The Story Behind 'We Were Soldiers Once...and Young'
Joe Galloway's award-winning account of a bloody Vietnam battle became a book and movie
Though just 24, Joe Galloway was no greenhorn when he hitched a chopper ride to the remote South Vietnamese countryside in November 1965 to check on reports of a hot battle. Galloway had started as a newspaperman in Texas when he was 17 and moved on to United Press International. By November, Galloway had been in Vietnam more than six months, but it had been a quiet tour. "I had been looking for a major battle," Galloway recalls. "I hadn't found it."
Two days later, he stood amid a hellish, seared landscape that would become one of the Vietnam War's famous battlefields. From November 14 to November 16, fewer than 500 troops of the Army's 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, fought almost nonstop against a force of North Vietnamese regulars that outnumbered them 7 to 1. The Americans fought tenaciously, and suffered dearly. The unit's casualty rate was 44 percent—79 killed and 121 wounded. As Galloway was about to fly out to file his story, he faced Lt. Col. Hal Moore, commander of the 7th Cav battalion. Tears bathed both faces. "Go tell America what these brave men did," Moore said. "Tell them how their sons died."
Return to Vietnam. Galloway did. After that he covered other battles. He went on to assignments in Asia, India, and Moscow. By the late '80s, he had joined U.S. News and was an editor in Washington, polishing foreign dispatches. But Galloway yearned to return to the field—and, above all, to go back to Vietnam with Hal Moore, who had retired as a three-star general, to reconstruct the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, as it was now known.
His bosses obliged, and on Oct. 29, 1990, U.S. News published "Vietnam Story," a 14-page cover package that explained why the Battle of the Ia Drang was a "fatal victory" for American forces. Tactically, the Americans won: The enemy melted away, leaving a felled forest of perhaps 700 corpses. Yet by validating new air-assault techniques that allowed troops to maneuver by helicopter, not just by ground transport, the battle drew the United States deeper into a war it was destined to lose. In addition to a minute-by-minute reconstruction of the battle—which was so close and bloody that at one point Moore ordered his troops to fix bayonets in preparation for hand-to-hand-combat—Galloway and Moore broke new ground by interviewing North Vietnamese commanders to get their side of the story.
Six months later, "Vietnam Story" earned U.S. News its first National Magazine Award. The story became a book, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, which has sold about 1.3 million copies since it was published in 1992. Then came the 2002 movie, We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson as Moore and Barry Pepper as Galloway. (Moore says the film is about 60 percent accurate; Galloway, 80 percent.)
Later this year, Galloway and Moore will publish a sequel, We Are Soldiers Still, with fresh material gleaned from additional trips to Vietnam. They also apply the lessons of Vietnam to Iraq—where Galloway, now a columnist for McClatchy Newspapers, sees more fatal victories. "In almost every case," he says, "war is an admission of failure—of leadership, of diplomacy. War is not something you do pre-emptively."
Reader Comments
What's changed since then?
A few years ago, a Viet Nam veteran friend of mine was one of 10 former sildiers picked by Congress to return to Viet Nam for a re-union of sorts. They returned to the actual places where they fought so bravely....and where many of their fellow soldiers gave their lives.
They had lunch and dinner with many of the enemy soldiers of whom they fought against. Once warriors fighting for their cause, and for their beloved countries.
We fought for freedom and to help those who sought to ward off oppression by communism.
My friend saw many brutal battles in Viet Nam. He will seldom talk of them now. But his eyes often tell a different tale. One in which, he is and may always be...still there in his thoughts and in his soul.
When he returned I asked him how it was to shake hands and eat alongside those who he had fought with and against.
He seeemd so relieved at having gone. He said that talking with the other soldiers from both sides was not only meaningful, but a way that they all seemed to draw inner peace from.
I asked how it looked there and how things ghad changed since he was there.
He said that for the most part, aside from most things such as cars etc. being newer, every thing still pretty much looked the same. The people were still very friendly.
Then he paused and said "you know the only thing thats really changed since we fought there is that 58,000 of my "F'ng" friends aren't ever coming home again...and their Momma's still cry".
I thank ALL of those who have served this country to preserve freedom! I love my country and will fight to defend her to my death.
But those wordst that Danny said will forever haunt me.
Freedom isn't free...But it would sure seem that a lot of good men lost their lives in Viet Nam and the only thing people remember is that we lost the war.
And that many old women still morn for their sons who died so that thankless Viet Namese people could carry on as they always have. Nothing changed!
Soldiers Our Heroes
I have just finished watching WE WERE SOLDIERS again. It is a great movie. I just want to say THANK YOU to all of our fighting soldiers both past and present. In this day where we look for heroes in our lives we should look no further than our military. You are the greatest. I thank GOD for all of you every day. I am the father of a soldier who just returned home from Iraq. Without you soldiers we would be nothing. So I really want to thank any of you that read this who have served, are serving, or are going to serve in the future. This American really does appreciate what you have done for me and this country. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Whenever I see someone in uniform I try and shake their hand and thank them personally for the job they are doing. May GOD bless our military, our soldiers, my HEROES, past, present, and future. THANK YOU and may GOD BLESS YOU.
"Soldiers"
my name is samantha,i am 16 years old and my dad is a soldier. to me a soldier is part of my culture and i have a very high respect for them be they Vets or curently active. i thank every person who has foght,is fighting, and will fight...for these people are the bakcbone of our contry.
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