Listen free for 30 days
-
Once a Warrior King
- Memories of an Officer in Vietnam
- Narrated by: Don Sobczak
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: History, Military
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £24.19
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Things I'll Never Forget
- Memories of a Marine in Viet Nam
- By: James M. Dixon
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Things I’ll Never Forget is the story of a young high school graduate in 1965 who faces being drafted into the Army or volunteering for the Marine Corps. These are his memories of funny times, disgusting times and deadly times. The author kept a journal for an entire year; therefore many of the dates, times and places are accurate. The rest is based on memories that are forever tattooed on his brain. This is not a pro-war book, nor is it anti-war. It is the true story of what the Marine Corps was like in the late 1960’s.
-
-
Stunning in its simplicity
- By Chris on 21-10-19
-
Ground Pounder: A Marine's Journey Through South Vietnam, 1968-1969
- North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
- By: Gregory V. Short
- Narrated by: Aaron Killian
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In early February of 1968, at the beginning of the Tet Offensive, Private First Class Gregory V. Short arrived in Vietnam as an 18-year-old US Marine. Amid all of the confusion and destruction, he began his tour of duty as an 81mm mortarman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which was stationed at Con Thien near the DMZ.
-
The Killing Zone
- My Life in the Vietnam War
- By: Frederick Downs
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the best books ever written about men in combat, The Killing Zone tells the story of the platoon of Delta One-six, capturing what it meant to face lethal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The book includes a new chapter on what happened to the platoon members when they came home.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Paul on 11-01-18
-
To the Limit
- An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam
- By: Tom A. Johnson
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From June 1967 to June 1968, Tom Johnson accumulated an astonishing 1,600 flying hours piloting the UH-1 "Iroquois" - better known as the "Huey" - as part of the famous First Air Cavalry Division. His battalion was one of the most decorated units of the Vietnam War, and helped redefine modern warfare. Johnson's riveting memoir takes us into key battles and rescue missions, including those for Hue and Khe Sanh. In harrowing detail, he tells of being shot down in the battle of A Shau Valley, of surviving enemy attacks during the Tet Offensive, and of a death-defying nighttime river rescue.
-
-
Best ever Vietnam War Audiobook!
- By D. B. Syme on 14-11-19
-
Whispers in the Tall Grass
- By: Nick Brokhausen
- Narrated by: George Spelvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On his second combat tour, Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu, CCN. This unit was part of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group), or Studies and Observations Group as it was innocuously called. The small recon companies that were the center of its activities conducted some of the most dangerous missions of the war, infiltrating areas controlled by the North Vietnamese in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The companies never exceeded more than 30 Americans, yet they were the best source for the enemy's disposition.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Wayne bates on 12-05-21
-
Nam-Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne
- By: Arthur Wiknik Jr.
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An honest tour of the Vietnam War from the soldier's eye view... Nam-Sense is the brilliantly written story of a combat squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division. Arthur Wiknik was a 19-year-old kid from New England when he was drafted into the US Army in 1968. After completing various NCO training programs, he was promoted to sergeant "without ever setting foot in a combat zone" and sent to Vietnam in early 1969. Shortly after his arrival on the far side of the world, Wiknik was assigned to Camp Evans, a mixed-unit base camp near the Northern village of Phong Dien.
-
-
Well worth it
- By Paul Tobin on 05-02-19
-
Things I'll Never Forget
- Memories of a Marine in Viet Nam
- By: James M. Dixon
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Things I’ll Never Forget is the story of a young high school graduate in 1965 who faces being drafted into the Army or volunteering for the Marine Corps. These are his memories of funny times, disgusting times and deadly times. The author kept a journal for an entire year; therefore many of the dates, times and places are accurate. The rest is based on memories that are forever tattooed on his brain. This is not a pro-war book, nor is it anti-war. It is the true story of what the Marine Corps was like in the late 1960’s.
-
-
Stunning in its simplicity
- By Chris on 21-10-19
-
Ground Pounder: A Marine's Journey Through South Vietnam, 1968-1969
- North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
- By: Gregory V. Short
- Narrated by: Aaron Killian
- Length: 11 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In early February of 1968, at the beginning of the Tet Offensive, Private First Class Gregory V. Short arrived in Vietnam as an 18-year-old US Marine. Amid all of the confusion and destruction, he began his tour of duty as an 81mm mortarman with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, which was stationed at Con Thien near the DMZ.
-
The Killing Zone
- My Life in the Vietnam War
- By: Frederick Downs
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the best books ever written about men in combat, The Killing Zone tells the story of the platoon of Delta One-six, capturing what it meant to face lethal danger, to follow orders, and to search for the conviction and then the hope that this war was worth the sacrifice. The book includes a new chapter on what happened to the platoon members when they came home.
-
-
Fantastic
- By Paul on 11-01-18
-
To the Limit
- An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam
- By: Tom A. Johnson
- Narrated by: David Drummond
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From June 1967 to June 1968, Tom Johnson accumulated an astonishing 1,600 flying hours piloting the UH-1 "Iroquois" - better known as the "Huey" - as part of the famous First Air Cavalry Division. His battalion was one of the most decorated units of the Vietnam War, and helped redefine modern warfare. Johnson's riveting memoir takes us into key battles and rescue missions, including those for Hue and Khe Sanh. In harrowing detail, he tells of being shot down in the battle of A Shau Valley, of surviving enemy attacks during the Tet Offensive, and of a death-defying nighttime river rescue.
-
-
Best ever Vietnam War Audiobook!
- By D. B. Syme on 14-11-19
-
Whispers in the Tall Grass
- By: Nick Brokhausen
- Narrated by: George Spelvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On his second combat tour, Nick Brokhausen served in Recon Team Habu, CCN. This unit was part of MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observations Group), or Studies and Observations Group as it was innocuously called. The small recon companies that were the center of its activities conducted some of the most dangerous missions of the war, infiltrating areas controlled by the North Vietnamese in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. The companies never exceeded more than 30 Americans, yet they were the best source for the enemy's disposition.
-
-
Outstanding
- By Wayne bates on 12-05-21
-
Nam-Sense: Surviving Vietnam with the 101st Airborne
- By: Arthur Wiknik Jr.
- Narrated by: Todd McLaren
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An honest tour of the Vietnam War from the soldier's eye view... Nam-Sense is the brilliantly written story of a combat squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division. Arthur Wiknik was a 19-year-old kid from New England when he was drafted into the US Army in 1968. After completing various NCO training programs, he was promoted to sergeant "without ever setting foot in a combat zone" and sent to Vietnam in early 1969. Shortly after his arrival on the far side of the world, Wiknik was assigned to Camp Evans, a mixed-unit base camp near the Northern village of Phong Dien.
-
-
Well worth it
- By Paul Tobin on 05-02-19
-
On the Ground
- The Secret War in Vietnam
- By: John Stryker Meyer, John E. Peters
- Narrated by: John Stryker Meyer
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
During the Vietnam War, a “secret war” was fought across the fence in Laos, Cambodia, and North Vietnam, unknown to the media or the public, under the aegis of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam’s top secret Studies and Observations Group. SOG’s chain of command for missions and after-action reports extended to the White House and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
-
-
Seriously understated classic
- By James Sharkey on 03-06-21
-
Sicily '43
- The First Assault on Fortress Europe
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Code-named Operation HUSKY, the Allied assault on Sicily on 10 July 1943 remains the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted in world history, landing more men in a single day than at any other time. That day, more than 160,000 British, American and Canadian troops were dropped from the sky or came ashore, more than on D-Day just under a year later. It was also preceded by an air campaign that marked a new direction and dominance of the skies by Allies. The subsequent 38-day Battle for Sicily was one of the most dramatic of the entire Second World War.
-
-
Put up with Al Murray he does come good
- By tom morton on 24-11-20
-
Guts 'N Gunships
- What It Was Really Like to Fly Combat Helicopters in Vietnam
- By: Mark Garrison
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the summer of 1967, Mark Garrison had dropped out of college at Southern Illinois University just before entering his third year. He had run out of money and had to work for a while. These were the days before the lottery and the draft soon came calling. In order to somewhat control his own future, he enlisted in the US Army's helicopter flight school program. Little did he know that this adventure would be the most profound experience of his life.
-
-
Snores and Gunships
- By MR D G FILLER on 20-10-21
-
Das Reich
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Nigel Carrington
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Within days of the D-Day landings, the 'Das Reich' 2nd SS Panzer Division marched north through France to reinforce the front-line defenders of Hitler's Fortress Europe. Veterans of the bloodiest fighting of the Russian Front, 15,000 men with their tanks and artillery, they were hounded for every mile of their march by saboteurs of the Resistance and agents of the Allied Special Forces. Along their route they took reprisals so savage they will live forever in the chronicles of the most appalling atrocities of war.
-
-
Gripping, balanced, multifaceted
- By Jim on 04-08-14
-
Hue 1968
- A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam
- By: Mark Bowden
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 18 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By January 1968, despite an influx of half a million American troops, the fighting in Vietnam seemed to be at a stalemate. Yet General William Westmoreland, commander of American forces, announced a new phase of the war in which "the end begins to come into view". The North Vietnamese had different ideas. In mid-1967, the leadership in Hanoi had started planning an offensive intended to win the war in a single stroke.
-
-
Outstanding Military History
- By Stephen on 02-08-17
-
SBS – Silent Warriors
- The Authorised Wartime History
- By: Saul David
- Narrated by: John Hopkins
- Length: 14 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Britain’s SBS - or Special Boat Service - was the world’s first maritime special operations unit. Founded in the dark days of 1940, it started as a small and inexperienced outfit that leaned heavily on volunteers’ raw courage and boyish enthusiasm. It would become one of the most effective fighting forces of the Second World War - and has served as a model for Special Forces ever since.
-
-
hero's all
- By wendy richardson on 07-09-21
-
A Mortal Terror
- By: James R. Benn
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two officers from the American troops stationed in Caserta, Italy, not far from Naples, have been found murdered. The MOs are completely different, and it seems like the officers had no connection to each other, but one frightening fact links the murders: each body was discovered with a single playing card: the Lieutenant, the 10 of hearts; the Captain, the jack of hearts. The message seems to be clear: If the murderer isn't apprehended, the higher ranks will be next.
-
Battle for the Falklands
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Falklands War was one of the strangest in British history - 28,000 men sent to fight for a tiny relic of empire 8,000 miles from home. At the time, many Britons saw it as a tragic absurdity, but the British victory confirmed the quality of British arms and boosted the political fortunes of the Conservative government.
-
-
Comprehensive But Not What I Hoped For
- By S. Morris on 26-07-16
-
A Rumor of War
- By: Philip Caputo
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When it first appeared, A Rumor of War brought home to American readers, with terrifying vividness and honesty, the devastating effects of the Vietnam War on the soldiers who fought there. And while it is a memoir of one young man's experiences and therefore deeply personal, it is also a book that speaks powerfully to today's students about the larger themes of human conscience, good and evil, and the desperate extremes men are forced to confront in any war.
-
-
Must read
- By Jason Rimmer on 01-04-19
-
Recondo: LRRPs in the 101st Airborne
- By: Larry Chambers
- Narrated by: Brian Hallas
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
They will never be able to duplicate the 5th Special Forces Recondo School and the training that gave its grads something they desperately needed - the skills to survive Long Range Patrol missions in the jungle that NVA considered its own. Vietman veteran Larry Chambers vividly describes the grit and courage it took to pass the tough volunteer-only training program in Nha Trang and the harrowing graduation mission to scout out, locate, and out-guerrilla the NVA.
-
Mekong Mud Dogs
- The Story of: SGT. Ed Eaton
- By: Ed Eaton
- Narrated by: Jason P. Hilton
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a dark night in the Mekong Delta, young platoon sergeant Edgar Eaton's courage and self-sacrifice would mean the difference between life and death for his wounded comrades. This is the story of Ed the sniper. Ed doesn't plan on serving as a sniper; the small-town Oregon boy hopes to become a combat medic when he enlists at age nineteen. Instead, he finds himself an infantryman in the unique Army / Navy Riverine Force in the Mekong Delta.
-
-
Great
- By Jonathan on 01-12-18
-
Da Nang Diary
- A Forward Air Controller's Gunsight View of Flying with SOG
- By: Tom Yarborough
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Da Nang Diary is the story of how, in Vietnam, an elite group of Air Force pilots fought a secret air war in Cessna 0-2 and OV-10 Bronco prop planes - flying as low as they could get. The eyes and ears of the fast-moving jets who rained death and destruction down on enemy positions, the forward air controller made an art form out of an air strike - knowing the targets, knowing where friendly troops were, and reacting with split-second, life-and-death decisions as a battle unfolded.
-
-
Good story but lacklustre narration
- By Amazon Customer on 06-04-22
Summary
He was a young American soldier - and the most powerful man in a remote rural District of Vietnam.
In the spring of 1969, First Lieutenant David Donovan arrived in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam to work as military advisor with village chiefs and local militia to win the war.
But as he was the highest-ranking person in the entire district, his life there was far more complex than anyone could have imagined.
This is Donovan's gripping account of combat missions and night ambushes in the swamps and jungles of the Delta...his heartrending tale of personal involvement with the culture and families in his charge...his humane introspection on his awesome responsibility as both warrior and king...his stark reflections on the changes he saw in himself and his country upon his return to the U.S.
More from the same
What listeners say about Once a Warrior King
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Trucker john
- 27-02-14
Finally on audio!
Any additional comments?
When I was in Civil Affairs school I was comparing playlists with the officer on my team. We were both runners and liked to get our professional reading done as we clocked the miles. I was carrying around a well worn paperback copy of Once A Warrior King and pressed in into his hands. "Sir, you need to read this book. Plus it's pretty funny at times." He quickly read the passages I pointed out and then went out and got his own copy.
Finally it's on audio! Rejoice and enjoy the ride.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Mike Stevens
- 12-07-21
Incredible Book
Have both read this historical recount of one man in the Vietnam War and now listened to it.
Moving rendition both times.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kindle Customer
- 10-10-19
Oh my brother, where art thou
It's good that this man told his story, and so early, while those who betrayed him still hated their shame. Thank you. Thank you for being my brother.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Rob Gray
- 02-11-18
Tribute to all Vietnam veterans
This writing touched my heart. As the proud son and son in law of Vietnam veterans and a retired veteran myself, this book helped me to understand the pain and anguish of loss these men felt/feel. I did not experience the same homecoming from Iraq or Kuwait that these men did from Vietnam so I find it hard comprehend, this book helped me in that regard (too late for my own father but perhaps not for my father in law). I did not suffer the grief of loss in the numbers of friends that many of these heroes did (I only lost one good friend in Iraq) but in some small measure I can empathize. Thank you LT Donavan, for sharing your experiences and your patriotism and your caring and kindness for your fellow man regardless of their country of origin.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Aurelio Marin
- 28-10-17
Great book.
Excellent book, couldn't stop listening. A true warrior, soldier and man. Not only his experience during his tour, but also his personal struggles and admirations for the people of Vietnam he was fighting for. Also insights of his struggle after returning home. I Strongly recommend this book. Great narration.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Laughin Boy845
- 29-12-16
Heartfelt story of a MAT team lieutenant
Loved the story. Intimate telling of of thoughts, conflicts, victories and losses. These small teams, with little heavy weaponry or air support fought their own war with poor villagers as their comrades. Interesting point of view of this controversial war. Thank you DMD.