Highpocket's War Stories and Other Tall Tales
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About the Book
Highpocket's War Stories is an eloquent account of combat leadership in Korea and Vietnam. Colonel Peter L. Hilgartner is widely recognized in the Marine Corps as a successful combat leader, first as a junior officer in Korea and later commanding the First Battalion, Fifth Marines fighting the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army.
Hilgartner tells of leading troops in counter-guerilla action, and major battles with North Vietnamese troops -- Union I, Union II and Swift -- to control the strategic Que Son Valley. His story gives never-before-told, vivid descriptions of Marines in hand-to-hand combat with North Vietnamese troops from the perspective of Marines who were there. Every grunt will appreciate this gripping account.
About the Author
Peter L. Hilgartner, a retired U.S. Marine Colonel, was born in Austin, Texas. His father, an eye doctor, owned a ranch near Yorktown, Texas. As a youth, young Hilgartner had the opportunity to experience life on this ranch. Additionally, he spent six months on the southwest Texas ranch owned by Herman and Becky Sparks. The story Buckshot and The Boy is a blend of those experiences, as well as the experiences of his brothers and close friends. As a Marine, he is veteran of both Korean and Vietnam Wars. In Vietnam, he commanded the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment earning the nickname from his men of Highpockets, due to his unusual height of 6’ 6”. He is co-author of Highpocket’s War Stories and Other Tall Tales, a book which received the 2005 Marine Corps Gazette’s Frances Fox Parry Award for the best combat initiative story written in the past two years. A 1951 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Colonel Hilgartner holds an advanced degree in business management from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He is an avid outdoorsman and hunter. He is a certified volunteer Senior Hunter Education Instructor with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries outreach courses. Hilgartner and his wife, Sara, and their four dogs reside in Great Falls, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington, DC, where they enjoy daily adventures exploring God’s creation.