"My essence as a Marine was to be on the line'.' To Ernie Spencer, the line was 8 months as the commander of a rifle company in Vietnam. In Welcome to Vietnam, Macho Man, Spencer tells who the line guys were and how they adapted to war. He shows how they talked, what they wore, and how they fought. He also describes the inner war with fear, frustration, and chaos that each soldier faced. Welcome to Vietnam is a military history and a psychological portrait written with passion and raw humor. This autobiography is one man's answer to the question: What happened in Vietnam?

Ernest Spencer—After graduating from Chaminade University in Honolulu, Ernest Spencer was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve in 1965. He spent the next 3 years on active duty at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and in Cuba and Vietnam.

Only two weeks after leaving Vietnam, he began his civilian career in the shipping business. He tried to sever himself from his war experience.i

Seventeen years later he was diagnosed as suffering from severe post-traumatic stress disorder — he was forced to relive the feelings he had tried to suppress. This book is an outgrowth of his attempt to explain to family and friends the war he had never discussed.

Today he works with homeless veterans and groups that support veteran's causes.

"Welcome to Vietnam, Macho Man [is like] being right there, reliving it. I... found it to be personally helpful and healing; it is well written, easily read, and powerful. Ernie Spencer has made a very valuable contribution, telling the story as it really was in terms of how we felt at the time." — Ray Stubbe

The Khe Sank Vet Newsletter July 1987

Paul Marquis

Web Master

Jim Cannon

Historian

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