Battle at Straight Edge Woods by Stephen (Shorty) Menendez | Books in Review

In Battle at Straight Edge Woods (CreateSpace, 107 pp., $12.99, paper) VVA member Stephen (Shorty) Menendez has written a brief account that focuses on a tough battle that he and other members of C Company, 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry of the Army’s 25 Infantry Division fought on April 7, 1970, in thick jungle near the Cambodian border.

Menendez, who was the company’s tunnel rat, uses spare prose with a good measure of reconstructed dialogue, as well as excerpts from letters from fellow veterans of the battle, to tell his story.

“This is our remembrance of a horrible battle fought on April 7, 1970, ” he writes. “It’s been a painful memory to dredge up but we all felt it should be heard and remembered. A lot of tears were shed while writing these memories. I pray that those who fell that day rest peacefully in God’s hands.”

All profits from book sales are being donated to the Charlie Company Veterans Relief Fund .

—Marc Leepson

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