The Real Story of the Tonkin Gulf Incident

Our guest today is author and retired Navy radar specialist John F. Calder. His book Fire for Effect chronicles his one-year tour of duty during the critical early days of the Vietnam War aboard two US. destroyers the USS McDermott the USS Stoddard ­– whose main mission was to provide gunfire on shore in support of the 3rd U.S. Marine Division – deployed to Da Nang. Calder’s account centers on the events of early August 1964, when North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attacked Americ...