BOOK YOUR MEN AT WAR (TOM TIED IN VIET NAM) (BOX50)

 COURTESY OF GIBSONS TACTICAL TAVERN                                                                       MILITARY SURPLUS LISTING INDIVIDUALLY PICTURED

YOUR MEN AT WAR: TOM TIEDE IN VIET NAM

COPYRIGHT: 1966 BY NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATION 

THE NEWSPAPER EDITOR AD ASSIGNED HIMSELF A TOUGH JOB THAT MORNING, TO PICK A REPORTER TO GO TO VIET NAM. THIS WAS NO ROUTINE ASSIGNMENT.  IF THE NEA WAS TO HAVE A REPORTER IN THE RAPIDLY EXPANDING WAR, HE HAD TO BE ONE CAPABLE OF PRODUCTING  A DISTINCTIVE TYPE OF REPORTING IN COVERING THE COMMON SOLDIER.                                                                                                                  TOM TIEDE'S VIET NAM REPORTS STARTED COMING THROUGH. THE EDITOR ADVISED HIS CLIENT NEWSPAPERS: MARK WELL THIS NAME--TIEDE! YOU'LL BE USING IT ON PAGE ONE. FIRST NAME IS TOM. LAST NAME IS PRONOUNCED LIKE "TD" FOR TOUCHDOWN.                 WITHIN THE WEEKS, THE FIRST OF A TOIDAL POURED FROM EDITORS AND READERS AROUND THE COUNTRY, ACCLAIMING THIS NEW WAR REPORTER. "KEEP TIEDE COMING." SAID NEWSPAPER EDITORS. "BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU SO CAN CONTINUE TO TELL US ABOUT OUR BOYS." WROTE A GI MOTHER TO TIEDE.                                                               THIS BOOK BRINGS TOGETHER THE THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS OF A CONSCIENTIOUS REPORTER ABOUT HIS FIRST MONTHS COVERING A DIRTY AND UNPLEASANT BUSINESS, A WAR WHICH NO MAN ENJOYS BUT WHICH EVERY SOLDIER KNOWS MUCH BE FOUGHT THROUGH TO HONORABLE CONCLUSION.                                                                                        THESE STORIES TELL ALMOST AS MUCH ABOUT THE MAN WHO WROTE THEM AS THEY DO ABOUT THE WAR.                                                                                                      FOR TIEDE HIMSELF IS DEEPLY INVOLVED INVOLVED IN THE HORROR AND MISERY HE SEES. A MAN WHO NEITHER DRINKS, SMOKES, NOR USES PROFANITY, HE UNDERSTANDS WHY A BOY SOLDIER IN VIET NAM CLOAKS FEAR BEHIND A ROUGH FACADE.                                                                                                                                 A RELIGOUS MAN, TIEDE STRIVES TO EXPLAIN THE PARADOX BETWEEN THE NOBILITY OF OUR NATION'S MOVIVES IN VIET NAM AND THE BRUTALITY OF THE METHODS SOLDIERS OFTEN ARE COMPELLED TO USE.  IN A MOVING CHAPTER, HE ASKS A CHAPLAIN, "WHOSE SIDE  IS GOD ON IN THIS WAR?"                                                       SO HERE IS TOM TIEDE'S WAR, A REALISTIC WORD PORTRAIT WITH ITS MUD AND GLORY, ITS CRUELTY AND ITS BRAVERY. A GREAT REPORTER HAS FOUND MEN'S SOUL'S AMID MUCK AND GUNFIRE.                                                                                                                                    QUOTED FROM: BOYD LEWIS:                                                                     PRESIDENT AND EDITOR  NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATION   NEW YORK    FEBRUARY 1966