Local author Hoffman details time in Vietnam in 'The Saigon Guns,' wins literary awards

When Col. John Thomas Hoffman returned to Fort Bragg in 1973, he was told he had been AWOL since June of the year before. In reality, Hoffman said he had been in Vietnam, having returned for Christmas of 1972 and on leave before returning to Fort Bragg in 1973.

In the summer of 1972, then President Richard Nixon made a statement that all United States combat troops would be pulled out of Vietnam. The now retired Hoffman said this was not true and he is one of those who were told to stay.

“That’s been a mess ever since,” Hoffman said. “For all of us who were there in that last six or seven months of ’72, we all have been fighting the same issues.”

Hoffman, who now lives in Black Mountain, said he had been working on a book detailing his time in Vietnam and the aftermath since the 1980s, but was denied permission to publish it by the Army. He said he was finally given permission to publish in 2018.

The book, “The Saigon Guns,” was released last year.

“The purpose of the book was really to kind of provide an explanation as to what happened during that period of time, because there’s no official history,” Hoffman said. “Even the U.S. Army’s history of Vietnam ends in ’71 and doesn’t include 1972 operations against North Vietnamese armored divisions.”

Hoffman served in South Vietnam as a helicopter pilot from 1971 to 1972.

He said he led the mission to destroy a Soviet artillery battalion that was planned to be used to shell downtown Saigon during the Paris peace talks. Hoffman said they were able to use satellite imagery to locate and destroy the weapons. This mission is where the title of “The Saigon Guns” comes from.

Hoffman said the use of satellite imagery in Vietnam was classified until President Bill Clinton declassified it. He said this declassification helped in his journey to have the book published, but it would still be decades before he would be given approval.

Once he returned from Vietnam, Hoffman joined the North Carolina National Guard, where he retired in 2000. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he accepted a position with the FBI and later the Department of Homeland Security.

Hoffman said because he had security clearance with his work, it made it difficult to publish the book because he needed permission from the government in order to do so. He said he submitted the book several times before the 2018 approval. For this final approval, Hoffman was required to take out a few details.

Once he had the approval, Hoffman said he had trouble finding a publisher because the book could not be fact checked as much of the information contained in it was still not made public by the U.S. government.

Hoffman said he wanted to continue working to get the book published because it is important to not only tell the story of what he was part of, but also to help those who are struggling with the lack of records.

“Getting this out in front of people so that people understand what happened is important,” Hoffman said. “Not just for getting benefits, which are finally beginning to be granted to those of us still alive, but also for their family so people know what their family member actually went through.”

He said he and many of those who were with him in Vietnam in 1972 are having trouble getting Department of Veterans Affairs benefits. For Hoffman to get his benefits after a lung cancer diagnosis, it took a personal letter to then Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, whom Hoffman had worked under. He said he was able to get benefits for himself, but there are others still struggling to do the same.

Hoffman said he requested his records in the early 1990s, but did not received these records until earlier this year. He said he attributes this to being the “squeakiest wheel,” in part because of his book, because others still do not have their records.

“The Saigon Guns” has been awarded several literary prizes, most recently being named a “distinguished favorite” in the military nonfiction category of the Independent Press Award.

Hoffman described the accolades his book has been getting as “pretty astonishing” because he was writing to tell the story, not for literary recognition.  

“My purpose to write it was to get that story out and to make sure people from the unit saw it and that the families of people knew about it so that they would have a better understanding of what happened there in that period of time,” Hoffman said.

“The Saigon Guns” can be purchased at Sassafras on Sutton in Black Mountain, as well as online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.