Ghost Platoon

In 1969 a ragtag unit of 39 men were thrown together at Nui Dat, Vietnam. It was so slapdash a group it didn t even have an officer or sergeant in charge. A rugged ex-Royal Marine stepped forward to take the lead. Jim Riddle was ten years older than most of his fellow soldiers and only an acting corporal. But Riddle knew enough of war to keep these young diggers alive. When the platoon was involved in a high-risk ambush an action that could easily have ended in disaster Riddle proved his leadership skills, bringing his men through unscathed and leaving the battlefield littered with enemy bodies. Despite their success, immediately afterwards the platoon was disbanded, the team broken up and scattered. According to the army they d never existed theirs was a ghost platoon. Now, more than forty years later, Frank Walker details what happened at that ambush and why the army buried their existence, and the secrets that went with it. His findings are a shocking indictment of the long-term effects of war. The men of the platoon who d fought so hard for their country had to fight again to reveal the truth. But the price they all paid was far too high.