Valley of Death: A Shau, Vietnam War, William Whorton

This is a continuing episode in the William Whorton series "Vietnam: Insane Asylum." Today, Capt. Whorton (ret) discusses what many called the "Valley of Death," A Shau Valley in Vietnam, on the Lao border and not far from Hue. Whorton discusses what The Valley was to Americans, its ruthlessness, its dangers, and that it came to be known as a feeling of foreboding, a place of dread.

The series itself profiles the insanity of the Vietnam war from the perspective of a former Marine who did two wartime tours there. Former U.S. Marine and Silver Star award recipient Bill Whorton did two wartime tours in Vietnam, one as an Infantry Platoon Commander for sixteen months, ten of those months as a Platoon Commander in Vietnam. He characterizes the war which he will tell us about as an Insane Asylum, hence the series name.

Whorton was both enlisted and an officer in the Marines and is a polyglot, fluent in Vietnamese, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, & Teochew), Japanese, and several other languages including both ancient and classical Greek. His other awards include the Bronze Star (Meritorious Service in Combat), Purple Heart, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (with silver star), Navy-Marine Parachutist, Eagle Scout, and KARATE (Okinawa) Black Belt 1st Dan.

A true Warrior and Renaissance man, Bill taught at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok for over a decade and reaching mandatory Thai retirement age, became a special lecturer for another 19 years. He is co-translator & co-author with Assistant Professor Tassanee Sinsakul of the recently published THE BHAGAVAD GITA: Lord Krishna’s Sacred Teachings on the Battlefield-of-Life, a translation taking 24-years to realize.

Whorton’s BHAGAVAD GITA can be found at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Bhagavad-Gita-...

And at uppsalabooks.com. You can see an interview with Whorton at jamesboagyoga.com.

‪@CarterOnConflict‬