Angel's Wing
A Year in the Skies of Vietnam
$39.26
- Hardcover
182 pages
- Release Date
1 October 2026
Summary
Elephant’s Ear. Dog’s Head. Angel’s Wing.
These names might conjure the image of children playing a whimsical game, spotting shapes in the clouds. But for Joe Finch and his fellow helicopter pilots of the 25th Aviation Battalion, they meant something very different. These were the nicknames for map coordinates-markers within the chaotic grid of the Vietnam War’s “area of operations.”
Angel’s Wing is Joe Finch’s unflinching memoir of the year he spent flying wi…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781735603766 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1735603767 |
| Author: | Joseph R. Finch |
| Publisher: | Finch Publications Inc |
| Imprint: | Finch Publications Inc |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 182 |
| Edition: | 25th |
| Release Date: | 1 October 2026 |
| Weight: | 417g |
| Dimensions: | 14mm x 152mm x 229mm |
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Critics Review
Goodreads
I am a Vietnam veteran of the 25th ID, in the same period the book was written. In fact I may have been one of the infantry troops that he carried. Angel’s Wing is an accurate portrayal of combat in the Angel’s wing. Thank you, Joe, for writing our story.
Nelson Fox
Echo Co. 2nd Bn. 27th Infantry Regiment “Wolfhounds” 25th ID
Amazon - Tells it like it was
I was one of the infantrymen that this helicopter pilot watched over in Vietnam. His book brings back all the memories, and he describes what it was like in that AO (Area of Operations) perfectly. The book is very personal, and he tells the good stories along with the less flattering ones. We depended on the choppers for so much, for medevac, for supplies, and for firefight air support, and it is great to read about what it was like for our buddies in the air. The book was clearly not intended to be inspirational, but it is anyway. It captures the confusion, the honor, and the bravery of all the soldiers who fought that misbegotten war. Welcome home, brother.
D. Allin
Amazon - Angel’s Wing
The Angel’s Wing was a “very bad place” to the helicopter pilots of Viet Nam but to the men on the ground the “Angels” were the pilots themselves. For the pilots it was the hotly contested no-mans land along the Cambodian border. To those soldiers on the ground who were injured or hungry or needing support, the helicopter units like the “Little Bears” and so many others, were the Angels who came upon “rotary” wings. The book is also a story of the soldiers in those helicopters who made the rules up as they went. They learned as they lived and died.
I have had the good fortune to have Joe Finch as a friend and as a professional peer for many years. A deeply religious man and a courageous aviator, he has met and challenged death in war and in peace. “Angels Wing” is a good read for those interested in the helicopter war. Written from the perspective of a “twenty something” Lieutenant, it as an absorbing chronicle of the men who flew in, and upon, the “Angels Wing.”
Hugh Mills Jr.
Retired Army Officer, Army Aviator, police executive and transportation security executive
Joseph R. Finch
Joseph R. Finch was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966 as a private and rose through the ranks to retire in 1990 as a lieutenant colonel. His service earned him numerous honors, including the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross. He spent a year flying helicopters with the 25th Aviation Battalion during the Vietnam War, an experience chronicled in Angel’s Wing.
After retiring from active duty, Finch worked for 15 years as an environmental engineer with General Dynamics, helping lead a team that received nine national awards for environmental protection. He also dedicated time to visiting wounded soldiers and supporting troops deployed to the Middle East, for which he received the Department of Defense’s Spirit of Hope Award in 2009.
Joe Finch and his wife Monika now live in The Villages, Florida.
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