Praise for War on the Rivers
A realistic and dramatic memoir of combat in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War

“I HAVE READ many books over the last decade on swift boats and the river wars in ‘Nam—however, this is the best of the lot.  If one had to read just one book on this genre, then this is the book they need to read.  It is not some dry facts and numbers book told by someone with no connection to the events— this is from a real survivor of those times—and he has a personal and entertaining story to share.  A great memoir and one that I personally recommend!”

—W. H. McDonald, Jr.  Founder of the Military Writer’s Society of America and author of A Spiritual Warrior’s Journey


“THE AUTHOR has hit a ‘home run.’  I can vouch for the authenticity as I was there at the same place and time. . . . His description of exploits early in his four-year enlistment are right on target, such as life on the aircraft carrier, liberty in San Diego and various sailor ports such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Subic Bay . . . . His talent of injecting current events into specific time periods adds immensely to the story proper.  The flow of this very factual and technically correct description of events that took him from the Swift Boat crew school at Cornonado, Calif. And on to Vietnam and the very dangerous patrols on the rivers and canals, to his R & R time Down Under, are exactly how life was in this particular part of the war . . . .  Well done, Mr. Symmes.  You captured this part of the ‘dirty little war’ in a magnificent way that truly tells the story of the ‘Swifties.’”  —Lt. J. E. Howard USN (Ret.) Review from Military Magazine Vol. XXII, No. 11

“YOUR BOOK was unique in the sense that there were not radical kinds of adjectives, that you interleaved the everyday tensions, fears and exhilarations . .  . That the personality and observation of your fellows came through so beautifully . . . and that the everyday danger and risks were painted in the larger context of the conduct of war.” —Earl Frank (“Rex”) Rectanus
Vice Admiral United States Navy (Ret.)