MWSA Book Review

Tattletale: A Two Tour Vietnam Veteran’s Combat Experiences On the Ground and in the Air

Author:  Charlie Palek

Publisher:  AuthorHouse

Reviewer: Bill McDonald – President of the MWSA

The Vietnam War as experienced by one veteran - On the ground and in the air!

Rarely, if ever, do we ever get to read two different views of how a war was fought from the same combat veteran. Author Charlie Palek’s memoir “Tattletales: A Two Tour Vietnam Veteran’s Combat Experiences on the Ground and in the Air” provides the reader a wonderful opportunity to see and feel how that war was for those who were engaged in fighting it. Not how some general saw the war but how the common solider lived through it all.

I loved his book and how he tells his story by periodically using that old military axiom called “Murphy’s Law." The author certainly has a wonderful sense of humor and does not take himself so serious. His portrait of his two tours of duty—one as a RTO (radio operator) humping the boonies and the paddies, to being a scout observer on a helicopter where he saw the war from tree top level: totally different and contrasting kinds of experiences and dangers. (The title of his book refers to having had these two military jobs; as RTO he told where the enemy was when they found or engaged with them; and as a scout it was his job to tell where the bad guys were at – thus he was a “Tattletale.”)

Palek captures the attention of the reader right from the beginning story with his interesting beginning that got me hooked, then made smile. His book is not a series of lectures, or written in some textbook style—it is more like he just “talks” to you about his time in Vietnam. His story is at times can be sad, funny, frightening, but always riveting. You will feel pulled into his life story as he unfolds it page by page. It took him 30 years to sit down and write it but it feels fresh like a first told tale from a returning solider back to the base camp. His writing style is relaxed and not formal. It is an easy read and one that will keep you turning pages until you have finished the entire book.

The last section written by members of his family is a novel way to tell his total story. Through their own experiences and observations they share their emotions and comments—adding greater depth and some more understanding to the whole war experience as felt by those who lived through that time of our history.

This book is given the MWSA TOP RATING – 5 STARS

A MUST READ BOOK!