Ridding The Devils (1990) By Frank Palmos
 
Frank Palmos -- an Australian war correspondent who was ambushed by Viet Cong with four colleagues in the Chinese quarter of Saigon, but escaped when the commandos paused to avoid friendly fire. PTSD victims often self-medicate with compulsive behavior, or they seek therapeutic closure. Palmos determined to "rid the devils" by returning to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) twenty years later and investigate the ambush incident. Above all he hoped to meet his attackers and achieve reconciliation. As an experienced reporter, he applied his investigative skills: he visited the site; he found a few witnesses and interviewed them. He never found any of his attackers: his honesty about that is testimony to his professionalism. In 1990, when "Ridding the Devils" was published, the professional standards of reporting could be taken for granted; Palmos modeled these standards.
 
During the Tet offensive, war correspondent Palmos and four other colleagues were ambushed in Saigon by a squad of Viet Cong. His colleagues were all killed and he survived by playing dead. Twenty years later, the new government in Vietman invited Palmos back as a conciliatory gesture. Here he tells of the efforts for find survivors of that ambush squad. He returns to old haunts, talks to veterans of both sides and tells the story, not only of their horrendous psychological problems, but of his own attempts to come to terms with his experiences.
 
Soft Cover
214 Pages
In Good Condition