Foreword by General Anthony Zinni, co-author (with Tom Clancy) of "Battle Ready" (0425198928 ). In what is sure to become a classic, "Boys of '67" follows the careers of a group of young second lieutenants from their baptism of fire in Vietnam, through the Cold War, and to the current insurgency in Iraq. Some would never make it out of Vietnam alive. Some would be crippled by wounds. All would fight like tigers, and one would rise to the very top, commanding the Marine Corps they all loved. A sweeping saga of the United States Marine Corps. " Boys of 67 is a great read, and it should rightly occupy a prominent position on modern-era military-history shelves." -- Doug Childers, Richmond Times-Dispatch "A riveting and entertaining overview of the Corps over the last three decades." -- Mackubin T. Owens, New York Post "His description of combat operations is accurate and compelling." -- Col Thomas D. Stouffer, USMC (Ret), Marine Corps Gazette "[A] gripping tale of three very different Marines destined to become legends." -- Maj Robert T. Jordan, USMC (Ret), Leatherneck I never planned to write a book about the Marine Corps. Though I grew up as a Marine "dependent," with a brother who fought in Vietnam and a father who was a three-star general, I was into reading Kesey, not Clausewitz. But the Corps kept invading my personal space -- especially in the form of a tall, adventurous first cousin who became a Marine and followed in my father’s footsteps. By the late 1990s, Gen. James L. Jones, had become the top military advisor to then-Secretary of Defense William Cohen. In 1999, Cohen named Jim the 32nd Commandant of the Marine Corps. -- a powerful post that put on him on the president’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. As a newspaper reporter, I began to reflect on the more than 50 years of military service of my family members, and, after my father’s death, began to think about chronicling their stories. This effort expanded into something far beyond a family saga to encompass the Marine Officer Basic School graduating class of April 5, 1967. I met living legend Maj. Gen. Ray Smith, a highly- decorated officer and hero of the Battle of Hue City. I got to know a passionate man from Fayetteville, Ark., Lt. Gen. Marty Steele, who fought for racial justice and took on more than his share of other burdens for Corps and country. "Boys of ‘67" tells their stories, and sheds new light on this proud, idealistic, and courageous fighting organization -- the U.S. Marine Corps. At once a gritty, intimate account of combat, an inside look at military leadership in a turbulent era at home and abroad, and a sweeping saga of the modern-day United States Marine Corps, Boys of 67 tells the story of a group of extraordinary Marines, their country, their Corps, and their wars. Of the Marine officer graduating class of April 5, 1967, three of their brethren--Jim Jones, Ray "E-Tool" Smith, and Marty Steele--would come to epitomize the courage, sacrifice, and honor that they all strove, and sometimes gave their lives, for. After completing the grueling Basic School, the young second lieutenants shipped out to Vietnam, where they fought like tigers in the streets of Hue, at the mountain outpost of Khe Sanh, and on a small hill known only as Foxtrot Ridge. In this bloody crucible were forged the lessons that guided them for the next four decades. In that time, Jones, Smith, and Steele blazed paths across the world and in the Corps, on the frontlines and through the corridors of power in Washington. They saw combat in Grenada and Beirut in 1983, reshaped the Marines armored forces, and participated in one of the world s largest humanitarian relief efforts in northern Iraq in 1991. The threesome also navigated the waters of politics, from rounds of golf with Richard Nixon and rounds of beer with John McCain to congressional committees and Pentagon briefings. All three became generals, with one rising to the very top to serve as the Corps thirty-second Commandant and later as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, the first Marine to hold that post. Whether braving withering mortar fire, battling Chrysler for better tanks, or locking horns with Gen. Tommy Franks over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this trio of dedicated warriors exemplifies the Marines Semper Fi tradition. In their idealism and character, they represent a generation of Marines who met unprecedented challenges and made the Corps what it is today: America s premier fighting force. Charles Jones is a staff writer for the Richmond Times-Dispatch . He is the son of the late Marine Lt. Gen. William K. Jones and lives in Richmond, Virginia. Used Book in Good Condition