Just released is “The Red Tavern,” the true story of the silent preachers of the First Air Cavalry Division, who piloted the Huey helicopters that were the beginning and end of every Vietnam story.
The story is set in 1967, following the First Cavalry Division’s Ia Drang Valley campaign, which gave rise to the book and film “We Were Soldiers.” As is typically the case, the Army had not only been victorious in battle but had begun commemorating that victory in song – home-grown folk music that grew to be part of the legacy of the cavalry as new troops came to replace departing veterans. As the war went on, newer exploits gave rise to newer songs. One of them, The Valley of the Song Re, was co-written by the book’s author, Dan Green, and a fellow pilot who was the son of the U.S. Army’s Chief of Chaplains. The Red Tavern culminates with the details of the battle of the Song Re Valley and the creation of the song that memorializes that battle.
Green was the editor of General Aviation News during 1984, shortly before the magazine was acquired by the Sclair family. After serving as an Army helicopter pilot and instructor from 1964-1971, he left the Army for the world of general aviation and freelance writing. He retired from aviation in 1996 after 10 years as an EMS helicopter pilot, and since that time has been editor of a small religious weekly newsletter in San Antonio, Texas.
The Red Tavern is available in hardcover for $24.38 from Lulu.com. It also can be downloaded as an e-book for $8.99.
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