Arizona Moon: A Novel of Vietnam
1967 was the year in which the battle between America and North Vietnam loomed large, ferociously wounding and ending lives of soldiers from both countries. Captain Raymond Strader, a Marine Corps squad leader, has a few days remaining before he is scheduled to return home to Pennsylvania. By a fluke, he’s in the wrong place at the right time, as he’s ordered to accompany a helicopter transport team to rescue one soldier and carry out two of his fellow soldiers who had died. Initially, it is believed that the comatose LCpl Noche Gonshayee, an Apache Indian feared by all, killed the two dead soldiers, but the truth is soon clarified. The remainder of the story is about the search for Gonshayee and Strader as they struggle through the Ong Tu Mountains with North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers right behind them.
Their cat-and-mouse maneuvers are the intriguing essence of this novel. For we learn about the literary preferences of the NVA, which they believe defines the American enemy. The impressive and noble challenges that form the Apache identity are described in detail, reshaping the reader’s respect for Gonshayee. The lush, beautiful but deadly Vietnamese forests and mountains are personified as enemies or friends, depending on who traverses them. Finally, although the banter between American Marines is crass and funny, the intensity of their bond, highlighted by their determination to rescue and protect their own, exemplifies the goal of their jobs in the middle of the direst, life-threatening conditions. Ironically, the NVA team shares the same love of brother and country. Arizona Moon is a unique, highly recommended historical novel that will remain seared in every reader’s memory.
