Marine Corps helicopter crews and infantrymen found little glory waiting for them in faraway Vietnam. Instead, they found themselves battling tenacious Sino-Soviet pawns in a savage daily struggle for survival.
Former Marine HMM-265 helicopter pilot Marion Sturkey combines fascinating detail with grim realism in this eloquent saga of Marines at war. Weaving actual military records together with personal accounts from the helicopter crews, he breathes life into the daily struggle of the soldier.
Step through this unique looking-glass into the volatile crucible of combat in Vietnam. Taste the danger and fear, the madness and passion, and experience the love and brotherhood shared by the pilots and aircrewmen of the Bonnie-Sue.
Their survival became their victory.
Marion Sturkey graduated as Cadet Regimental Commander of the Marine Corp in April 1964 and a recieved a Second Lieutenant commission. He joined HMM-265, the first squadron to fly the new Boeing H-46 helicopters. He and his Bonnie-Sue squadronmates landed in Vietnam in May 1966. The Marine Corps promoted Marion to the rank of Captain when he returned to the United States in 1967. He spent a year training new pilots to fly the H-46 in combat. After seven years of service he was released from active duty and spent twenty-seven years in the corporate world. He published Bonnie-Sue after eight years of research in 1996. He now lives in his original hometown, his beloved rural community of Plum Branch, South Carolina. He has written and published nine books.
Dennis McKee is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.