WALKING THE HILL THEY DIED ON

In September 2014 I made the first of three trips to Vietnam.

I was writing a book to tell the story of Americans who fought in the war. I had interviewed many veterans who served, and now I wanted to walk some of the ground marked by major American combat.

Traveling with a small group along the canals and waterways of the Mekong Delta, I began to understand what men meant when they called it a scary place. We also spent several days in what had been called I Corps, the military’s designation for South Vietnam’s northern region, where we visited battle sites