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(More customer reviews)I have never read a better book about heroism than this book, it is a must read. This true adventure takes place during the Vietnam War. Kenny Fields, a Navy Pilot, has written an adventure story about his escape from Laos after his aircraft was shot down. We are told in graphic detail of his experiences and of those attempting his rescue. The reader will feel as if he or she is in the jungle with him and in the Air Force aircraft attempting his rescue. It also tells of the heart ache and fear family members go through when their loved ones are placed in harms way. This book will become a classic of men at war. It illustrates the courage, love of God, country and family of our men in the military.
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On 31 May 1968, Lt. Kenny Fields catapulted off USS America in his A-7 for his first-ever combat mission. His target was two hundred miles away in Laos. What the planners did not know was that Fields was en route to a massive concentration of AAA gun sites amidst an entire North Vietnamese division. Fields, call sign Streetcar 304, was the first to roll in, and he destroyed that target with a direct hit. Three AAA guns began to fire, but, following his wingman's run, he rolled in again. This time many more AAA guns opened up and Fields was shot down. Soon, a rescue pilot suffered the same fate. The Rescue of Streetcar 304 is Fields' exhilarating narrative of the forty hours that followed and what turned out to be one of the largest and most spine-tingling air rescues of the Vietnam War. Fields mixes humor and drama as he recounts teeth-chattering close encounters with Pathet Lao guerillas, and nearly being killed time and again by friendly bombs. He describes in riveting detail the radio chatter between participants, and the stress effects of coping with fear, sleep deprivation, wild animals, and relentless AAA. By the time it was over, the U.S. Air Force had flown 189 sorties to rescue Fields, and in the process four pilots ejected, seven planes were lost or heavily damaged, and one pilot became a POW for five years.
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