Across The Fence: The Secret War in Vietnam (Expanded Edition)

Across The Fence is a top-notch memoir and history detailing one of the most hazardous jobs in the Vietnam War. In order to gain intelligence on and disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail, small teams of Americans and Vietnamese were secretly inserted into Laos and Cambodia under the umbrella of MACV-SOG (Studies and Observation Group). Wearing sanitized uniforms without emblems and carrying weapons without serial numbers, SOG teams were ghosts, in countries that were officially off-limits, operating beyond artillery range with whatever air support that they could scrounge up.

Meyer has a fine ear for action-filled writing, and a keen memory (skills sharpened by a post-war career as a reporter and editor). The stories are incredible, with six and eight man teams facing off against entire NVA divisions, a tale I’d be inclined to say was exaggerated except that when writing the book Meyer managed to get in touch with the retired NVA general who commanded the other side of the battle. There are fraught ambushes, desperate firefights, and harrowing last minute rescues. SOG teams were half American, and half Vietnamese, and Meyer has a deep and true fondness for his Vietnamese comrades and their fight against Communism, particularly the ice-cold pilot Captain Nguyen Van Tuong, who flew the team into and out of danger in his elderly H-34 helicopter.

Across The Fence is a top-notch memoir by an exceptional soldier. It doesn’t aspire to make a grand statement about the nature of the war, but it meets its aims and then some. The only flaw is that while there are plenty of pictures, the publisher screwed up and made them postage stamp size. Meyer and his comrades deserve better than blurry pixels. I hope a new edition fixes that problem.