March 2023 MBR The Military Shelf

The Military Shelf

Sign Here for Sacrifice
Ian Gardner
Osprey Publishing
4301 21st St, Suite 220B, Long Island City, NY 11101
www.ospreypublishing.com
9781472849427, $30.00, HC, 304pp

https://www.amazon.com/Sign-Here-Sacrifice-Battalion-Airborne/dp/1472849426

Synopsis: "Sign Here for Sacrifice: The Untold Story of the Third Battalion, 506th Airborne, Vietnam 1968" draws on interviews with veterans, many of whom have never gone on the record before. Author Ian Gardner follows up his epic trilogy about the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II with the story of the unit's reactivation at the height of the Vietnam War. This is the dramatic history of a band of brothers who served together in Vietnam and who against the odds lived up to the reputation of their World War II forefathers.

Brigadier General Salve Matheson's idea was to create an 800-strong battalion of airborne volunteers in the same legendary "Currahee" spirit that had defined the volunteers of 1942. The man he chose to lead them was John Geraci, who would mold this young brotherhood into a highly cohesive and motivated force.

In December 1967, the battalion was sent into the Central Highlands of Lam Dong Province. Geraci and his men began their Search and Destroy patrols, which coincided with the North Vietnamese build-up to the Tet Offensive and was a brutal introduction to the reality of a dirty, bloody war. Gardner reveals how it was here that the tenacious volunteers made their mark, just like their predecessors had done in Normandy, and the battalion was ultimately awarded a Valorous Unit Citation. "Sign Her for Sacrifice" shows how and why this unit was deserving of that award, recounting their daily sanguinary struggle in the face of a hostile environment and a determined enemy.

Through countless interviews and rare personal photographs, "Sign Here for Sacrifice" is a story of battlefield action, leadership, humor and bravery as displayed by these airborne warriors.

Critique: Informatively enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of a two page Bibliography and an eight page Index, "Sign Here for Sacrifice: The Untold Story of the Third Battalion, 506th Airborne, Vietnam 1968" is a welcome contribution to personal, professional, community, and academic library Vietnam War History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. Exceptionally informative, well written, organized and presented, "Sign Here for Sacrifice" is also available for students, academia, military history buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject in a digital book format (Kindle, $20.49).

Editorial Note: Ian Gardner (https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/507891.Ian_Gardner) served for five years in Support Company, 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. After a visit to Normandy in 2000 he decided to focus on the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which led to the critically acclaimed trilogy Tonight We Die As Men, Deliver Us From Darkness and No Victory in Valhalla. He is also the author of Airborne: The Combat Biography of Ed Shames of Easy Company.

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