
Summary: I Was There.
Review: This is an excellent book about the battle for the Plei Trap Valley in Vietnam (Operation Wayne Grey) in March and April of 1969. I was with the 1st Brigade headquarters for much of March, then took over as commander of Delta Company, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry on LZ D-Handle for the last two to three weeks of the operation. Mr. Carey has captured not only the chronology and tactics of the battle, but also the personal side of the fighting in this most inhospitable location. It was a place of thick jungle and steep mountains. The NVA considered the valley their territory, had it well fortified and fought hard to keep it. Mr. Carey and all the other helicopter crewmen were our life line. Without their heroic daily flights the infantry, artillery and engineers fighting in the Plei Trap Valley could not have inflicted heavy casualities on the NVA, thus stopping a serious threat to the Allied control of the Central Highlands. This is a great story of ordinary people doing extraordinary deeds.