Orchid Press

Tiger Men, Paperback/Barry Petersen

Twenty five years after he left Vietnam and his Montagnard tribesmen, Australian Barry Petersen wrote this thoughtful story of his life among the Rhade and other ethnic groups of Darlac Province. He went there to train and lead the local tribes to defend their villages and homes against the Viet-Cong; this book is the story of the Truong Son -- Tiger Men --who became the most respected and feared self-defence force in South Vietnam. But it is also the sad story of the subsequent defeat and destruction of the Montagnard villages, culture and way of life--as much due to the Vietnamese and American generals and political leaders as to the Viet-Cong. For his heroic efforts, Petersen himself almost paid the ultimate price--years after his departure from Vietnam, he learned that both the South Vietnamese and some Americans had plotted to have him killed. This is a book which the CIA would rather not see in print.