Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam. "Commemorative Copy for the Dear American Celebration." Signed by General William Westmoreland.

New York & London: W.W. Norton & Company, (1985). First edition, "Commemorative Copy for the Dear America Celebration, May 6, 1985." This copy signed in green ink by General William Childs Westmoreland on the title page. Octavo (9.5" x 6.25"), 316 pages including full page illustrations from photographs & endpaper maps. Publisher's gilt-lettered off white paper over boards backed in blue cloth lettered in red on the spine, in slipcase to which the program for the celebration is pasted (as issued) to the front panel (12 pages, stapled light card covers).

Binding soiled, spine lettering dull, corners bumped & rubbed, otherwise Good. The attached program has rusted staples, brief evidence of bio-predation, &minor foxing affecting the front cover, still Good or so. The slipcase is lightly rubbed, otherwise Very Good.

"The New York Veterans Memorial Commission is pleased to present you with this commemorative copy of "Dear America - Letters Home from Vietnam" to mark this very special occasion." 
~Quoted from the recto of the rear cover.

General William Childs Westmoreland (1914 – 2005) was commander of U.S. forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968 & served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1968 to 1972. The authenticity of his autograph is unconditionally guaranteed.

"There are no simple truths about the Vietnam War. It was a war that embodied the turbulence and ferment of the '60s. Young men fought an elusive enemy for a cause that wrenched part the nation the longer it dragged on, a cause obscured, finally by the absence of victory. In Vietnam, the illusion of American military omnipotence was shattered. It was our longest war, costing 58,000 American lives and 300,000 wounded. It succeeded only in leaving a legacy of bitterness and unacknowledged sacrifice …"
~Excerpted from the author's Introduction.