Audiovisual Tour Guides
ERIC BLEHM: VIETNAM MEMORIAL
Eric Blehm is the award-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers Fearless and The Only Thing Worth Dying For. His first book, The Last Season, was the winner of the National Outdoor Book Award and was named by Outside magazine as one of the “greatest adventure biographies ever written.” He has dedicated his life to telling the stories of those who serve.
In 1999, Blehm became the first journalist to accompany and keep pace with an elite Army Ranger unit on a training mission. His access into the Special Operations community and reportage set an important milestone for American war journalism two years before reporters
began to gain widespread embedded status with the U.S. military in the War Against Terror. Blehm’s immersion with the Rangers is what led him to the previously untold story of an elite team of eleven Green Berets who operated in the hinterland of Taliban-held Afghanistan just weeks after 9/11 (The Only Thing Worth Dying For), as well as to Fearless (Waterbrook/Multnomah; Random House), the heartrending and inspiring story of Naval Special Warfare Operator (SEAL) Adam Brown, who overcame tremendous odds in his rise to the top tier of the U.S. military: SEAL Team Six. FEARLESS is currently being adapted for film by a major Hollywood studio.
Blehm’s current book, Legend (Crown Books, Penguin RandomHouse), tells the unforgettable story of the U.S. Army’s 240th Assault Helicopter Company and Green Beret Staff Sergeant Roy Benavidez, who risked everything to rescue a Special Forces team trapped behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War. Major General John K. “Jack” Singlaub, U.S. Army (ret.), commented on Legend: “I fought beside and led U.S. Special Operations soldiers, sailors, and airmen during three wars—WWII, Korea, and Vietnam—including the men [of SOG] depicted in LEGEND. Never have I read a more powerfully honest, realistic, or moving account of the war in Southeast Asia. Eric Blehm masterfully encapsulates the hearts of the men, their impossible mission, and the quagmire of politics of the era and wraps it up in a single bloody battle that portrays the American fighting man at his best.”
LEGEND has been adapted into a BARDEUM experience for the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.
Blehm lives in Southern California with his wife and children.
Adapted from www.ericblehm.com
Experience the next generation of audio / visual tours. Don't just see the sites, Step inside their stories.
“A masterfully-told account of astonishing heroism. Captivates from the start. Hearing of the grit, determination, and bravery of these soldiers while walking along the names etched into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial offers a far greater understanding of their sacrifice. Prepare to be immersed!"
Adam Makos, New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead.
Testimonials
"Absolutely engrossing! The best way to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial."
Anonymous User
It’s dusk, and not even the scent of fuel and oil hanging in the humid heat, could repel the smell of blood and death as medics raced about, triaging the wounded as they were pulled from the belly of the work horse of Vietnam—a Huey helicopter that had just barely hobbled back to the base, riddled with bullet holes.
Just a few yards from the helicopter’s skids, a row of U.S. government-issued body bags lay on the ground. Inside one of the zippered tombs is a stocky, five-foot-six-inch-tall 32 year old U.S. Army Green Beret staff sergeant from Cuero, Texas named Roy Benavidez. His body—a torn up canvas of bullet holes, shrapnel wounds, bayonet lacerations, punctures, burns, and bruises—painted a bloody portrait of his valor.
What happened in the hours previous - and in the moments after - became the stuff of Legend.
ERIC BLEHM
AUTHOR
New York Times bestselling author writing about those who serve.
BRADFORD HASTINGS
NARRATOR
Multi-Award Winning Professional Voice Actor and Audiobook narrator.
BOOKS BY ERIC BLEHM
Legend: The Incredible Story of Green Beret Sergeant Roy Benavidez's Heroic Mission to Rescue a Special Forces Team Caught Behind Enemy Lines
"[Legend] is one of the most honest and engrossing narratives of the war I have ever read…. Blehm faithfully describes the complicated choreography of war, and shows us why the Congressional Medal of Honor was bestowed on Sergeant Benavidez for his actions. A magnificent narrative, painstakingly told by a master storyteller."
——MAJ. GEN. PAUL VALLELY
Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown
“As a rule, we don’t endorse books or movies or anything regarding the command where I work—and Adam Brown worked—but as the author writes in Fearless, ‘you have to know the rules, so you know when to bend or break them.’ This is one of those times. Read this book. Period. It succeeds where all the others have failed.”
—Anonymous SEAL Team SIX Operator
“Fearless stands unique among works of modern combat literature through author Eric Blehm’s masterful weaving of a fallen Navy SEAL’s professional war-fighting life with his complex personal victories and travails. Rich in detail and captivating in its honesty, you won’t put Fearless down once you read the first page. Read it and prepare to learn a whole new world of life as a Navy SEAL.”—Ed Darack, author of Victory Point”
The Last Season (P.S.)
““A legendary tale of wilderness devotion.” - Aron Ralston, author of Between a Rock and a Hard Place
“A first-rate detective story but an even better love story―an account of the love for wild places.” - Bill McKibben, author The End of Nature
“A gripping account. . . . I couldn’t put it down.” - Jordan Fisher Smith, author of Nature Noir
“A deeply layered, meticulously researched, greatly entertaining read.” -San Francisco Chronicle
The Only Thing Worth Dying For: How Eleven Green Berets Fought for a New Afghanistan (P.S.)
“The Only Thing Worth Dying For is not only brilliant, it’s the one book you must read if you have any hope of understanding what our fine American soldiers are up against in Afghanistan.” - Former Congressman Charlie Wilson
“A skillfully reported and masterfully written account of one of the most crucial moments of the War Against Terror. Blehm reminds us of the perils, the triumphs and the sacrifices made in the name of freedom.” - Bob Woodruff, ABC News correspondent