On June 3, 1969, the USS Frank E. Evans was hit by the HMAS Melbourne during nighttime exercises. The Evans, and other ships in the exercises, were heading back to the Vietnam combat zone after having refueled and picked up more ammunition. 74 men on the Evans died when it was sliced in two. The names of those men are not on the Vietnam memorial because although the ship was coming from and returning to combat, they were not technically in the combat zone when tragedy occurred.

This story intrigued journalist Louise Esola who investigated the Evans and its tragedy. American Boys is the result of that investigation. This book is not just the story of the accident. It is a story of the men-- many of them just boys -- on that ship. She conveys how they were just, as the mother who lost three sons in the collision noted, normal American boys, boys sent with too little training to a war they -- and at that point, most people -- did not want to fight.

I came to this book because of a family connection. One of the men who died, Alan Armstrong, is a relative of mine. That connection made reading the book even more poignant, especially reading of the last family gathering he attended -- his sister's wedding, hosted at my grandfather's old farm. But even with out that connection, Esola creates a human connection to a war that, for most of my generation, is nothing more than an abstraction glossed over in history class and US culture.

Like Esola, it's hard to read these stories and stay distant. The reasoning for not including the names of the 74 lost men on the Vietnam memorial rings shallow -- they were 200 miles on the wrong side of a line drawn mostly for accounting purposes (not only that, but the men on the Evans and other ships received Vietnam Service Medal credit for the exercises, implying that they were recognized at the time as having been participating in war related activities). But the survivors and the families of the victims continue to try to change that. I hope they eventually succeed. ( )

Heart-wrenching, in that times and actions we now only read about become real, become live in the pages of AMERICAN BOYS. I recall being 13 and worrying about my older brother...how may years did he have, how long would the war last, the draft..... We think of soldiers as being men but no...for the most part no, they are mere boys.

Some went cuz they had to, some did out of patriotism, all went to Vietnam naive and unprepared. I actually relished the style of writing where the reader LEARNS while also getting know these Navy boy/men as real folks,,,not just names on a memorial wall or someones memory. ( )