When We Walked Above the Clouds

“When We Walked Above the Clouds was written for those who want to know what it was like to dig trenches in 110 degree heat, rip off leeches, zip a buddy inside a body bag, or pull the trigger on a complete stranger. This is what the war in Vietnam was like as told from a grunt’s level. Barnes pulls no punches in his gritty account of the teammates he served with, and of those he lost, at a mountain jungle village called Tra Bong.”—Lt. Col. (Ret.) Raymond C. Morris, U.S. Army Special Forces, author of The Ether Zone: U.S. Army Special Forces Detachment B-52, Project Delta

“As beautifully written as it is heartbreaking, Lee Barnes’s memoir probes through the conventional views of the Vietnam War and finds, amid the squalor, the banal, and the absurd in the Tra Bong action of 1966, the truly heroic.”—Mary Clearman Blew, author of All but the Waltz

“Lee Barnes growls his profane hymn not just to this war but to all wars. In the process, he justly scuttles Hollywood hyperbole, REMF embroidery, and self-serving short-rounds. The writing is stark. Hard. Honest. Do you and yours a favor. Own this book. You will be left with the scent of blood and cinnamon and something more: the need to shake the hand of a returning warrior.”—Bill Branon, Captain (DC) USN (Ret.), author of Let Us Prey, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year

"In the grand scheme of things, not much happened at Tra Bong; "the life of a trooper out here meant little, except to those who were out here." But with sharp and unsentimental prose, Barnes makes it matter a great deal. A war remembrance of beauty and unadorned brutality."—Kirkus Reviews

"This rare look into life as a Green Beret makes a compelling read."—Joint Forces Journal

"Perhaps the best aspect of the book . . . is the attention Barnes pays to the words he puts on the page. Each one carries with it a meaning and a weight that makes his story far more than a war memoir or even a coming of age story."—Caleb S. Cage, Nevada Review