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Sins of the Father
RON JACOBS has some painful memories triggered by Robert McNamara son’s memoir of the fraught relationship he had with his father, a key architect of the US war on Vietnam
(L to R) Robert McNamara, Lt Col David Clement and Maj Gen Lewis and W Walt en route to the Le My City Hall during McNamara's visit to the Marine units in the area on July 18 1965

Because Our Fathers Lied: A Memoir of Truth and Family, from Vietnam to Today
by Craig McNamara
Little Brown and Company, £24.44

WHEN I read this book by the son of Robert McNamara, a key architect of the US war on Vietnam, I couldn’t help but compare my experience as the oldest son of an air force officer.

My dad wasn’t an architect of the US war on Vietnam; his role was that of an engineer.

Like thousands of others in the military and throughout the US bureaucracy of war, our fathers were family men.

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