Too close to true...and what we should be doing going forward

Ia Drang Valley

The best war movie I have ever seen besides the Cavalry Trilogy and Sharpe's Rifles was Blackhawk Down. That film really displayed the whole concept of grace under fire, brotherhood, and why soldiers will do what they do. A close second in recent memory is "We were soldiers once," with Mel Gibson. The movie suffered from some schmaltziness and Gibson's blood soaked mania bothered some people. Unfortunately, those who are bothered by it have never seen a battlefield or a slaughterhouse. Ia Drang was a killing field and death by grenade, napalm, rifle, machine gun and grenade is a very messy thing indeed.

The film was based on Hal Moore's memoir, "We Were Soldiers Once, and Young." The book is flatter than the movie; it's not a bloodsplattered adventure story. Battlefield memoirs are often fairly flat; the use of excessive adjectives indicate ghostwriters. However, it's an excellent read and General Moore is an exceptional man. Crusader AXE reads the Army Times, as I think I've mentioned before. Moore has a column this week on reconciliation. Moore has been apolitical and to my knowledge hasn't expressed a public opinion on Iraq although the current debacles have got to cause more nightmares. That makes this piece absolutely riveting and calls out the chickenhawks amongst us. Moore is an intellectual soldier, and has a little of the poet's flair, but what shines through is the sincerity and pain and the possibility of redemption.

It was Vietnam. I was their commander and accountable for them. We charged the enemy with bayonets fixed to our rifles in face-to-face combat. I still hear the ugly sounds of war. I still see the boots of my dead sticking out unnaturally from under their ponchos, laces tied one last time by their precious fingers. I still carry the wounded to the helicopters as they bled, screamed and begged to live one more day.

And I still hold those who die in my arms, with their questioning eyes dreading death, as they called for their mothers. Their eyes go blank, and my war-crusted fingers close their eyelids. The blood of my dead soldiers will not wash from my hands. The stains remain.

On Nov. 16, 1965, we won the LZ-Xray battle in the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam. However, 79 of my dear troopers died for those of us who lived. During the battle, we took prisoners of war. We gave them water and aspirin to help relieve their pain. Their anxious faces soon gave way to expressions of relief that they were treated with dignity...

People and nations rise above their differences only through effort, through trust. Without trust, unity is beyond reach and restoration. With trust, unity is within reach and preservation.

We must reach out to others in order to preserve the freedom we hold dear. We are each called to bear witness to the ideals of liberty. When we treat others with the respect and friendship that true liberty engenders, they will be brought into that same liberty.

When the heartbeat of one soldier stops forever, the heartbeat of our nation should accelerate, driving us to ensure that this life was not sacrificed in vain. A racing pulse should rouse us to seek, at all costs, even better ways to understand, forgive and deal with our differences. Reconciliation should always be our end objective.

We owe our dead and their survivors no less. We owe our children much more. We owe our children’s children even more.

Let us pay our debts.(AXE emphasis)

Hal Moore is an exceptional man, an exceptional soldier and stands head and shoulders above twits like Tommy Franks and David Petraeus. At Ia Drang, he commanded the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry; as the movie points out, Custer's Regiment, and one of the two squadrons at Little Big Horn. In the film, Mel Gibson reacts as though he feels Custer's ghost grab his balls. In the book, Moore talks of the honor and pride he felt and his men felt at being entrusted with the honor and responsibility of carrying on the regiment's history. He brings honor to the guidon.

Rosebud National Monument, Little Bighorn Battlefield

Comments

[Marmoset]

General Moore brings far more honor the the 7th Cav guidon than that fool Custer, or the bastards who perpetrated the Wounded Knee masacre ever did. It's about time he spoke up, and I hope this is just the beginning of his writings.

[Jack]

Right on about Hal Moore. Also his co writer of the book, Joe Galloway, (portrayed in the movie as the reporter/photographer who was with Moores unit) and a long time Knight Ridder/McClatchy reporter/columnist.

As anyone with any sense, he opposed the Iraq war from the first...