Every so often I will be mentioning a book that I’ve recently read and think visitors to this website may want to consider reading. Some books will be non-fiction and some will be works of fiction. Each will be a book that I especially liked and feel that others would enjoy or benefit from reading.

I strongly recommend Doyle Glass’s Swift Sword (Dallas: Coleche Press, 2022), a book that is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.  Swift Sword is the story of the Marines of Mike Company, which on September 4, 1967, was part of relief mission to rescue two companies of comrades that were in danger of being annihilated by a huge enemy force in the Que Son Valley. The company’s one day action chronicled in Swift Sword was part of the twelve day campaign of Operation Swift.

Swift Sword is an account of the ferocious battle that the men of Mike Company faced during that day and night. More than any book I’ve read, Swift Sword discloses the grim, existential nature of combat. The company commander pondered problems and possible solutions, after which he made decisions in the “mass confusion” of battle without knowing the full ramifications of his orders. Readers are brought face to face with the harrowing nature of combat, with the terror that men faced, the despair they felt, and the bravery they exhibited. Glass does not conceal the fear, pain, despondency, and at times hopelessness the men endured. Nor does he shrink from discussing fatal errors that were made during the battle.

Glass interviewed forty-nine men who fought that day and scoured the twelve after-action reports on the engagement. Through his research and wonderful talent as a writer, Glass succeeds in bringing to life the courage and heroism of the mostly very young Marines who fought and died in a desperate, obscure, and nowadays largely forgotten battle. But readers of Swift Sword will neither forget the men they encounter nor the ordeal they experienced in this savage fight.