Cliff Buchan
News Editor
There was a time when telling a story about Vietnam was the thing Christy Sauro least wanted to do. When Sauro came home from Marine service in Southeast Asia in 1968, he wanted to put the war behind him.
And for good reason. It was a time when the Vietnam War was a black mark in this countryís history and soldiers coming home from combat were scorned.
As a young man trying to adjust to civilian life, Sauro could never escape the questions of war. When he returned home from Vietnam in 1968 and three years later when he left the service, he too found himself questioning the war.
ìHow could you not question it,î Sauro said, reflecting on a time when public opposition to the war soared and students on college campuses protested the war.
In civilian life, Sauro said he faced his past with deep ìguiltî that he had served in a war that most felt was immoral. ìShould we have been there?î was a question Sauro said he frequently asked himself.
Time to heal
In the decade following his discharge from the Marine Corps, Sauro said he slowly came to conclude that there was more to say on what Americaís service personnel were experiencing while in the military and later as civilians.
For Sauro it was something he was slow to accept. But accept he did and today he holds a 16-year project in his hands ó a book on Vietnam.
He is the author of ìThe Twins Platoon, An Epic Story of Young Marines at War in Vietnam.î
The book is as much a labor of love as it is a detailed and moving account of Marines from Minnesota who volunteered for service and went to Vietnam.
The book takes its title from the ceremonial start of Marine life for some 150 men and women who took their military oath of office at home plate on June 28, 1967 at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. Before the fourth inning of the Minnesota Twins game had ended, the recruits were on buses and headed to the airport for the flight to San Diego and boot camp.
Before the year would end, most of the Marines saw duty in Vietnam for 13-month tours that would change their lives forever.
Sauro, a North Branch resident and owner of an insurance agency in Wyoming, traces the start of his book to 1990.
ìThe idea first came to me in October of 1984,î Sauro said. He resisted the inner stirrings to document this time in his life for six years, but in 1990, fueled in part by a personal belief that the time was right, Sauro started researching, interviewing and writing.
ìIt started out like a good idea but it became a calling,î Sauro said. ìAfter the start in 1990, there was no turning back.î
A massive job
In his years of work on the book, Sauro said he has come to gain a new understanding of Americaís role in the war. He describes his research as painstaking with countless hours spent reading historical accounts of the war, newspaper stories, military documents and hundreds of letters from Marines and letters sent to Marines in combat zones.
ìI didnít leave any stones unturned,î Sauro said.
While the historical research provided a solid foundation for the book, the interviews with Marines from Sauroís Twins Platoon and their families provide the heart for the book.
He interviewed 48 members of his platoon and family members to provide a detailed historical account of their experiences in Vietnam.
The book was Sauroís way to satisfy his curiosity of what happened to members of the platoon and answer questions in his mind on the morality of the war and the performance of the military.
ìI didnít understand the big military picture,î Sauro said. ìIt was hard to place much meaning on our little corner of the war.î
What he found
From his office in Wyoming, Sauro wonders if the book resting on his desk will catch the fancy of readers. He hopes it will because he feels ìThe Twins Platoonî will give readers of all ages and generations a different perspective of what young service personnel from Minnesota met while in the Marines.
After researching and writing the book, Sauro says he came away with a ìbetter appreciationî of what happened in Vietnam.
ìFor many veterans it will still feel the same,î he says. ìThe names will be different but many of the experiences will be the same.î
Sauro has concluded that the war was scripted in political and military fronts that made it next to impossible to win. It was political wagging that often dictated how the military carried out its function.
ìStrategically it was a disaster,î Sauro said. With restrictions of targets in neighboring Laos and Cambodia, local politics and the demilitarized zone, the struggle was difficult, he said.
ìOur troops did a tremendous job militarily, even with our hands tied.î
Sauro says his research produced information that helped him cast new light on his own service. In his 13 months in Vietnam, Sauro participated in 28 combat operations and three campaigns, including the Tet Offensive in February of 1968 and the Siege of Khe Sanh.
ìYou do what you are told on a daily basis,î Sauro said.
Book details
ìThe Twins Platoon,î published by Zenith Press of St. Paul, is slated for sale in all Barnes & Noble book stores and will be available at other retail outlets, including Wal-Mart. It can also be purchased on the Internet at www.amazon.com.
The 27-chapter, 288-page book is richly illustrated with 32 black-and-white photos from the period and numerous letters. It is the letters that Sauro believes help tell the story of the Marines.
ìThis is ground zero through the eyes of the letter writer,î Sauro said. ìItís like being there (Vietnam) with them. You are seeing their life through their lives.î
Sauro is slated to have book signing events at two metro locations this April and an event in Forest Lake on March 18.
The Forest Lake book signing will be at Morgan & Company, 25 N. Lake St., Park Place, in downtown Forest Lake. Books will be available for purchase.
He will be at the Har Mar Barnes & Noble book store in Roseville on Wednesday, April 19 and will be at the Anoka County Historical Society in Anoka on Saturday, April 22.

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