We Were Soldiers Once... and Young : Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young : Ia Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam
ISBN: 9780345472649
Publication Date: 29 June 2004

In November 1965, the air mobile 1st Cavalry Division, led by Lt. Col. Moore and accompanied by reporter Galloway, landed in a remote valley in the central highlands of South Vietnam--and were met by 3,000 seasoned North Vietnamese Regulars. Today, the Ia Drang battle is taught at the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, and the Army, Navy, and Air Force war colleges.

*A moving account of one of Vietnam's most savage battles *A tale of endurance, self-sacrifice and friendship *Based on hundreds of interviews of men who fought there, including North Vietnamese commanders

`A gut-wrenching account of what war is really about, which should be a"must" read' - General Norman Schwarzkopf

`Between experiencing combat and reading about it lies a vast chasm. But this book makes you almost smell it' - Wall Street Journal

`There are stories here that freeze the blood . . . The men who fought at Ia Drang could have no finer memorial' - New York Times Book Review

In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under Lt. Col. Hal Moore's command, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the Vietnam War's most significant battles.

How these men persevered makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders....