The Living and the Dead

[John Young]

   For the vets unable to sleep: 
 
   The Washington Post has two heart-breaking pieces today 
   on a new book about Vietnam, "The Living and the Dead: 
   Robert McNamara and Five Lives," by Paul Hendrickson. 
 
   The book tracks the disaster being formulated in 1965 by 
   DC top-down policy interleaved with savagery to five 
   grunts in bloody battle. 
 
   There's a laudatory review of the grim book, and a long 
   magazine piece gives an excerpt which includes some of 
   Life's photos of a Marine copter gunner's transition from 
   happy-go-lucky, to butchery of buddies, to grief-stricken 
   collapse. It reawakens what's never forgot. 
 
   That April, 1965, Life photo-essay, "One Ride With Yankee 
   Papa 13," turned up in a sidewalk stall today so we'll 
   put 18 photos on our Web page for a glimpse back to the 
   future of power-mad policy begetting slaughter. 
 
   http://jya.com/yp01.jpg 
 
   through 
 
   http://jya.com/yp18.jpg