THE LAST WOLF HOME
by Major Pat Clark
Writer's Showcase, 428 pages
$22.95 at www.iuniverse.com
ISBN: 0-595-17439-6


Over 1000 American airmen were shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War; more than 450 were known to have parachuted safely, ending up alive on the ground. What happened to these men subsequently listed as Missing In Action? Were they all simply executed by a ruthless enemy or could some of them be held still, for some sinister reason, in the remote reaches of a desolate and mysterious area of the world?

In The Last Wolf Home, Major Pat Clark, a veteran of more than 400 combat missions over North Vietnam and Laos, tells a compelling story of what might have happened (and may be happening still) to the Americans still listed as MIA. The author’s descriptions of the desperate combat that took place in the air war over the Ho Chi Minh Trail draws the reader in and takes him to that evil place of smoke and dust and fire where the threat of lonely death in a bleak jungle was ever-present. The fierce determination and raw courage of those who flew the Search And Rescue missions are accurately portrayed by a man who was there to see this action first-hand. This is a novel of much more than just the story of those who did the fighting in Vietnam; it explores the never-ending trial of those who loved the ones labeled MIA. It addresses the quandary of the many who came home filled with survivor’s guilt, the feeling that they had failed not only their comrades-in-arms, but loyal allies of the United States who were abandoned in Laos.

The cover of the book is an extraordinary photograph of a Wolf FAC on an actual combat mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail at the Laotian/North Vietnamese border. The extreme ruggedness of the terrain, the web-like network of trails, along with the moonscape created by massive bombing can clearly be seen. It was into this hostile environment that the FACs flew daily.

Anyone who served at one of the American air bases in Thailand during the Vietnam War will appreciate the author’s accuracy in bringing out the disorientating contradiction between the comfort and safety of Thailand and the grim jeopardy waiting just across the Mekong River. The exuberant scenes at the Ubon Air Base O' Club where pretty bar girls flit back and forth with trays full of drinks are juxtaposed with hot, sweaty, adrenaline-producing missions out over “the trail”, being shot at by every AAA gunner in the valley. While this book lays out no extraordinary hope for the men still missing in Laos, it does tell a story of courage, determination, and hope of those caught up in the MIA dilemma.

Reviewed by Col(ret) J. Stewart Mosbey