In *Black Hawk Down,* the fight went on for a day. In *We Were Soldiers Once & Young,* the fighting lasted three days. In *The Village,* one Marine squad fought for 495 days-half of them died.
Few American battles have been so extended, savage and personal. A handful of Americans volunteered to live among six thousand Vietnamese, training farmers to defend their village. Such "Combined Action Platoons" (CAPs) are now a lost footnote about how the war could have been fought; only the villagers remain to bear witness. This is the story of fifteen resolute young Americans matched against two hundred Viet Cong; how a CAP lived, fought and died. And why the villagers remember them to this day.
Description:
In *Black Hawk Down,* the fight went on for a day. In *We Were Soldiers Once & Young,* the fighting lasted three days. In *The Village,* one Marine squad fought for 495 days-half of them died. Few American battles have been so extended, savage and personal. A handful of Americans volunteered to live among six thousand Vietnamese, training farmers to defend their village. Such "Combined Action Platoons" (CAPs) are now a lost footnote about how the war could have been fought; only the villagers remain to bear witness. This is the story of fifteen resolute young Americans matched against two hundred Viet Cong; how a CAP lived, fought and died. And why the villagers remember them to this day.