David Adams

Hill - 55: Just South of Danang Vietnam David Adams

Marking the debut of a new literary talent, Hill 55 captures the irony, fear, and camaraderie of life as a grunt during the Vietnam conflict. Drawing on his own experiences, Dave Adams spins his memoirs from a series of stories and events into a distinctive novel that anyone can appreciate, especially the grunts who lived it first hand. Set during the buildup of the Vietnam war in 1966, Hill 55focuses on the daily survival of comrades-in-arms and unspoken heroes situated eight miles south of Da Nang. The story evolves as Dave Adams, a twenty-three-year-old ex-Marine grunt, becomes bored with civilian life and reenlists in the Marines. Shortly after his arrival in Vietnam, the stark realization of war is nothing like he anticipated. He begins to lose his friends, his reasoning for the war, his humor, and, eventually, his sanity. The turbulent mind games of the enemy snipers and their never-ending small arms fire, and the day-to-day routine of a no-win situation with no foreseeable end in sight comes down to a war of survival, in body and in mind. Told in a nuanced narrative that resonates with truth, Hill 55 is a haunting, bittersweet tale of survival and the road home.