We Were Winning When I Left: The American soldiers that I knew in the Vietnam War.

Engineers in Vietnam were constantly in danger of attack by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. But it rarely happened. The problem for engineers was the environment: the heat, humidity, rain, long hours and disease. When the citadel at Phu Cuong was attacked during Tet 1968 a small group of engineers from the 92nd Battalion and the 41st Port Construction Company fought well and defeated a main force VC battalion. They fought rarely but fought well, under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Harry Lombard,a legend in the Corps of Engineers whose greatest concern was open ditches, and about the ditch that finally got him.

Air cavalry troopers were different. They lived in relative comfort but were in daily violent contact with the enemy. They went into battle in helicopters, seeking out and destroying the VC and NVA wherever they could be found and it was a rare day when the enemy was not found. The casualties suffered by the enemy at the hands of the cavalry were horrific. One has to respect the determination and courage of the soldiers who faced our air cavalry.

This book tells of the daily struggles of both types of units, through the recollections of the author who after graduation from West Point was sent to Vietnam to command an engineer company and later was a pilot in the Warlords of the Americal Division.