"The Right Stuff without the hype, Yeager without the ego."--Washington Post Book World
"While the jet-jockey competitiveness, the undercurrent of fear, the victories and foul-ups of jet sweeps have been described many times, few such chronicles have done it so grippingly and with such a ring of accuracy. Mr. Grant explores the emotions felt not only by the men in battle but by the wives and others left behind, and the questions the war raised in their minds. To put in larger context the war's impact on individual participants, the author periodically reviews the high-level struggles over how to fight the air war.
"What is most impressive is to find an analysis so clearly stated, so seemingly on track in locating the weak spots in the policies of various political and military officials....Written in a straightforward yet stylish prose, Over the Beach carries tremendous conviction."--Richard Witkin, New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Gripping!:
This book is about the fighter pilots of the Fighter Squadron 162 - based on the USS Oriskany. This book is an excellent account of the exploits of carrier based fighter pilots. You understand their fears, their trepidations, the danger of carrier landings at night, and the general terror and excitement of flying fighter jets in Viet Nam. It's told in a "you are there" context. We feel the pain of the wives as they learn their husbands are shot down and not coming home; the strain they go through awaiting... more info
History as it should be...:
Zalin Grant's "Over The Beach" is an account of fighter squadron 162 from the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany during the Vietnam war. Grant does a masterful job of blending the history, with the real lives of the people who were a part of that history.
The reader feels the palpable emotions of the pilots as they "crossed over the beach" on their way to targets in Hanoi and Haiphong. The squadron was incredibly successful, but with that success came great loss. Many pilots were shot down over North Vietnam... more info
The 1966 Viet Nam cruise of the U.S.S. Oriskany (CVA 34):
From the very first chapter, I knew that "Over the Beach" was the diary I had failed to keep while serving on the U.S.S. Oriskany (CVA 34) during it's deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin in 1966. Over and over again, I found myself reliving the actions described there. Instantly putting faces to the names. Remembering the 16 October 1966 fire in hangar bay one. The only mistery left is how someone who was not there know so much of the times and the people ? It was genuinely like finding an old family photo... more info
The 1966 Viet Nam cruise of the U.S.S. Oriskany (CVA 34):
From the very first chapter, I knew that "Over the Beach" was the diary I had failed to keep while serving on the U.S.S. Oriskany (CVA 34) during it's deployment to the Gulf of Tonkin in 1966. Over and over again, I found myself reliving the actions described there. Instantly putting faces to the names. Remembering the 16 October 1966 fire in hangar bay one. The only mistery left is how someone who was not there know so much of the times and the people ? It was genuinely like finding an old family photo... more info
