About the Author. John S. Raschke was born in Geneseo and was raised on a small farm 6 miles west of the city. A 1965 graduate of J.D. Darnall High School and unable to afford to go to college, he began working for International Harvester’s Farmall Plant in Rock Island. In 1966 he enlisted in the US Army, and in 1968, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. Following Advisor’s School and Vietnamese Language School, John arrived in Vietnam in the Summer of 1969 and spent 10½ months advising Vietnamese military units. Released from the Army as a Captain in 1971, John returned to the Geneseo area and resumed working at the Farmall Plant, joined the Illinois Army National Guard, and concurrently earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Western Illinois University. With the divestiture of International Harvester in the mid-1980’s, then Major Raschke reentered the Army and served in a number of positions of increasing responsibility-some of which include: Mobilization Planner; Battalion Commander of 2/123 Field Artillery; Inspector General; Director of Plans, Operations, and Training; and Director of Resource Management. He was a 1994 Army War College Fellow to Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Colonel Raschke retired from the Army in 1999. His military awards include the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, and others. Upon retirement, Colonel Raschke briefly worked for the Illinois Commerce Commission, and later for the United States Attorney’s Office in Springfield, retiring there in 2014. John holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Springfield, and he and his wife Jane live in the Springfield area.
Book Summary – A Tour in Chuong Thien Province
A U.S. Army Lieutenant with MACV Advisory Team 73 in the Mekong Delta, 1969 – 1970
In the summer of 1969, as the Vietnam War was being turned over to the South Vietnamese, Lieutenant John Raschke arrived in Chuong Thien Province deep in the Mekong Delta, eager to have a positive impact. Recounting his assignment to a provincial advisory team of military and civilian personnel, this memoir depicts the ordinary and the extraordinary of life both inside and outside the wiremortar attacks, firefights and snipers, hot showers, good meals and comradery, the life and death struggles of the Vietnamese people and the bonds he formed with them. MacFarland & Company. Inc 2022.