About book We Were Soldiers Once... And Young: Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed The War In Vietnam (2004)
Every once in a while, a book comes along that really has an impact on me, and this is one such book. Interestingly, I didn't know the book existed until 2002, 10 years after it was published. I had heard of Ia Drang, though, from a good friend who was there and told me about the battles a couple of times when he got drunk. It is the only time I ever heard him mention it, I think he had to get drunk to talk of it and he did so with tears in his eyes. And just after I finished reading the book, I ran into another Ia Drang veteran who just two months before learned that a buddy of his had not died back in 1965. Both had been severely wounded and both thought the other dead. This man told me that the "longest" period of his life was being put on a helicopter taking severe fire after being wounded. I didn't say medevac helicopter because they refused to fly into LZ X-Ray to pick up the wounded since it was a "hot" LZ. The helicopters of the 7th Cavalry, designed to carry troops, flew mission after mission into incredible danger to bring in ammunition and water and take out wounded and dead. Some of those pilots and crews didn't make it, either, but they saved countless lives while the medevac crews sat on their asses back in safety.The authors are Hal Moore, the commander of the battalion that fought at LZ X-Ray (Landing Zone X-Ray) and Joe Galloway, a journalist who was there. Joe was one of the few "good guys" when it came to journalism in Vietnam.The mention of Ia Drang causes a grim gut reaction among people who know what happened there. What makes it worse is that very few people have ever heard of it and fewer care. It is one of those now forgotten battlefields with its warriors also forgotten. If you will recall the movie Good Morning Vietnam, you might remember toward the end a bunch of happy-looking soldiers sitting in the back of troop carrier trucks and Robin Williams asks them where they are going. One of them says, smiling, "the Ia Drang valley." That was an insider anti-joke. Those smiling boys ran into hell in the Ia Drang. This book is about the first major American contact with the enemy in what became the Ia Drang campaign.This book concentrates on firsthand accounts of two battles, but starts and finishes with historical and political musings, as well as the effects of war on the families back home.The first part is devoted to the history of the development of air assault doctrine, which was a completely new concept in warfighting, with a lot of promise for a place like Vietnam. Essentially, this doctrine eliminates land lines of communication by inserting men and supplies into an area, keeping them supplied and extracting them by helicopter.One of the things that makes this such a powerful book is that every effort was made to let us know who these men actually were, including the lives they had led as civilians and introducing us to their families. Some of them were "three war men," those who had seen combat in World War II and Korea and now were going into another one in Vietnam. Others were draftees, some with only days left in the Army when they landed at LZ X-Ray on November 14, 1965, or arrived in the vicinity of LZ Albany on November 17.Hal Moore's battalion, the 1st of the 7th Cavalry (Custer's old unit) had a simple mission - find the enemy and fight him - see how well this air assault doctrine works. They did not know what they would find; accurate intelligence on enemy strength was nonexistent. The battalion was understrength and had some 431 men and officers in the line companies.They landed in the middle of a regular Army North Vietnamese Division, well trained and fresh from their unimpeded journey from the north down the Ho Chi Minh trail in Cambodia. LZ X-Ray was ten miles from the Cambodian border, and the US was not allowed to breach that "sovereign" territory, despite its use as a safe haven for the enemy.What followed was three days of horrendous fighting. Moore had time to set up a reasonable defensive perimeter as the fighting got started, even though they were in an intensive firefight before the entire battalion had been landed. The exception was one platoon with a gung-ho platoon leader that chased a North Vietnamese soldier to capture him and found themselves cut off and up against at least a battalion-sized force. The platoon leader, Lt. Herrick, was one of the many KIA in that platoon, and Sergeant Ernie Savage, after two other men had taken Herrick's place and been killed, took over and held the platoon together.Meanwhile, the rest of the battalion was also in the fight of their lives, including an attempt to break through to the cut-off platoon. They had virtually nonstop artillery fire support from a location a few miles back, which probably saved them against these overwhelming odds. They also had air support from the Army and Air Force, including one unfortunate incident when napalm was dropped on US troopers.In the end, the 1st of the 7th Cav prevailed and the enemy withdrew. One machine gunner had literally killed hundreds of enemy soldiers single-handedly. Enemy and American bodies were everywhere. The Vietnamese had systematically searched out and killed all the US wounded they could find during the nights. This Vietnamese killing of wounded was even worse at LZ Albany.As Moore's battalion was cleaning up the mess at LZ X-Ray, McDade's 2nd of the 7th Cav and another battalion, the 2nd of the 5th Cav, arrived to relieve the men who had not slept for 3 days. On the morning of November 17th, these two battalions marched toward rear LZs for pickup, with McDade's battalion diverting, under orders, to LZ Albany. It was supposed to be a "walk in the sun."McDade was an inexperienced battalion commander, having just recently been given his command. His companies were strung out when they reached the outskirts of LZ Albany, a clearing in the forest. Two North Vietnamese were captured, and McDade called his company commanders to the front to confer. Only one of those commanders made it back to his company, and he did so only by reflex as the enemy attack broke out.This spread-out battalion was cut to pieces, and only a small perimeter near Albany was able to mount an effective defense. The book outlines in detail the horrors of this battle until reinforcements finally arrived the next morning.This book contains unbelievable gore, incredible heroism, and selfless sacrifice by men of every rank in the face of some of the most overwhelming odds ever faced by a small unit. Much of it is in the survivors' own words as they remember it. This stuff makes most of the fictionalized accounts of combat by those who have never experienced it look positively silly. This book also brings home the point indirectly that soldiers are able to separate politics from soldiering. Soldiers care about each other and staying alive and, believe it or not for most, doing their jobs.The last part of the book deals with some politics and the effect these battles had on the families at home. On the political front, Moore comments on the suicidal policy of not allowing the US to mount any kind of effective counterattack on the North Vietnamese sanctuary in Cambodia. When Nixon finally bombed this country, it was too little too late, and American leftist war protesters once again made it clear that the lives of American soldiers were meaningless to them. The men who fought and died in the Ia Drang would beg to differ, but their story has been one that many would like to pretend didn't happen.Some of the most touching parts of the book are the descriptions of the impact these battles had on those at home, particularly the families living at or around Ft. Benning. For example, the terror that the wives had of yellow taxis, which were used to deliver the "Secretary of the Army regrets" telegrams in the early days of the war. Another example follows the wife and daughter of Lt. Geoghegan, whose daughter had been born just before he left for Vietnam. Lt. Geoghegan was killed while trying to save one of his wounded men. By a twist of fate, their names are together on the wall of the Vietnam memorial (the man's name was Godboldt).This book is not for the weak of heart. It will make you cry. It will sometimes make you cheer. It is an important book. The story of these heroes in today's age of antiheroes, overpaid baseball players, and criminals allowed to continue to play college and professional sports, is inspiring. Even though Vietnam has been forgotten and is rapidly fading into memory, while WWII remains the number one best seller (I don't mind that, it deserves it, but American treatment of Vietnam and Korea has been disgraceful), there is an entire living generation of Americans (and some Brits and Aussies and others, including the North and South Vietnamese) who will never forget it until the day they die.A Note on the movie, We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson: The movie was very good and I remember a bunch of us watched it together at Fr Benning as we waited to leave for Iraq, but please don't substitute the film for the book. The movie simply fails to capture the essence of the book. It also leaves out the battle at LZ Albany entirely. What really made the book powerful, and the movie failed at, was making these men real. Only when people are real to us can we truly appreciate what they did. That said, this is the only Vietnam movie that I have had a survivor of Ia Drang recommend as being an accurate portrayal of Vietnam. My friend made my wife promise to watch it, and she hates war movies. Perhaps he just wants people to know what he and his buddies went through before it is completely forgotten, or maybe he knows that most people just don't read books. I don't know; it is his business.
Ho letto diversi libri sul Vietnam, e questo non mi è piaciuto. Non penso che sia scritto male, ma fondamentalmente si tratta di una lunga descrizione di una campagna, la campagna di Ia Drang, svoltasi sugli altipiani centrali del Vietnam. Si trattò della prima battaglia combattuta tra americani e nord-vietnamiti organizzati in battaglioni, un genere di scontro che successivamente fu evitato da entrambe le parti, per la semplice ragione che in questa battaglia persero la vita moltissimi soldati da entrambe le parti, ed entrambe le parti si proclamarono vittoriose senza peraltro riuscire a dimostrare la verità.La storia è questa: nella battaglia fra il governo di Saigon (il governo fantoccio sostenuto dagli stessi Stati Uniti) instaurato a seguito del ritiro dei francesi (che avevo governato la colonia vietnamita fino ad allora) e il governo di Hanoi, costituito da nord-vietnamiti comunisti che anelavano a governare il proprio paese senza influenze esterne, e a portare avanti una serie di riforme agricole e sociali, l’esercito degli Stati Uniti svolse inizialmente un ruolo secondario. Le truppe statunitensi erano stanziate vicino ai porti, pertanto erano distanziate le une dalle altre (questa dislocazione era dovuta anche al numero esiguo dei soldati inizialmente presenti in Vietnam). L’obiettivo dei nord-vietnamiti era proprio quello di isolare le truppe stanziate più a Sud da quelle stanziate più vicine al confine con il Vietnam del Nord. Tutto questo al fine di prendere possesso degli altopiani centrali che, data la configurazione geografica del Vietnam, costituiscono il punto di potere più ambito. Quello che li spinse ad attaccare fu anche la volontà di misurarsi in battaglia contro gli americani, per capire il loro modo di combattere, dato che fino a quel momento l’esercito di Hanoi aveva avuto esperienze solo con l’esercito del governo coloniale francese. Dopo l’attacco (al campo delle forze speciali di Pleime) sventato dall’aiuto delle truppe sudvietnamite e dall’intervento della Cavalleria Aerea, l’esercito di Hanoi si rifugiò nella valle del fiume Ia Drang. Come risposta il Generale Westmoreland (comandante in capo dell’esercito statunitense in Vietnam) ordinò alla Prima Divisione di Cavalleria Aerea di compiere un’operazione “Search and Destroy”.Mi sembra eccessivo impiegare più di 450 pagine per raccontare una battaglia, o meglio è un tipo di lettura che credo possa essere significativa solo per chi si interessa in maniera particolare a questo conflitto. L’obiettivo di Moore è quello di onorare la morte di tutti i soldati che vennero macellati in questa battaglia (e in questa guerra, più in generale) e uno dei modi in cui decide di farlo è proprio lasciando la parola ai vari partecipanti che poterono esprimersi al riguardo. Il metodo è sicuramente interessante ma rende anche disagevole la lettura a causa dei molteplici punti di vista su una situazione già difficile da capire per chi, come me, non ha conoscenze tecniche e non è nemmeno molto interessato alle battaglie. Inoltre viene dato ampio rilievo al ruolo svolto in battaglia dalla cavalleria dell’aria nel suo primo impiego in Vietnam. Ovviamente la possibilità di aviotrasportare le truppe cambiò completamente le possibilità dell’esercito americano. Per quanto riguarda i brani che non trattano direttamente la battaglia, mi sembra che il testo sia un po’ troppo celebrativo, non negli intenti ma proprio nella forma (perde di credibilità a mio avviso). Vi regalo un esempio (tratto dal capitolo che racconta il post-battaglia e l’arrivo dei giornalisti):Io intanto ero attorniato dai cronisti. Spiegai loro che era stata una battaglia dura, che avevamo dovuto combattere un nemico coraggioso, determinato e durissimo, ma che la nostra potenza di fuoco, unita a disciplina, gran fegato e volontà di vincere, ci aveva regalato la vittoria a X-Ray. Poi mi s’incrinò la voce e mi si riempirono gli occhi di lacrime mentre raccontavo ai giornalisti che tanti miei soldati ammazzati in quel posto erano a pochi giorni dal congedo, eppure avevano combattuto, ed erano morti, con coraggio. Sapevo che erano già in viaggio i telegrammi che avrebbero spezzato il cuore e la vita di decine di famiglie americane.Nonostante il tenore un po’ sdolcinato, il libro affronta comunque – anche se non in modo particolarmente approfondito – il problema dell’eroismo di un esercito che è stato mandato a combattere una guerra sbagliata. Moore trova giusto e doveroso ricordare i caduti in battaglia (di entrambe le parti) e di onorarne la memoria e l’operato, anche non condividendo la scelta di entrare in guerra in Vietnam. Io ho trovato particolarmente toccante l’immagine dei reduci della battaglia di Ia Drang che si incontrano una volta l’anno a Washington, mentre probabilmente i reduci nordvietnamiti fanno altrettanto ad Hanoi. In fin dei conti è vero che ciò che ci distingue dagli animali è la memoria.Da questo libro è stato tratto anche il film We Were Soldiers, per la regia di Randall Wallace ed interpretato da Mel Gibson.
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falling short of absolute excellent, "We Were Soldiers Once..." is still a great war book. the primary criticism made about the work is that it covers only the initial insertion and first half of the battle, whereas most of the casualties suffered by the US unit took place over the next few days as the force withdrew. so in a sense, the author can be accused of doing a whitewash, covering only the glorious "search for the lost platoon" and the dramatic impact of the first ever helicopter insertion, while forgetting the human cost during the retreat.if an author does choose to make this choice, however, the resulting work is far more "impact for word count." only reads more, because the facts are more compelling. falling short of the absolute epic quality of some of the really famous war books, We Were Soldiers Once comes pretty close to being on that level, and deserves a solid 4/5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_o...even the wikipedia page is continued to be under dispute.apparently casualties were 5:1 against the Vietnamese even including LZ Albany. however, the Americans left and the Vietnamese retained the territory. I would rather have been an American than a Vietnamese in the battle if I had to be one or the other, but the American victories in the war ultimately resulted in nothing gained for the American side.does this summarize the war?
—S.
This is not a good book - you know that just by reading what it is about, the subject matter is anything but good. But I cannot think of another descriptor so excuse me when I say that this is a good book.I have no (well, very little) interest in such topics - my Dad finds them interesting and this is actually his book (as was the Nam book I read last February). It is thanks to him I have seen M.A.S.H and most of the episodes of Tour of Duty. And it is thanks to him I've now read two books on a conflict that makes very little sense to me. I was somewhat amazed at the end of this book when the reactions of those back "at home" were being told that this was not a war - how often do we hear people say "the war in Vietnam" or "the Vietnam War", and from the little I know this was a war - just not an announced one.... to me that is a very peculiar political distinction, which only helps to reinforce the main thing reading this has left me with - US politics at this time were atrocious. I thought that nearly from the beginning of the book when Moore was saying about how thorough the training was but then he lost most of them due to their service being up! Now, I do agree that if your service is up, it is up and if you don't want to re-enlist you shouldn't be forced to. But then why waste that time and money training people who will not use it? Pure insanity in my eyes and again down to the political movements at the time.There were moments in this book when I found myself thrown out of the narrative as the 'viewpoint' switched between soldiers without much notice - I did find that jarring. And it is repetitive in parts - the first chapter (Heat of Battle) is a small section of the battle at X-Ray and is repeated to much greater detail and effect later in the book, we are told that McNamara is making a return journey to the states via Saigon at least twice in relatively close proximity... But I think the 'worst' thing about it, is because of the changes in the narrators so quickly it is often confusing - and that is the best thing about this book too. After all the battles it is describing were anything but orderly and the book simply reflects its subject matter.Overall, I found this to be a very interesting book. It is well-written and done with care, events (or deaths) that could be (are) horrific are handled sensitively yet in a matter of fact way - there is no sense that the author is trying to use that horror and repulsion to make a good book - it was simply the way things were there.
—Carina
Lt.Col Hal Moore was a veteran of the Korean conflict. He was given a command of a batallion. Most of the officers were young and inexpierienced. He trained them as if they were going to be paratropers. He trained them for cambat. He had the 7th Calvary and went into cambat in Vietnam.The 7th was Custers and he got masacred. Moore new that and he studied his enemy well. When they went into combat the 7th aircab(Heuy helicopters) ferried them in. The enemy was waiting and launched their attack. Hal used several tactics to outsmart the enemy and he held his ground. Casualties, yes we had lots of them but by beating the enemy here the top brass at the Pentagon and Whitehouse thought we could come out witha a win. BIG MISTAKE End result, we lost.To Sgt. Carlos Augusto Perez, died in Pleiku December 1 1967.Que descanses en paz!
—Leo
