There to the Bitter End: Ted Serong in Vietnam

by Anne E. Blair

More than 35 years ago, the CIA and the Pentagon invited Ted Serong, an Australian soldier, to advise them on the conduct of the war in Vietnam. This is Serong's previously untold story of that war. When the Australian government made the decision to send a group of Australian jungle warfare experts to Vietnam as a contribution to the American alliance, it was Serong who led this team and personally chose its members. He had two additional assignments, the first as advisor to the U.S. military commander in Vietnam, and the second, secret until now, as an advisor to the CIA on counterinsurgency. Concerned from the outset that the U.S. had no strategy for carrying on the war, Serong warned John F. Kennedy's special group of the dangers ahead. Serong stayed on to advise the last president of South Vietnam as the North Vietnamese army converged on Saigon, to escape only in the final helicopter evacuation from the U.S. embassy roof.

298 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

Reviews

[Barry Sierer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided I wanted a comprehensive book on the Vietnam war without the historical baggage that comes with the American point of view. I emailed the Royal Australian military academy and this was the book that was recommended. It fit the bill perfectly.

The book chronicles the career of Ted Serong. An Australian jungle warfare expert (who learned his trade in Borneo). He spent 10 years in Vietnam and had been present for all it's major developments. It is clear , concise, but not very long, which is amazing considering the subject matter.