West Dickens Avenue

A Marine at Khe Sanh

By: John Corbett

Narrated by: Eric Conger

In January 1968, the 26th Marine Regiment was ordered to a place in the far northwest corner of South Vietnam called Khe Sanh. John Corbett, an untested replacement in a clean, green uniform, and his fellow leathernecks were responsible for building and defending the combat base, and holding positions on the strategic hills overlooking the Ho Chi Minh Trail as it crossed into Laos and South Vietnam from nearby North Vietnam.

Only days after Corbett arrived at Khe Sanh, some twenty thousand North Vietnamese soldiers surrounded the base, outnumbering the American Marines seven to one. What followed over the next seventy-seven days became one of the deadliest fights of the Vietnam War—and one of the greatest battles in military history.

Private First Class Corbett, an “ammo humper” in an 81mm mortar section, made do with little or no sleep for days on end. The enemy bombarded the base incessantly, and Corbett’s mortars returned the fire, day and night. Extremes of heat, cold, and fog added to the misery, as did all manner of wounds and injuries too minor to justify evacuation from frontline positions. The emotional toll was tremendous as the Marines saw their friends suffer and die every day of the siege. Corbett relates these experiences through the eyes of an eighteen year old but with the mind and maturity of a man now in his fifties. His story of life, death, and growing up on the front lines at Khe Sanh speaks for all of the Marines caught up in the epic siege of the Vietnam War.

Critic reviews

“REMARKABLE . . . This story, made even more poignant by today’s headlines, can stand shoulder to shoulder with the handful of classic accounts of Marines under fire.”
—Flint Journal

“In this short, readable account, Corbett describes his days at Khe Sanh in almost dispassionate prose and in great detail. . . . effectively convey[ing] the siege from a Marine grunt’s point of view.”
—Publishers Weekly

real deal

excellent book. on the money. enjoyed. easy listen highly recommmed all read.
short and accurate

A Marine at Khe Sanh

An enjoyable book. I was at Khe Sanh only later in the War. It was during Lam Son 719 & Dewey Canyon ll. The discription of the airstrip and the surrounding hills is all very true. Khe Sanh is like being a fish in a barrel. The only difference is who is looking into that barrel from the surrounding hills. The Marines and anyone there caught hell from the surrounding hills if we did not control them. I enjoyed this book as it brought back alot of memories both good and bad.