War in Our Wake

Book excerpt: Three days after the last Marine Corps helicopter lifted off from Saigon, the author and his Navy shipmates became the very last American military presence of the Vietnam War. This is their untold story, the important final chapter in the history of that wars bitter end. When, as a newly commissioned officer, Jonathan Malay and his shipmates on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Benjamin Stoddert (DDG-22) sailed away from Vietnamese coastal waters on May 3, 1975, they became the last American military presence of the Vietnam War. He tells their story in a gripping personal narrative that includes history, adventure, a love story, and the tale of a bold humanitarian action that saved over a hundred and fifty lives. A sea story at its core, the author colorfully captures the feelings of the period, describing the demands of life at sea and the excitement of visits to exotic ports in the western Pacific and Indian oceans at the same time a tragic end to the war was becoming inevitable. Finally, in telling the harrowing tale of the ships operations in Vietnams coastal waters as Saigon fell, he draws from multiple sources ranging from the ships terse deck log entries to the passion of his letters sent home to his wife in Hawaii. This book reveals not just what the author saw, but how he felt about leaving the War in Our Wake.