Spite House: Last Secret

by Monika Jensen-Stevenson

Ten days before his tour of duty ended in 1965, Marine Pvt. Robert Garwood was taken captive by the Vietcong. In 1979--six years after the Vietnamese government had allegedly released all American POWs--he was still a prisoner of war. A jeep driver for a Marine Intelligence unit, Bobby Garwood suffered through fourteen years of unabated hell in a succession of prison camps in North Vietnam. But his most devastating ordeal came after his release. For Garwood returned home not to a grateful America, but to a court-martial, accusations of treachery and collusion, and to disgrace. Colonel Tom McKenney arrived "in-country" in 1968, three years after Garwood's capture by the enemy. Assigned to a clandestine team of "hunter-shooters," McKenney's top-secret mission was to scour the jungle for turncoats in U.S. military uniform. And one of the "traitors" he was directed to terminate was Pvt. Robert Garwood. This is the remarkable true story of two Marines--a hunter and his prey--and of a chilling covert military operation designed to cover-up high level incompetence by destroying a loyal soldier's life and future.

Genres: Nonfiction

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1997

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot about the Vietnam (Southeast Asia) POW/MIA issue. Having read the authors book “Kiss The Boys Goodbye,” previously I knew some of the Garwood story. This book is just another indictment of the US government and its decades long coverup of all the soldiers they left behind and ALIVE after the Paris Peace Accords and Operation Homecoming. Held illegally by the Vietnamese. Abandoned by the US government. Garwood is one of several thousand betrayed and left to die. This book is five stars because it tells the truth. Too bad the media in the US have never cared about those men.

[Elliot R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book. I've read a lot about Robert Garwood over the years and finally the truth is out. Reading many POW books they were less than complimentary about Garwood and mostly hateful. Although these books were written before the treatment of Garwood, and how he was used, was known this book is a must read.

[Denise R. Jackson-Holder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non Fiction: A marine is held prisoner in Vietnam for 14 years. Not only tortured by his NVA captors, his government turns its back on him.

The book is not a liberal attack on war nor is it a conservative pep rally. This book is a truth, like the kind of truth about yourself that causes you to wince when it crosses your mind.

On the surface, it points out the dangers of directing a war with focus on appeasing media and public opinion rather than winning and the toll that perspective takes on the actual boots on the ground. The book is an excellent read if only for the story of the man and his survival.

Looking deeper into the moral of the story, so to speak, the light it shines on our government leaders and decision makers both military and political, a harsh and blunt spotlight on how often and easily those in leadership tend to forget or ignore the consequences of their "expedient" decisions. Focused on their image, caught up in the game, what they consider "the greater good", they are safely distanced from seeing the effects of those decisions first hand and makes it easy to forget those who have to live and survive the reality of those decisions. It was true then and it is true now.

I love America and our form of government however, I am disgusted by our leaders, the media and kowtowing to public opinion regardless of reality. I wish every member of the three branches of government, the pentagon and security agencies such as CIA & FBI would read this book.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an eye opener into the truth behind war ...