Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
In the first significant engagement between American troops and the Viet Cong, 450 U.S. soldiers found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by their enemy. This book tells the story of how they battled between October 23 and November 26, 1965. Its prose is gritty, not artful, delivering a powerful punch of here-and-now descriptions that could only have been written by people actually on the scene. In fact, they were: Harold Moore commanded the men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, who did most of the fighting, and Joseph Galloway was the only reporter present throughout the battle's 34 harrowing days. We Were Soldiers Once... combines their memories with more than 100 in-depth interviews with survivors on both sides. The Battle of Ia Drang also highlights a technological advance that would play an enormous role in the rest of the war: this was perhaps the first place where helicopter-based, air-mobile operations demonstrated their combat potential. At bottom, however, this is a tale of heroes and heroism, some acts writ large, others probably forgotten but for this telling. It was a bestseller when first published, and remains one of the better books available on combat during the Vietnam War. --John J. Miller
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
Six stars if I could
Customer Rating:
Buy it, read it and learn from it. This is one fascinating story that you just have to read.
incredible memory detail provided
Customer Rating:
the recounting of the specifics of battle provided in this book is really incredible. made me feel like really honoring all these men who fought this senseless war.
A MOVING TRIBUTE.
Customer Rating:
Unlike some of my reviews, I plan to keep this one rather short. With the number of reviews here, most of what I would say would be rather redundant. Suffice to say that I have not read a book that touched me more in quite some time now. While I was not there, as I was serving in another area at this time, I did have friends who were; some made it out, others did not. I cannot imagine the horror they went through in the brief time this battle took place and I doubt very much if anyone who was not there could make that claim.
This work is a very personal unit history of one battle during the Viet Nam War. It is a document which covers the first real use of our Air Assault Forces; the first time they were used on this scale against a very well trained and dedicated opponent. This battle took place during the month of November 1965 in the Ia Drang Valley. Between October 23 and November 26, 1965 305 American soldiers were killed in what is know as the Pleiku campaign. There were many, many wounded, both physically and emotionally. The total number of Vietnamese killed and wounded will never be known, but it is felt that it numbered in the thousands.
The book itself is a rather personal book, and as one reviewer has pointed out, it is probably one of the best accounts of small unit combat since The Red Badge of Courage. I not that there has been some criticism that the book spent too much time detailing and naming individuals who participated in this engagement, naming names, home towns, backgrounds and ultimate fate on the battle field. Good grief people, many of these young men are either dead or quite old now. I personally feel that Lt. Gen Moore would have been less than honorable to not have noted as many of these men as he possibly could have. Their names need to be remembered. Moore should be applauded for this and his efforts to tell their stories.
I also note that there is criticism from some of the arm chair soldiers as to tactics, etc. Again, good grief! Under the circumstances I doubt seriously if another group of officers and men could have done any better nor made a better account of themselves. As to those critical of Moore's and Galloway's writing style...again, get real! To be quite frank and blunt, no one really cares about your literary pontifications; they simply are not relevant here, and are sort of pathetic. If you want smooth action, and a flowing story, go see a John Wayne movie or read one of those God Awful Mack Bolan books.
The Viet Nam War was a war that almost split this nation apart. I certainly am not going near that debate in this review. I will say though, that no matter what side of the coin you were on, this is one that all should read. We have young men and women in harms way at this time, and Americans need to know just what some of these young people are going though. In a way, it does not matter who won this battle or who lost. The fact is that many brave men, on both sides, gave their all and they should be remembered and honored. This is by no means an endorsement of war or an attempt to glorify war as only a complete fool would do such, it is though an honorable attempt to honor those that deserve it.
This was a wonderful work on so many levels and I do recommend it be read by all.
Don Blankenship The Ozarks
This is the real deal
Customer Rating:
To check this book out, I went to the lz x-ray website and copied and read the actual after-action report. I am a veteran and this all rings true. This is a books worth reading and discussing among high school students for those who want to know what really happened.
Clear, concise and not judgemental
Customer Rating:
This book is excellent in writing, very easy to read - even for non native english speaking readers. I'm impressed with the level of detail and how the authors enabled me to understand (at least a fraction of) what they experienced in 1965. I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in the Vietnam War, or any war for that matter - especially in respect to the life of a soldier in combat and the lives behind the numbers...
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