This book is dedicated to the 58,220 mothers whose sons and daughters did not come home from Vietnam...and in the memory of Alma Laura Campbell, whose son did.

About The Author

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Some of the 43 profiles were relatively easy because family members and friends were still in the area and willing to talk about the young sons, grandsons, husbands, lovers and best friends they had lost.  Conversely, information about some others became difficult to track down.

Through his diligent hard work, Campbell also turned himself into an excellent writer, which is not always an easy thing to do. He wrote, rewrote, and than rewrote again, each of the 43 profiles, turning them into stirring stand-alone portraits of the lives of 43 yound men who gave their lives for their country.

The book is an everlasting tribute to 43 men from one small county who gave their lives in the war nobody wanted. It's also an everlasting tribute to the author. Soup Campbell can rest well now. Mission accomplished.

Thanks to Bob Shryock who provides the foreword to the book and this information on "The Author".

They Were Ours: Gloucester County's Loss in Vietnam is one of the most unique books you will ever read.  It's also damn good.

John "Soup" Campbell, a Vietnam War Veteran, who to this day insists his writing skills are limited, felt confident in undertaking his project.  He had successfully done research for author Laura Palmer, who was writing Shrapnel in the Heart, a touching book about notes and letters left at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C..  He receives credit in Palmer's well received book.

John Campbell, a West Deptford, NJ native was raised by what he says were the best set of parents one could have.  We attended church several times a week, which helped instill in me a love of God and respect for all people.  He graduated West Deptford High School in 1966.

In January of 1969, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Security Agency (ASA) for four years with assurances from a recruiter that there were no ASA personnel in Vietnam. Our purpose and mission were classified. After a background check, he was given a Top Secret security clearance, trained as a communications intelligence specialist and assigned to the 335th Radio Research Company in, of all places, South Vietnam.  His unit was stationed outside Saigon for his first four months.  This is where he earned his only nickname in life as "Soup". In January, 1970, his units mission was transferred south to the Mekong Delta region.  Their assignment, to assist the South Vietnamese Army in assuming  the fighting part of the war.  A part of his unit took part in the Cambodian incursion in May of 1970.

In 1993, Campbell began his research and writing for They Were Ours believing he could complete his project in no more than two years. Instead, it took him seven years.

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