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Ulla and Eric Nolan with Keith's award |
The plaque and photo/information |
The plaque |
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Keith would be humbled by
all of the accolades he is receiving and I can tell you
that his family appreciates
all that you do for his
memory.
Becky Millinger
********
My
daughter and I visited Webster Groves High School and
took these photos of the Wall of Fame.
Keith's plaque is
the fourth from the left, bottom row. We are so proud
of him and the recognition of his work.
I hope you will
include the photos on his memorial page.
Becky
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Young historian shed
light on Vietnam
By Bill McClellan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Keith Nolan was 43 when
he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He didn't smoke.
Not regularly, anyway. He
might have a cigarette now and then when he was
drinking, but essentially, he was a nonsmoker. The
doctors told him the cancer was probably genetic. His
father had survived throat cancer and tongue cancer.
Nolan was living in the
basement of his father's house when I visited him in
January 2008. "The doctors say I have a year left,"
Nolan told me. The doctors were off by about a month.
Nolan died Feb. 19.
I liked Nolan a lot, and
I very much admired his work. He was a historian.
He wrote nonfiction books
about the Vietnam War.
He was, of course, far
too young to have served in that war. He was 3 years old
when the North Vietnamese overran Hue during the Tet
Offensive of 1968.
The battle to retake that
city was the subject of his first book, which he wrote
when he was in high school. It was a remarkable effort
for a high school kid. He used after-action reports and
interviewed veterans of the battle. Still, that first
book was the work of a young man with an agenda.
He intended to show that
the war was a more noble cause than people thought.
His later books became
more realistic. "Combat with all the warts," said
retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Gary Solis. Military
publications gave his books rave reviews. Historian
Stephen Ambrose praised his work. So did the men who
fought the sometimes obscure battles of which he wrote.
Even so, these were
always niche books. The market for nonfiction about the
Vietnam War was limited. Nolan made a living, but he
didn't get rich. He never made enough to visit Vietnam.
When I visited him a year
ago, he told me he was working on a final, big book. His
most ambitious project. He was going to follow an Air
Cav unit from the time it arrived in Vietnam to the time
it left. He said he thought the book would show how the
war evolved, and how the morale shifted. It was going to
provide a more comprehensive picture of the war than any
of his previous books. He had begun reading after-action
reports and had begun conducting interviews. But he
never finished.
A memorial Mass was
celebrated for him last Saturday at St. Joachim Church
in Old Mines, not too far from the place in Washington
County where he and his ex-wife, Kelly, had tried to
make a home.
I had met Kelly once
before. She seems nice. Marriages can be as complicated
and nuanced as history. I had also met their daughter
Britt.
She seems like a terrific
kid.
But most of the people in
the church were strangers to me, and as I looked around,
I wondered which ones were veterans who had come to pay
their respects to the man who had chronicled their
long-ago battles. An older man sitting across the aisle
from me had the bearing of an officer. Maybe he was a
captain or a major 40 years ago. Maybe Nolan had written
about the most desperate days of the man's life.
I looked around the
church at other people who might be veterans. This is
another ending, I thought, like the last helicopter
leaving the roof of the embassy. The best historian of
the Vietnam War has died, and his death comes just as
his own generation takes over, and the boomers, who have
been obsessed with Vietnam for 40 years, yield the
political stage.
It seems fitting. The
country has new wars and new veterans with which to
concern itself.
Maybe it's time we can
take stock. One of the nice things about Nolan's books
was that he usually included an appendix in which he
briefly mentioned what the various veterans had done
when they left the service.
Mostly, they took
ordinary jobs. This one became a lineman for a utility
company, and that one went back to college and became a
high school teacher and wrestling coach. Middle
managers, cops, lawyers, small-businessmen.
Most got married. In
other words, they got on with life.
It's interesting, I
suppose, that no Vietnam veteran became president.
Sixteen years of boomers
in the White House. One opposed the war and was a
protester, the other supported the war but avoided it by
getting into a National Guard unit. Both surrounded
themselves mostly with like-minded people.
After the Mass, we
gathered for lunch at the St. Michael House off Highway
CC. I introduced myself to the man who had been sitting
across the aisle from me. Paul Knese said he had not
been in any of the books. He is a financial planner and
a friend of the family's. I thought you were an officer,
I said. I was, he said. I was a pilot over there, he
said.
I met George Murphy and
his wife, Mary. They had come in from Newark, Ill.
Murphy served with the
101st Airborne at Firebase Ripcord in the A Shau Valley
in April 1970. The four-month battle for the firebase —
a battle the U.S. lost — was the subject of Nolan's
book, "Ripcord."
On the inside cover is a
quote from the Marine Corps Gazette. "Readers should not
be surprised if this battle is unknown to them.
Astonishingly, it went virtually unreported by the media
at the time, largely because of the close wraps imposed
by the Military Assistance Command Vietnam headquarters
in Saigon. ... It was an unknown battle until Keith
Nolan rightly decided that this is a story that had to
be told. Military professionals and historians alike
will be gratified that Mr. Nolan made that decision."
Murphy told me the
veterans of Ripcord have formed an association based on
the book. "The government tried to keep this quiet," he
said. "And they did until Nolan came along."
That was, I thought, a
wonderful epitaph for a historian.
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Anna Britt Nolan
Trust Fund
by George and Mary
Murphy
On Saturday, November 22, we drove to the home of Keith
Nolan's parents where Keith is presently living and
being cared for by his mother. Fortunately for us, Keith
was up to having visitors and we had a most enjoyable
visit with him and his mother, Ulla Nolan. Keith is
doing as well as he can and was in good spirits. He said
to tell everyone at the Ripcord Association how deeply
appreciative he is of the donations being made to the
trust fund for Anna Britt.
 He said it has helped to ease
his mind to think his daughter may someday have the
opportunity to go to college. He also said that of all
the veteran groups he has met in writing his books,
without a doubt the Ripcord Association has been the
warmest, most caring group of people he has dealt with.
Ulla told us that Britt is presently a straight-A
student and, like her father, she is eager to learn and
she loves to write. Unfortunately, we were unable to
meet Britt that afternoon, but Keith and his mom showed
us pictures of her (and she is a cutie), as well as
things she has written for school.
Keith's mother is the trustee of the Anna Britt Nolan
Trust, and she asked us to tell everyone at the Ripcord
Association that she wishes she could write a thank you
note to each and every person who has made a donation to
the trust fund. Unfortunately, she is still working and
when she is not at work, she is busy taking care of
Keith. She asked us to pass along her thanks to all of
you.
Please continue to keep Keith and his family in your
prayers. If you wish to donate to the fund, here is the
address:
Anna Britt Nolan Trust
c/o First Bank
6211 Midriver Mall Drive
St. Charles, MO 63304
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NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM AUTHOR BILL
McCLELLAN AND THE ST. LOUIS –DISPATCH NEWSPAPER. IT ORIGINALLY APPEARED
IN THE PAPER ON JANUARY 22, 2008.
Author of Vietnam tales sees daughter as his best work
Bill McClellan
Keith Nolan is a historian with a cult following. He writes
books about the Vietnam War. The books are often about obscure
operations, some of which went disastrously for the Americans. His
books are meticulously researched and clearly written—riveting stuff, to
my mind—but how many people want to read about the night Viet Cong
sappers overran Fire Support Base Mary Ann? Not enough to make “Sappers
in the Wire” a best-seller. In fact, none of Nolan’s 11 books has made
the best- seller list.
But Nolan has always been all right with that. He loves
telling stories that would otherwise go untold, and if you can make a
living doing something you love, that’s pretty darned cool.
Still, there was a time not long ago when things seemed to
be breaking his way. The small publishing company that was publishing
his work was swallowed up by Random House, and Random House notified
Nolan that it was interested in his next book. Wow. A big-time
publisher.
On the more important personal side, things also were going
well. Nolan had a wife and a daughter and a place in the country.
Nothing fancy, but still, 22 acres in Washington County.
It all went to heck.
His new editor read his manuscript and said, We can’t
publish stuff like this. We’ll get sued.
That’s because Nolan had included some gruesome details in
this book. For instance, an officer who had won some medals told
Nolan: If you’re going to put in that stuff about heroism, you ought to
put in that I flipped out, too. I hurt a civilian.
That is exactly the sort of stuff Nolan uses. After all,
these are historical accounts of war, and war is often very ugly. Bad
things happen.
By the way, bad things happen more often in Nolan’s later
books. He’s 43 years old. So he was 3 years old when the North
Vietnamese overran Hue during the Tet Offensive of 1968. The battle to
retake Hue was the subject of his first book. He wrote when he was in
high school. A middle-class kid from Webster Groves, he was convinced
that the Vietnam War had been a much more noble undertaking than his
teachers seemed to think, and he set out to prove it. That first book
has a gee-whiz, Sergeant Rock quality to it.
Later books became more and more nuanced.
When Random House said no, he went back to a small
publisher. So much for the big-time publishing world.
Much worse than the professional stuff, though, his personal
world was falling apart. His marriage was dissolving. In 2006, he
moved in with his parents. They now live in Weldon Spring in St.
Charles County. Nolan moved into the basement.
He pulled out of his tailspin in January 2007. He had a
contract for a new book, one that had him really excited. A
groundbreaking book. He was going to follow a unit from the time it got
to Vietnam in 1967 to the time it left several years later. He pored
over after-action reports. He began interviewing veterans.
His daughter was doing well. He saw her often. Also, he
decided to get in shape. He had never been much of a workout guy, and
his weight had climbed to 230.
His divorce was finalized in February. He was given joint
custody of his daughter. His research was coming along fine, and the
more he learned, the more excited he became. His weight dropped to
185. Most importantly, he was given temporary physical custody of his
daughter. She came to live with him full-time in August. She was then
7.
Once again, things seemed to be breaking his way.
In October, he got a cold and he noticed that when he
sneezed, it seemed like somebody was pinching him. It did not seem like
a big deal. On the other hand, it did not go away. Still, he continued
his routine. He researched. He wrote. He went to the gym. He picked
his daughter up from school. He helped her with homework. He wrote
some more.
Last chapter for author
Shortly before Thanksgiving,
he went back to the doctor’s office. He had some tests. There was bad
news—a mass on his lung. He thought, “Oh, no. They’re going to have to
cut it out. Get ready for some pain.” He went to a lung specialist for
more tests. They drained his lung. He saw the needle and he thought,
“Oh, no. Get used to needles”
The final diagnosis was
inoperable lung cancer. The doctor said he had a year, maybe two.
I visited him last week. He
introduced me to his daughter. Her name is Britt. She’s very pretty.
She’s 8. She likes to write. She likes reading and music, too. She
has a room upstairs in her grandparents’ house. Her dad still lives in
the basement. He works down there, too. He took me down to his work
area.
Nolan is a rapid-fire
talker. He bounces from subject to subject. He showed me a stack of
unedited tapes from the interviews for his latest book. He showed me
photographs that veterans had sent him. If I really had a year to do
this, I could get it done, he said. He talked about the cancer. He
said it wasn’t what a non-smoker expected. The doctors say it’s
genetic. His dad had throat cancer and tongue cancer. On the other
hand, his dad is still alive.
You know, I think I could
laugh about this, he said, except for my daughter.
He said it breaks his heart
to think he’s going to have to leave her. On the other hand, he’s got a
year, maybe two, to say goodbye. That’s a blessing, he said. And who
knows? Maybe the prognosis is off. Maybe he’ll have more time. He
said he still intends to work on his final Vietnam history, but really,
what he’d like to write is something for his daughter, something to let
her know how much he loves her, and how she is the most important thing
in his life, and how leaving her will be the hardest thing he has ever
done, and how he would trade everything for more time with her.
But that is not the sort of
thing a military historian with a cult following writes.
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ST.
LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
My name is Bill McClellan
and I am a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I first
heard of Keith William Nolan many years ago. He was something of a
curiosity in those days-a young man writing books about Vietnam. He
wrote his first book when he was still in nigh school. I was impressed
and bemused. Vietnam is such a complex subject. How could a high school
kid v.;ho wasn't there hope to understand it?
Years later, I read his
then-latest book, "Operation Sut'falo." Forget bemused. I was just
impressed. This was
t,P.e
work of a first-class historian. Also,
he was a fine writer, and he seemed to understand the military mindset,
whether the mind in question is that of a batt;;liion commander or a PFC
who feels abused because his squad is getting assigned another night
ambush. I called him and set up an interview.
What a remarkable young man
he was. He explained that his earliest efforts were driven by an agenda.
He wdilted to show that the war was somehow better than the portrayal it
was most often given. But even as a high school kid with an agenda, he
was a diligent researcher. He read reports. He studied maps. He
interviewed people. One book led to another, and the more research he
did, the more he realized that the war was too complex to fit neatly
into some category of good or bad. In other words, he evolved from
researcher to historian.
He developed a following
among Vietnam veterans. There is nobody else in the country who has done
what he has done. He has written gripping and honest historical accounts
of battles and operations that would otherwise have been overlooked by
everybody except the people who participated in them. He could have made
more money writing about a more popular subject, but he stayed with
Vietnam.
He has done a service for
future historians. When people want to understand Vietnam-not the
political implications, but the war itself-they will turn to the works
of Keith William Nolan.
Keith William Nolan
1964 – 2009
February 19, 2009
Keith Nolan, a historian
who has spent his entire working life writing about the Viet Nam War,
died today in Weldon Spring, Missouri after a fourteen month struggle
with lung cancer. His first book, The Battle for Hue, was
written when he still a teenager.
Born in Webster Groves,
Missouri Keith graduated from Webster University with a B.A. in History
and has written eleven books on the war with an additional book in
progress at the time of his death. That last book was to have told the
story of the 1/1 Cavalry from training at Fort Hood in 1967 to the
completion of its years in Vietnam in 1972. Unfortunately, Keith had
only finished up through the end of 1968 at the time of his death. A
shortened book might possibly be published this year.
Keith was made an honorary member of the First Regiment of Dragoons for
telling part of their story in his book, Into Laos.
He is survived by his father, William Francis Nolan; mother Ulla
Andersson Nolan; brother Erik Nolan; daughter Anna Britt Nolan; and
special friend, Kristin Lynn Halbert.
At Keith’s request there will be no funeral or memorial services.
Veterans of the 101st Airborne who were depicted in Keith’s
book, Ripcord, have set up a trust fund for his daughter, Anna
Britt Nolan, who is presently nine years old.
Anyone wishing to make a donation can send a check payable to:
Anna Britt Nolan Trust
c/o First Bank
6211 Mid Rivers Mall
Drive
St. Peters MO 63304-1102
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As a journalist, I appreciate thorough research coupled with compelling
storytelling.
As a journalist working in the Virginia mountains, home to so many
veterans who were prized as soldiers for their shooting and tracking
skills, I continue on my own 15-year mission to document their stories
and the stories of their children and grandchildren now fighting in the
Middle East.
As a child of the '60s, I have come back again and again in my
journalism to Vietnam veterans and the stories that no one wanted them
to tell back when they most needed us to hear.
And as a journalist working in Wise County, Va., I found my own special
connection to the Ripcord story when the late Chip Collins, who grew up
here and lived nearby, brought me a copy of Keith's book and encouraged
me to write about this hugely important but little-known battle.
For all these reasons, I learned many years ago that Keith was the go-to
author for meticulously researched, well-told stories of Vietnam battles
and campaigns from the infantryman's perspective.
Keith came to his calling with no agenda but the truth. He presented
that truth with no punches pulled and reminded us that - to borrow from
George Orwell - we can only sleep peacefully at night because heroes are
willing to do violence on our behalf in the cause of freedom and
security.
His passing leaves a great void in the ongoing historical record of this
conflict that we all still struggle to understand, 34 years after its
end.
As a fan and a kindred spirit, I didn't know Keith personally but I will
miss him.
Jeff Lester
jlester@coalfield.com
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Thanks I sent this to all of my contacts.
Keith was one of the few friends we had in the print media.
Don Aird [airdsie@charter.net]
*****
Sad news,
Chris Jensen
Chris416jensen@aol.com
*****
This is a damn shame.
Richard Kolb
RKolb@vfw.org
*****
Keith has done us all a great
service by telling our story. He is in God’s hands now.
Campbell, James
james.campbell@cookyancey.com
*****
Very sad. I know this past year has been very hard on them. Please
add my condolences and prayers to his family.
John Del Vecchio
johnd@charliefoxtrotfilms.com
*****
Very sad to hear. I have notified the rest of the guys from my EOD team
who were at Ripcord.
STUART STEINBERG
jackdiamondback@msn.com
*****
Our
thought and prayers are with Kieths Family at this sad time.
Kieth,
was a super person, and will be missed by all.
Lloyd
Rahlf
LRahlf@aol.com
*****
He
sure made many of our lives for the better didn't he... God Bless, Jim
Jim McCoy
jimmccoy_2000@yahoo.com
*****
thanks so
much for the very sad, but inevitable, news regarding the passing of our
dear friend and advocate, Keith Nolan.
I guess
there is always a brighter side - If you don't die in the defense of
your country it is a blessing to die in peace, as did Keith, May God
bless him.
Larry
Rosen
lrosen@satx.rr.com
*****
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