Randolph R. Madera

The Epiphany of Eagles Randolph R. Madera

Feeling alienated from his privileged world and uncomfortable with the "pop" counterculture of the 1960s, a troubled young man, Ron Williams, decides to enlist for the war in Vietnam. But upon arrival in the war-torn country, Williams is randomly assigned to a covert reconnaissance squad attached to S2 (Army intelligence), where he discovers deeply disturbing facts about the war. Was it true that Harry Truman had been kept unaware of the pro-American sentiments of Ho Chi Minh, just as he'd been kept unaware of the atomic bomb? Was this what led Truman (under considerable political pressure from the French) to allow Vietnam to revert back to French rule instead of to Ho Chi Minh? Was it also true that Ho Chi Minh would have broken all ties to communism if only the United States had promised to sponsor him? Was it true that Vietnam's top generals-the ones that defeated the Japanese, the French, and now the U. S.-had been trained by the OSS, forerunner of the CIA? Was it true that an entire decade of war and the loss of over 50,000 American lives was due to a simple misunderstanding? While his covert S2 duties are extremely hazardous, they do not exempt Williams from further risking his life with regular Army troops in some of the most spectacular battles of the Vietnam War. As he gains more and more access to Army intelligence, another disturbing pattern emerges: the Viet Cong in his province are never caught off guard. They always know when and where the Army will attack and are always ready to counterattack. He soon begins to suspect the unthinkable: there is an American traitor among his commanding officers-and that traitor wants him dead. Williams now faces three choices: solve the mystery that will most likely get him killed, die in combat, or be sent home in disgrace. Worse yet, he realizes that all three losing propositions are set against the backdrop of a war that should never have been.