THIS GUT-WRENCHING FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT OF THE WAR IS A CLASSIC IN THE ANNALS OF VIETNAM LITERATURE.
"Guns up!" was the battle cry that sent machine gunners racing forward with their M60s to mow down the enemy, hoping that this wasn't the day they would meet their deaths. Marine Johnnie Clark heard that the life expectancy of a machine gunner in Vietnam was seven to ten seconds after a firefight began. Johnnie was only eighteen when he got there, at the height of the bloody Tet Offensive at Hue, and he quickly realized the grim statistic held a chilling truth.
The Marines who fought and bled and died were ordinary men, many still teenagers, but the selfless bravery they showed day after day in a nightmarish jungle war made them true heroes. This new edition of Guns Up!, filled with photographs and updated information about those harrowing battles, also contains the real names of these extraordinary warriors and details of their lives after the war. The book's continuing success is a tribute to the raw courage and sacrifice of the United States Marines.
Johnnie M. Clark is a disabled veteran who lives with his wife and two children in St. Petersburg, Florida. After joining the Marine Corps at age seventeen, he served as a machine gunner with the famous 5th Marine Regiment in 1968 and was wounded three times. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery. While recuperating in Okinawa, Mr. Clark studied karate as part of his rehabilitation program, and after his discharge, he taught martial arts at the University of South Florida. He is now a 6th Dan Master of tae kwan do and operates a tae kwan do school in St. Petersburg. Clark is also the author of Semper Fidelis, The Old Corps, No Better Way to Die, and the forthcoming Harlot's Cup. He is the recipient of the Brig. Gen. Robert L. Denig Memorial Distinguished Service Award for writing.