Saving Bravo

The Greatest Rescue Mission in Navy SEAL History

By: Stephan Talty

Narrated by: Henry Strozier

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

The untold story of the most important rescue mission not just of the Vietnam War, but the entire Cold War: one American aviator who knew our most important secrets crashed behind enemy lines and was sought by the entire North Vietnamese and Russian military machines. One Navy SEAL and his Vietnamese partner had to sneak past them all to save him.

At the height of the Vietnam War, few American airmen are more valuable than Lt. Colonel Gene Hambleton. His memory is filled with highly classified information, and he knows secrets about cutting-edge missile technology the Soviets and North Vietnamese badly want. When Hambleton is shot down behind enemy lines in the midst of North Vietnam's Easter Offensive, US forces place the entire war on hold to save a single man hiding among 30,000 enemy troops and tanks. Airborne rescue missions fail, killing 11 Americans.

Finally, Navy SEAL Thomas Norris and his Vietnamese guide, Nguyen Van Kiet, volunteer to go after him on foot. Gliding past hundreds of enemy soldiers, it takes them days to reach a starving Hambleton, who, guided toward his rescuers via improvised radio code, is barely alive, starved, and hallucinating after 11 days on the run.

In this deeply researched untold story, award-winning author Stephan Talty describes the extraordinary mission that led Hambleton to safety. Drawing from dozens of interviews and access to unpublished papers, Saving Bravo is the riveting story of one of the greatest rescue missions in the history of the Special Forces.

©2018 Stephan Talty (P)2018 Recorded Books

Poor choice of Narrator

I couldn’t get over how it seemed like the narrator needed a nap. Poor choice. I think it’s probably a good book but had trouble getting past the narration.

The real story of Bat 21

Loved the behind the scenes of the story, but I cringed every time the narrator would read the word Da Nang.

Great story

this book is a must-read. I'm glad I listened to this book instead of only watching the Hollywood movie bat 21. The movie I personally believe that the desgrace to the men and women who risk their lives to rescue Gene hambleton.

Excellent Book

This book tells so much more than just the story of BAT-21’s rescue. Fantastic.

I had to finish it in one sitting.

Loved the main rescue story. Relax, it wouldn't be a rescue if it wasn't a success. That doesn't mean there isn't any suspense. There's plenty of suspense.

My only complaint was that Appendix B follow up of two others from that time who were not so lucky left the end on a sad note. I could wish that the author had arranged his information so that the very last person followed had an upbeat ending.

There were sad tears, touching tears, and happy tears. If you are a person who cries when reading true stories you need to have tissues handy.

I have the Audible audiobook version. It was well worth the time to listen all the way through in one sitting. I couldn't leave it.

Remake

Stephan Talty has given us another take on a rescue story. Lt. Col. Gene Hambleton was an Air Force navigator whose airplane was shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam. The Air Force has a policy of not leaving any man behind if possible, but in this case there was even more of an incentive to get him out. Hambleton is a long-term career airman who has worked on many highly secret projects over the last two decades and he know a great deal of highly classified information that would be highly attractive toNorth Vietnamese and also their Soviet supporters. 

But, this was to be no easy rescue. Unbeknownst to the rescue team, this was in the buildup to the Tet Offensive and he had landed right in one of the main corridors of troops and materiel heading south. The strange thing was that military intelligence knew something about what what was happening but, even after the failure of several rescue attempts refused to share the information with the rescue teams. The story has been written into a previous book and made into a movie, Bat*21, but this account involves much more extensive research using many previously unavailable primary and secondary sources and interviews with many of the participants. The result is not just a story of a heroic rescue, but a more complete account of everything from the miscommunications, the mistakes, the controversies over the high costs in human lives, the internal politics involved, as well as the actual rescue and the amazing way Hambleton escaped detection and moved out of the area and close to a South Vietnamese base. After several failures and the loss of so many lives, the Air Force had been ready to give up but Navy SEAL Thomas Norris and a Vietnamese guide, Nguyen Van Kiet, volunteered, even insisted on going in on foot. They went far past the limits of their orders, barely avoiding enemy soldiers over several days while Hambleton is being guided by an improvised radio code based on his love of golf towards a meeting point, though when they meet he is so malnourished that he is barely alive and is hallucinating. 

Of course, as with most of this type of documentary literature, the author includes brief biographies of the main characters involved at various points in the narrative. The last part also includes some assessment of the movie and of the effect on Hambleton afterwards, both positive and negative. There is some follow up with the families of those killed or missing as a result of the several rescue attempts. All in all, it’s a well-rounded account that is interesting to anyone interested in military history or just in adventure stories.

All the blanks filled in!

Amazing detail and a fantastic story that fills in the blanks that Hollywood glossed over.

Truth is GREATER than fiction

Epic story and true none the less. If you are looking for some inspiration in your own fights, this is the place, from Gene Hamilton to Tom Norris, this book is full of real life heros and heroics that eliminate the need for fiction all together.

Enthralling

A great look and helpful understanding about a slice of American life. A must read

Outstanding

Very exciting and true adventure with very real hero's as opposed to the fictional ones. This is a relatively mild introduction to the horrors of war.

I wish this current generation had a greater appreciation for the courage and personal sacrifices that have been made that make our current comfortable lifestyle possible. We have not experienced war directly and we take so much for granted. Despite occasional hoodlum riots, we can't imagine the possibility of the devistation bombing and foreign invasion would bring to our cities. I can only hope our prodigy will have the fortitude to maintain their freedom. I wish everyone would be able to read/hear this story with some compression of the message it conveys.