INCIDENT AT MUC WA

Like John Sack's far more moving M (p.1311), this tries to mix farce and tragedy in Southest Asia but is considerably less successful. In this story four U.S. Army Haider-advisors lead 150 native troops to take a mythical village in the jungle. The village, spotted on a ten-year-old map, turns out to be an empty field and a graveyard for French soldiers. The hero, a corporal who directs the operation, falls in love with Muc Wa and is determined to defend it in spite of the ensuing orders. The corporal defies them to stay with his troops and is killed.... Here are the same monomaniacal, buffoon officers of the Heller stamp, cartoon enlisted men and a girl war reporter who had once been the corporal's inamorata. Some of Ford's humor is pretty funny in exploiting the chaos and selfishness eudemic to the war zone. Some bitter points are well made and can't be repeated often enough. But Ford's style and handling are far from original.