"I especially enjoyed Ken's humor and keen insight into how the "system" worked in Vietnam. For example, "Promotion came fast in Vietnam, just stay alive." "The Amazing Adventures...." is not so much about "War Stories" as it is a book about what we can do for the Vietnamese people now."

"emotes, "I sincerely wish this book could be read by every high school senior in the country, it's funny, heartwarming, real and frank and challenging...embraces our ignorance and haplessness in the face of forces way beyond our control....encourages us to make the best of it, to value that part of what we're doing that is good, and to build on that all of our lives.....,"

Calls it, "a terrific story and a serious book that will be read and enjoyed by thousands..... "I read the first half of "Whop!" the first day and could not put it down" A wonderful tribute to your family, friends and comrades."

I enjoy reading and reviewing books by local authors, whether I happen to know them or not. The books often provide new perspectives on shared experiences and it is valuable for people in our community to read about the lives and creativity of our neighbors. Manhattanite Ken Embers recently published a book with a lengthy but descriptive title: The Amazing Adventures of Captain Embers & Chief Zogleman Whop! Whop! Whop!: Helicopter Pilots, 61 Assault Helicopter Co., LZ English, Bong Son, Vietnam, 1968-1969 st (Kindle Direct Publishing, 2023). I have known Ken Embers for perhaps three decades and have been aware of some of his charitable work in Vietnam years after his military service there in the sixties. I am grateful for his sharing this memoir of that service.

Embers, as the book’s title indicates, was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. The “Whop! Whop! Whop!” in the title is the sound of helicopter rotor blades. “Chief Zogleman” was fellow Kansan Mike Zogleman from Burns (near El Dorado), who was in Embers’ unit in Vietnam. The Vietnam experiences occupy only about the first third of the book. The second third relates Embers’ life after Vietnam: service as an instructor pilot stateside; study in France; graduate school at Kansas State University; teaching “baker’s math” and English as a Second Language at the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan; returning to Vietnam with other veterans on a project to establish libraries there.

The remainder of the book draws on reminiscences of other veterans, mostly those with whom Embers served, and of photographs. These reflections on their lives before, during, and after Vietnam greatly complement Embers’ account. Collectively, they provide a picture of a small slice of a generation of young Americans who served and returned and who can now reflect on those experiences.

Chapter ten relates how Embers and some of his fellow veterans became involved in the Library of Vietnam Project. “One day in 2010,” he writes, Mike Meyer walked into my office. He represented the Kansas Agricultural Hall of Fame and wanted to partner with AIB.” (P. 83) Once they realized they had both been in Vietnam with helicopter units, Meyer put Embers in touch with another veteran who had built a school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Soon thereafter, Embers and Zogleman made their first trip back to Vietnam in forty years. They and others undertook to build a library/learning center in Bong Son, where they had been stationed. Embers has “been back every year since, except during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020-2022.” (P. 91) He covers a lot in this short (10 pp.) chapter, but I would have enjoyed reading more about this later phase of the veterans’ lives and work in Vietnam.

Some Mercury readers might be interested in a related matter that is not treated at all in this book. Three or four years ago, Ken Embers contacted former Mayor (and present Kansas Representative) Mike Dodson. Embers’ friend Mike Meyer distributes books and other materials to charities and wondered whether Manhattan might be interested in receiving more than 7000 new books. As a Rotarian, Dodson took the question to the Manhattan Rotary Club. The club had just received a grant to support early childhood education and literacy in a six-county region and readily agreed to receive and distribute the books. In the past year, that book-distribution program has evolved into a much broader operation. The Community Cares Chest, co-sponsored by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation, Konza United Way, and other partners distributes a wide range of goods free of charge to area nonprofit organizations. Ken Embers and his fellow vets have had a significant positive impact not only on Bong Son, Vietnam, but also on Manhattan, Kansas!

This book is available in the Manhattan public library. I greatly enjoyed reading it and think that others will too, especially anyone old enough to remember the Vietnam war.

Ken Ember’s first self-published book gives us one more look at a pilot’s Past, Present and Future. Of course, his time as a Gun Platoon Leader and some memorable missions in the Past and other amazing adventures (misadventures?) in the 61st Assault Helicopter Company are documented. But (then) Captain Embers also documents his magnanimous (my word) efforts towards the Vietnamese people today. With several trips back to Vietnam in the Present, he discusses his efforts, along with other Veterans, to build Libraries in Vietnam, and especially his efforts to teach English as a second language to the Vietnamese children.

Not a long read, I had no trouble finishing the book in just a few sittings; plus, Ken kept my interest, a key requirement for me to judge a book. I especially enjoyed Ken’s humor and keen insight into how the “system” worked in Vietnam. For example, “Promotion came fast in Vietnam. Just stay alive!” And then there is the photo caption “A very, hairy, scary mission!” More than once, my wife caught me laughing out loud at some of Ken’s humor.

“The Amazing Adventures…” is not so much about “War Stories” as it is a book about what we can do for the Vietnamese people now. He is still very much involved in the Present and what we can do for the survivors and their families of that terrible time. As for the Future? Ken ain’t done yet! Via Zoom, he still teaches English to Vietnamese students. So nice know that even in our 70s and 80s, we are still trying to do something good for the people of Vietnam.