Book Review

First to the Front—The Untold Story of Dickey Chapelle, Trailblazing Female War Correspondent
by Lorissa Rinehart
Published by St. Martin’s Press
(July 11, 2023)
ISBN-10: 1250276578
ISBN-13: 978-1250276575
400 pages

By How Miller

In First to the Front, Lorissa Rinehart wonderfully conveys the astounding details of the life of Dickey Chapelle. Relating her vulnerabilities and self-doubts as well as her sheer determination to get meaningful coverage to the public, Lorissa brings to life what Dickey was about and what she accomplished, using various sources, including Dickey’s own writing.

As a groundbreaking, credentialed female World War II reporter, Dickey covered fighting from Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and was instrumental in conveying to the American public why they should donate blood and where and how it was being used to save thousands of lives.

She went on to experience, partially with her husband Tony, the onset of the Cold War in Europe and how so many now faced a new relentless tyranny of communism. They did this under the auspices of different publications and NGOs, including the Quakers’ Brotherhood of Friends and even the U.S. government.

She was drawn again and again to where the action was. On Iwo Jima and Okinawa, she asked to go “as far forward as you will let me.” In Hungary, in 1956, she went into hostile territory to help refugees find their way across the border to freedom. This resulted in her eventually being captured and enduring several weeks of solitary confinement in the infamous Fö Street Prison, an experience that forever bound her to freedom fighters across the world.

From Cuba to Algeria and beyond, she was able to accompany freedom fighters so she could tell the world what was really going on.

She became such an expert on guerrilla warfare that she was sought out by military brass to consult and even was asked to write a much-quoted “An American’s Primer on Guerrilla Warfare.” This was important for trying to change the military mindset from “capture and control territory’ to meet the challenge of the communists, who tried instead to control the populace and coerce them into joining their side at gunpoint.

Dickey spent time with all types of military units, earning her “jump wings” with the 101st ABN DIV. She jumped with 1st SFG (A) in Korea. She also earned her Vietnamese “jump wings” and had at least 9 combat jumps with the Vietnamese Army Airborne, whom she highly respected for their courage and competence.

Dickey said in an interview that she wanted to die on operation with her beloved U.S. Marines. As a fitting end to her extraordinary career, regrettably, she got her wish on 4 November, 1965.

Next, Lorissa shares with us the story of Dickey and the Sea Swallows, run by a Chinese Catholic priest who fled with his flock from China to Cambodia to the Mekong Delta and decided to stand his ground. With the help of the CIA and then the Special Forces, they were at the forefront of setting up the very successful territorial defense forces.

Click here to read the excerpt.