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To The Sound Of The Guns Excerpts
To The Sound Of The Guns: Excerpt Ch 1
CHAPTER 1: Training begins in Hawaii On 26 February 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson approved sending a contingent of Marines to Da Nang, South Vietnam to provide security for the established U. S. air [...]
To The Sound Of The Guns: Excerpt Ch 4
“If you can’t carry it, eat it or shoot it, don’t bring it.” ~ Marine Corps saying CHAPTER 4: Tools of the Trade So, what kind of tools did the Marines use while deployed in [...]
To The Sound Of The Guns: Excerpt Ch 6
“Come what come may, time and the hour runs through the roughest day.” - Macbeth by William Shakespeare CHAPTER 6: Operation Allen Brook After Tet, in the northern region, the 3rd Marine Division was still [...]
To The Sound Of The Guns: Excerpt Ch 8
Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. ~ William Shakespeare “Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names.” ~ Proverb CHAPTER 8: Casualties of [...]
The Story of To The Sound Of The Guns
Vietnam 1968, the Year of the Monkey…
This is the little-known history of the men of 1/27, a 5th Marine Division battalion of Iwo Jima World War II fame—their seven-month story of sacrifice, camaraderie, and bravery.
Compiled and authored by one of them, To The Sound Of The Guns is the journey of 1st Battalion, 27th Marines—an undermanned maneuver Battalion—in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive of 1968, their participation in the Hue City area and in Operation Allen Brook. One hundred and twelve of these men gave up all their tomorrows, their memories etched in Marine Corps history, forever.
Because of countless combat engagements, the Marines of 1/27 were awarded almost 700 Purple Hearts rallying to their battle cry, “To the Sound of the Guns.”
Grady T. Birdsong enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps in 1966, serving two combat tours in Vietnam in 1968-1969. He is the author of A Fortunate Passage: Two Families’ Journey into the Heartland, and coauthor of The Miracle Workers of South Boulder Road: Healing the Signature Wounds of War with Colonel Robert L. Fischer, USMC (Ret).
“Grady Birdsong’s book is a combination of well-researched operational history and a moving, deeply personal account of the author’s own combat experiences in Vietnam. It is both history and story. The places, the events, and most especially, the Marines and Sailors of whom the author writes, become vividly real, transporting the reader to that distant place and time. A highly-recommended addition to the record of the U. S. Marines in the Vietnam War.”
Colonel Len Blasiol, USMC (Ret)
Coauthor, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Defining Year 1968
Published by the History and Museums Division
Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, Washington D. C.