Contact: Marcia Meier, Publisher Weeping Willow Books Marcia@weepingwillowbooks.com
“Sharkbait, A Flight Surgeon’s Odyssey in Vietnam” is now available in paperback from Weeping Willow Books.
This memoir is based on detailed daily journal entries by Guy S. Clark, M.D., who served as a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon during the Vietnam War.
In early 1966, Clark was a 28-year-old Air Force physician with a pilot’s license headed to Vietnam. It was exactly what Dr. Clark had hoped for: a choice assignment as flight surgeon to the elite pilots based at Cam Ranh Bay Air Force Base on the South China Sea.
His tour of duty turned out to be nothing like he imagined. The year-long assignment would find Clark flying more than 90 bombing missions over Vietnam and Laos as a crew member in a Phantom F4-C, plunging deep into the Viet Cong-infested jungle with a troop of Marines from the Republic of Korea in search of the remains of two lost Phantom pilots, and tending to the medical needs of the hard-charging pilots he flew with.
Guy Clark’s experiences as both crew member and doctor to the pilots who flew bombing missions every day were very different from the ground troops and helicopter pilots, many of whom have written eloquently about their own war experiences. Clark was a physician who dreamed of high adventure, and for him flying with the Phantom F4-C pilots was the ultimate high.
“Sharkbait, A Flight Surgeon’s Odyssey in Vietnam” tells these stories and more, including Clark’s survival of “Jungle Survival School” in the Philippines, and temporary assignments at Vung Tau (the “Riviera” for servicemen in Vietnam), Binh Thuy, and other Air Force outposts in Southeast Asia.
Along the way, Clark introduces readers to arrogant and clueless military brass, jungle bases where offices were huts that doubled as shelters for sows and piglets, and courageous pilots who day after day flew into the danger and uncertainty of a war that was becoming increasingly unpopular at home.
Clark received the Bronze Star, three Air Medals, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, and the Vietnam Service Medal for his service during the Vietnam War. This memoir is based on a personal journal he kept throughout his year of service, from June 1966-June 1967. Today, he lives and works in Santa Barbara, California.
“Sharkbait” was published in hardback in 2017 and earned high praise from Vietnam veterans, Air Force officials and aviation buffs.
Kirkus Reviews called it “a vivid glimpse into violence, bravery, heroism, suffering, and death. Brutally honest and unfiltered, ‘Sharkbait’ is unforgettable and a welcome contribution to military biography collections, highly recommended.”
To find out more about “Sharkbait” visit the Weeping Willow Books website at www.weepingwillowbooks.com/sharkbait. It is available on Amazon and on the Weeping Willow Books website at https://www.weepingwillowbooks.com/shop.
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Editors Note: For interviews with Dr. Clark or a review copy of his book, contact Weeping Willow Books at info@weepingwillowbooks.com.