Hill 488

Ray Hildreth · Charles W. Sasser

Jun 2010 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

For some, Hill 488 was just another landmark in the jungles of Vietnam. For the eighteen men of Charlie Company, it was a last stand—this is the stirring combat memoir written by Ray Hildreth, one of the unit's survivors.

On June 13, 1966, men of the 1st Recon Battalion, 1st Marine Division were stationed on Hill 488. Before the week was over, they would fight the battle that would make them the most highly decorated small unit in the entire history of the U.S. military, winning a Congressional Medal of Honor, four Navy Crosses, thirteen Silver Stars, and eighteen Purple Hearts—some of them posthumously.

During the early evening of June 15, a battalion of hardened North Vietnamese regulars and Viet Cong—outnumbering the Americans 25-to-1—threw everything they had at the sixteen Marines and two Navy corpsmen for the rest of that terror-filled night. Every man who held the hill was either killed or wounded defending the ground with unbelievable courage and unflagging determination—even as reinforcements were on the way.

All they had to do was make it until dawn...

Ratings and reviews

It was a book I read in 1.5 days. I am not a reader. Whenbj was a kid I didn't like book reports even for free pizza. When I return from the Iraqi war and was on a train returning to chicago,il. I was a book by a Vietnam veteran he told me what you saw , you are not alone. Thank you to who had wrote this book. Thank you to the Vet that had given me this book. It has helped to know that, in all wars that we have all suffered the same horror.

I came to know each of these men through the author's description. This book great insights into a desperate battle for survival and the amazing strength of character of men at war.

written by someone who recognises how such a battle should be written factual without sounding cold to the fact good men died that night and morning.

About the author

Charles W. Sasser has been a full-time freelance writer, journalist, and photographer since 1979. He is a veteran of both the U.S. Navy (journalist) and U.S. Army (Special Forces, the Green Berets), a combat veteran, and former combat correspondent wounded in action. He also served fourteen years as a police officer (in Miami, Florida, and in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was a homicide detective). He is author, co-author, or contributing author of more than thirty books and novels, including One Shot-One Kill and Hill 488. Sasser now lives on a ranch in Chouteau, Oklahoma, with his wife Donna.