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MWSA Review
How would you like to spend one year in South Vietnam in 1967 – 68, enduring the oppressive heat and humidity? One year in a support role in the rear echelon dealing with perimeter duties and random attacks with mortars, RPGs, and sniper fire? One year of long days, short nights, constant sleep deprivation, and non-stop longing for home? No, Charlie Hughes wasn’t humping in the jungle experiencing direct combat with the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Charlie was serving his country with a headquarters company, a base of support for the infantrymen and helicopter crews in combat. Any headquarters was always a big, fat, juicy target for the enemy, especially during the Tet Offensive.
In Goodbye Charlie: Recollections of Vietnam, Charlie Hughes shares his experience as an artillery surveyor with the HHB 1st Battalion 27th Artillery. Although his military occupation specialty (MOS) was as an artillery surveyor, Charlie wrote that he did every job on the base—except his MOS. One day, he was given the opportunity to serve as a photographer in 5-5 Headquarters 23rd Artillery Group in Phu Loi. Charlie had studied photography in school, hoping to be a professional before he was drafted. He eagerly accepted. Relevant to his new job, he often traveled in the air above Vietnam with the colonel, who had his own helicopter.
From basic training to and through his deployment, Charlie chronicles the day-to-day nitty-gritty of his experiences. He spent a lot of time developing pictures from his travels with the Colonel, and I was disappointed when I didn’t see any of Charlie’s photos from his time in Vietnam in this book.
Goodbye Charlie is a great legacy for his family and friends. Thank you for your service to our country, Charlie. Welcome Home!
Review by Nancy Panko (July 2025)
Author's Synopsis
The story of my year in Vietnam 1967-68 assigned as artillery surveyor with HHB 1st Battalion 27th Artillery, then assigned half-way through my tour as a photographer in S-5 at Headquarters 23rd Artillery Group in Phu Loi. The book takes the reader through basic, training as a battalion in Fort Sill, traveling by ship to Vietnam and the day-to-day struggles of a non-infantry soldier dealing with mortar attacks, the heat, long days, perimeter duties, loneliness, numerous helicopter trips to fire support bases and the Tet Offensive.
Format(s) for review: Paper Only
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 275
Word Count: 82,006