Extraordinary Valor
The Fight for Charlie Hill in Vietnam
William Reeder Jr.
Lyons Press, Guilford, Connecticut, 2022, 296 pages
Book Review published on: March 24, 2023
On 5 July 2022, in a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, President Joe Biden awarded the Medal of Honor to retired U.S. Army Maj. John J. Duffy for his actions during the Vietnam War. In the book Extraordinary Valor: The Fight for Charlie Hill in Vietnam, William Reeder provides a vivid account of the action in 1972 that led to Duffy receiving the Nation’s highest award for valor.
The battle for which Duffy was honored took place in April 1972 when the North Vietnamese Army launched a massive three-pronged invasion of South Vietnam, which became known as the 1972 Easter Offensive. Over 130,000 North Vietnamese regulars struck at Quang Tri south of the DMZ, at Binh Long Province in Military Region III, and at Kontum in the Central Highlands. The invasion resulted in some of the fiercest fighting in the war at a time when most U.S. ground troops had been withdrawn.
When the North Vietnamese attacked in the central highlands, Duffy was serving as an advisor with the South Vietnamese 11th Airborne Battalion, which was given the mission of defending Charlie Hill, one of a string of positions along “Rocket Ridge,” the high ground northwest of Kontum City.
For two weeks, Duffy and his counterpart, Lê Văn Mễ, a young South Vietnamese major who assumed command of the battalion when the commander was killed early in the battle, held off repeated attempts by the North Vietnamese attackers to take Charlie Hill. Duffy and Mễ worked together directing the paratroopers and doing everything in their power to hold the position against human wave attacks and heavy incoming indirect fire. Duffy was all over the battlefield, spotting targets for artillery, calling in and adjusting air strikes, and encouraging the paratroopers to hold on. During the battle, both Mễ and Duffy were badly wounded, Duffy multiple times. Yet they and the other South Vietnamese paratroopers continued to fight until, short of ammunition, they were overwhelmed by the much stronger enemy force and were forced to withdraw. During the withdrawal, Duffy repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire to direct close air support against the enemy. In the end, the heroic action of Duffy and Mễ allowed thirty-six surviving members of the 471-man battalion to escape and be rescued. The rest were killed, captured, or missing in action. Duffy refused to be evacuated until his counterpart and the last of the paratroopers were aboard the final helicopter.
For his actions in the battle of Charlie Hill, Duffy was nominated for the Medal of Honor; however, the award was downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross, the Nation’s second highest award for valor. In 2012, the Medal of Honor nomination was resubmitted. The Department of the Army convened a board in 2017 to review the case. After a lengthy process, the medal was approved, resulting in the White House ceremony this year. Lê Văn Mễ was in attendance and was recognized by Biden for his role in the battle.
The author, who also attended the White House ceremony, writes this book from a unique vantage point, because he was there in 1972. Reeder, a retired U.S. Army colonel, flew a Cobra attack helicopter in support of Duffy and the 11th Airborne Battalion during the battle for Charlie Hill. Reeder, who was later shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese, wrote this book to chronicle the valiant stand by Duffy and the South Vietnamese paratroopers. He takes a unique narrative approach, using reconstructed dialogue and personal recollections based on hours of interviews with the participants in the battle. The result is an extremely readable account of men in desperate battle.
This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. It is particularly valuable for its depiction of the bitter fighting that characterized the 1972 North Vietnamese offensive in a time when very few Americans were directly involved in the fighting on the ground. It is also a testament to the bravery of the South Vietnamese who fought and died on that bloody hill in 1972.
Book Review written by: Lt. Col. James H. Willbanks, PhD, U.S. Army, Retired, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas