Leon Davidson

Red Haze looks at the circumstances that brought Australian and New Zealand soldiers to the experience that is called 'The Vietnam War'. It is a very comprehensive and readable book about the Vietnam War and one of the few written for young adult readers, Leon Davidson sticks to facts in this book but events are made personal with the use of letters and recollections and personal experiences of real soldiers, from both sides, and from the protesters at home. The reader can begin to gain some understanding of how difficult a time it was, as well as insight into fighting a war, by the use of personal experiences to bring the reader close to the action and uncertainty.
Nothing could have prepared Australian and New Zealand soldiers for the environment in which they asked to fight. The dust, mud, rain, leeches, mosquitoes, snakes and an intractable foe were all part of the soldiers lives and described by the writing that also brings out the brutality and compassion and the confusion and violence that accompanies war.
The Vietnam conflict was a complicated affair. There were many who people believed that if communism was allowed to spread in Vietnam that it would eventually 'infect' countries all the way to Australia and New Zealand. Others believed that Australia and New Zealand should never have become involved in the fighting. While various political battles were waged at home, soldiers fought in the hostile environment. Red Haze tracks the war from the political impetus of its beginning, through many of the well-known and less well-known battles, to the 1973 ceasefire.
The author tries to take a balanced viewpoint although much might still be regarded as contentious even today.… (mer)

This book is half fiction, half non-fiction, and the balance works really well. He writes about the movie Gallipoli not having any NZ soldiers in it and attempts to redress this by quoting NZ, Aus and Turkish soldiers. The naivety and innocence lost of the nations in an undercurrent that runs through the account. It was absolutely fascinating some of the things that they did, mistakes made and also the heroism of the soldiers as they fought in such a terrible stalemate.
p.56-58 a NZ soldier’s recollection of his first kill.… (mer)