The
Vietnamese translation of an American War veteran’s book titled Bare Feet, Iron
Will: Stories from the Other Side of Viet Nam’s Battlefields was released in HCM
City yesterday, April 21.

Both sides now: The Vietnamese version of Bare Feet, Iron Will by James Zumwalt.

The author of the book
is James Zumwalt, younger son of the commander of the US Naval Forces in Viet
Nam.

The book is based on
hundreds of interviews he conducted and presents a different perspective on the
war from the other side of the battlefield.

The English version of
Bare Feet, Iron Will was printed by Fortis Publishing in April 2010. The
400-page Vietnamese version, titled Chan Tran, Chi Thep, is published by First
News and the HCM City Book Distribution JSC (Fahasa).

“Bare Feet, Iron Will
takes the reader on a fascinating journey, providing stories – many never told
before – as to how enemy ingenuity played a major role in the conflict, causing
us not to see things that were there or to see things there that were not,”
publishing house representatives said at a press conference yesterday, April 21.

Chan Tran, Chi Thep
includes commendations by Vietnamese generals like Senior Lieutenant General
Phan Trung Kien, deputy Defence minister; and Lieutenant General Le Thanh Tam,
deputy head of the Vietnamese Veterans’ Association.

In his foreword, Kien
says: “I admire the author’s honesty and courage because he has expressed a
point of view which is different from his former one and the US Government’s
view during the war time.”

Lt Col James Zumwalt
is a retired Marine officer who served in the American War, the 1989 invasion of
Panama and Operation Desert Storm, the first Gulf War in Kuwait.

Now an author, speaker
and business executive, he heads a security consulting firm named after his
father–Admiral Zumwalt&Consultants, Inc.

James Zumwalt is the
younger son of Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, Jr., who became commander of the US Naval
Force in Viet Nam in 1968. James and his brother Elmo III served in Viet Nam
under their father’s command.

Admiral Zumwalt
approved and directed Operation Ranch Hand that used vast amounts of Agent
Orange over many parts of the country. After his eldest son succumbed in 1988 to
cancer caused by dioxin contained in Agent Orange, the admiral became a leading
advocate on behalf of US veterans afflicted with diseases stemming from exposure
to the defoliant.

However, he expressed
no regret for its use, seeing it as an action designed to save American lives.

Deeply affected by the
loss of his brother, James Zumwalt overcame his internal conflicts and anger
about the war by developing extensive relationships with his former enemies
during 50 visits to Viet Nam from 1994 to 2004.

This launched him on
an unexpected journey in an unexpected direction.

In Viet Nam, almost
two decades after the fall of the Sai Gon regime that ended the American War,
the author, in a private talk with a former enemy general, came to understand an
aspect of the war he never before had.

In that talk, they
shared personal insights about the war, discovering a common bond. It began a
journey where he would meet hundreds of former North and South Vietnamese and
fighters, listening to their personal stories of loss, sacrifice and hardship.

It opened the author’s
eyes to how a technically inferior enemy, beaten down by superior US firepower,
was able to get back up – driven by an “iron will” to emerge triumphant.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News