Book report: “SOG, A Photo History of the Secret Wars.”
I’m about a fourth of the way through Maj. Plaster’s “SOG, A Photo History of the Secret Wars.” The book was damn expensive, just over $50 from Amazon but I have found it to be a fascinating read.
So far I have only come across one mention of the 119th where it is listed along with the 57th AHC, 189th AHC, 170th AHC, and the 361st Aviation Company (Escort) as helicopter units that flew for SOG in Command and Control Central.
It is far more than just a photo book as roughly 25% of it is text with fairly detailed explanations about many of the incidents, people and equipment depicted. Photos are an eclectic mix, drawn from many sources: some donated by air crews, many taken by SOG personnel themselves while they were on missions, and others from archives ranging from the U.S. Army to North Vietnamese sources.
A few items of particular interest to me as I get into the book:
Plaster says the CIA was using Norwegian PT boats with Norwegian captains for missions along the North Vietnam coast before the Tonkin Gulf incident.
There is a lot of information about the sophistication of the construction and operation of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that was new to me. I’ll never forget my first look at it from the air. It was more like the Ho Chi Minh Expressway with daily bomb damage and truck tracks around the craters the next day.
I only saw the H-34 Kingbees, flown by Vietnamese pilots, once or twice at Dak To so information about them was new to me as well.
I like to read in bed before falling asleep at night. This book is not ideal for that for two reasons: It’s a page turner and hard to put down and the subject matter is not meant to put a dumb old door gunner in dreamland. However, I find Plaster’s writing faultless and enjoyable. I highly recommend this book, as well as his other two on SOG.