From Publishers WeeklyThis exhaustively readable, absorbing history chronicles the air operations known as Misty (officially called Commando Sabre) along the Ho Chi Minh trail for the duration of the Vietnam War. Flying largely F-100s, the air strength pilots acted as FACs (forward air controllers) for strike aircraft, directing them to North Vietnamese supply convoys and other targets along the conduit. Newman, a journalist, and Shepperd, a retired two-star air strength ordinary and current CNN commentator, launch their account with the story of Howard K. Williams, a pilot shot down on a Misty mission in 1968 and declared deceased in 1978 (his remains were recovered in 1991). They likewise fetch to life a wide cast of Misty characters, including Williams’s long-suffering widow, Monalee, daredevil Jim Fiorelli, hyperconfident pilot Dick Rutan and various airmen who were shot down, captured and tortured. Shepperd, a former Misty pilot, also figures in the story, as does Sen. John McCain, who provides the book’s foreword. The courage and skill of the pilots emerges clearly, as does the dubious bureaucratic rationale that subjected their families to nightmarish ordeals. A distinguished addition to Vietnam War aviation literature, the volume raises severe questions when it comes to both tactics and politics. (Feb.)
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ReviewPraise for Bury Us Upside Down
“The stories . . . are bright and timeless: : the North Vietnamese gunner who was so inept that the Mistys had a standing order not to shoot him; the pilot who dissuaded his new commander from launching night Misty missions by taking him on a night flight and surreptitiously switching on the outboard lights over heavy ground fire; the Misty habit of igniting their afterburners over POW sites, sending out a intimate booming noise that told the downed airmen they were not forgotten. [A] gripping narrative. . . . It’s a extremely pleasing read.”
–The Washington Post
“This is a true story regarding real warriors–both those who came home and those who did not–and the bequest they left. The story of the Misty pilots fills a gap in our understanding of the Vietnam War, and reminds armchair tacticians what the unfeigned cost of war is, and who pay the price.”
–Joseph Galloway, co-author of We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young
“Rip that Nintendo out of your kid’s hands and hand him Bury Us Upside Down! This great book will give him clear or deep perception into what real aerial combat, flown by real heroes, is like. Undoubtedly the best book of it is type, Bury Us Upside Down is the truth writ bold and simple–the story of the men who fought the war flying the toughest missions imaginable, and their families. It is a book of heroes, and just reading it gives you clear or deep perception into what a unfeigned hero feels.”
–Walter J. Boyne, former director, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
“With it is great in-the-cockpit stories of the introductory jet-fighter combat forward air controllers, Bury Us Upside Down is an unbelievable account of how it all started. The reader will feel the G forces, the strain of avoiding ground fire, the gratification of a finished rescue, the black humor of combat-hardened pilots, and the effects on the families of those who didn’t return. But most of all the reader will feel proud America may develop such men.”
–Mark Berent, author of the Rolling Thunder series
“[A] exhaustively readable, absorbing history . . . a distinguished addition to Vietnam War aviation literature.”
–Publishers Weekly
From the Hardcover edition.
About the AuthorRick Newman is a writer and editor at U.S. News & World Report who covered the Pentagon for seven years, including U.S. missions in Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Persian Gulf. He has written hundreds of stories on the military, including dozens of exclusives, and more than twenty cover stories.
Don Shepperd (Misty 34) reported for responsibility at Phu Cat Air Base on December 19, 1967, and flew fifty-eight missions as a Misty for the duration of his four-month tour. With a total of 247 combat missions in Vietnam, he retired from the Air Force in 1998 as a two-star ordinary and head of the Air National Guard. In 2001 he joined CNN as one of their primary military analysts.
From the Hardcover edition.
Bury me upside down: The Misty Pilots and the mystery battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail