Marines and Military Law In Vietnam: Trial By Fire

Washington D.C.: History and Museums Division, 1989. First Edition. First Printing. 4to. 27cm x 21cm. Publisher's green cloth. Dustjacket. Titled and decorated to spine and front board, with the USMC globe and anchor in gilt. Pictorial dustjacket bright and clean, with some marginal wear and chipping, most visibly to spine ends and the lower edge of the rear panel, which has a fingernail sized triangle of loss and a small closed tear. A very good, strong copy. 295pp. Internally clean. A candid record of the challenges and unprecedented cirumstances the USMC legal department in Vietnam had to deal with. Fragging of unpopular officers, casual murder of Vietnamese civilians, sexual assault, massive amounts of theft and graft, and a drug problem (that obviously gives rise to a flourishing drugs trade) that was so widespread and serious that it threatened to destabilise the entire system of military law were all handled by somewhere in the region of 500 men and women of the Navy and Marines legal teams between 1965 and 1973. Many of the lawyers involved in cases in Vietnam were also combat personnel fighting on the ground and practising military law in addition to their regular duties, meaning that they were probably more qualified to defend and prosecute the men under their charge than just about any body of lawyers in history.