Mike Guardia - Hal Moore: A Soldier Once . . . And Always

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From We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Lt. General H.G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, copyright 1992 by Lt. General H.G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway. Used by permission of Random House, Inc. Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to Random House, Inc. for permission.

From We Are Soldiers Still by Lt. General H.G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway, copyright 2008 Used by permission of HarperCollins. Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to HarperCollins for permission.

Copyright 2013 Mike Guardia

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Dedicated to the men and women of the US Armed Forces.

Lieutenant Hal Moore in his first stateside portrait, 1949. After three years in Occupied Japan, Hal returned the United States with orders to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The Hal Moore Collection

Let us understand the situation. We are going into battle against a tough and determined enemy. I cant promise you that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear, before you and before almighty God: that when we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me God.

T his was the promise made by Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Hal Moore to the men of 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry on the eve of their deployment to Vietnam. On the morning of November 14, 1965, Hal Moore led the 400-man battalion against two North Vietnamese Army (NVA) regiments at the Battle of Ia Drangone of the first major battles of the Vietnam War. Outnumbered four to one, Lieutenant Colonel Moore led his battalion to a surprising victory which claimed the lives of over 1,200 enemy soldiers. Seventy-nine Americans died in the engagement.

The Battle of Ia Drang pioneered the use of airmobile infantrydelivering troops into battle via helicopter. Moore himself had played a key role in developing airmobility tactics during the early 1960s. Together with journalist Joseph L. Galloway, he later wrote about his experiences at Ia Drang in the critically acclaimed book We Were Soldiers Once and Young , which Paramount Pictures later adapted into the film We Were Soldiers , starring Mel Gibson.

A 1945 West Point graduate, Moores military career began as World War II ended. After serving a three-year tour with the 11th Airborne Division in Occupied Japan, Moore returned to the United States and then served in the Korean War. As a young captain, he fought in the Battles of Old Baldy, T-Bone, and Pork Chop Hill. Following his subsequent year-long tour in Vietnam, Moore commanded the 7th Infantry Division, forward-stationed in South Korea. At the time, the US 7th Division (like most units in the Army) suffered from race riots, illegal drug use, and gang violence. To correct these problems, Moore relieved a number of key leaders within the division and initiated a new program of training and discipline. By the end of his tenure, the divisions disciplinary problems had virtually disappeared and combat readiness surged to an all-time high. Returning stateside in 1971, he assumed command of the Army Training Center at Fort Ord, California. In this capacity, he oversaw the development of several training programs for Project VOLAR (Volunteer Army)the US Armys transition from a conscript-based force to an all-volunteer force. He retired as a Lieutenant General in 1977.

Like most of my fellow Millennials (i.e. those born after 1980), my introduction to Hal Moore was the film We Were Soldiers , which I saw on opening night in 2002. It quickly became one of my favorite films and, to this day it remains the best Vietnam War picture that I have ever seen. We Were Soldiers was also the first film I had seen to portray the Vietnam veteran in a positive light. For years, my generation had grown up on such fare as Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now , and Casualties of War all of which portrayed the Vietnam veteran as either malicious or mentally unstable. We Were Soldiers , however, was an earnest and intimate portrayal of the men who answered their countrys call of duty in Southeast Asia.

In the years following the films release, I read the books We Were Soldiers Once and Young and We Are Soldiers Still . However, I was surprised to learn that no one had yet written a biography of Hal Moore himself.

At the time I began researching this book, Moore was eighty-eight years old and living quietly in Auburn, Alabama. We began our correspondence first through a series of letters and telephone interviews. Several months later, I had the opportunity to visit Hal Moore at his home, where he and I spent an entire week discussing his life and career. He graciously granted me access to his personal archiveswhich included a wealth of personal papers, photographs, government documents, war trophies, and We Were Soldiers memorabilia.

During one of our initial interviews, Moore indicated that he had three younger siblingsBetty, Bill, and Ballardall of whom were still living. All three siblings graciously gave me their time and readily shared memories of life with their elder brother. Moores five childrenGregory, Steven, Julie, Cecile, and Davidsupported me throughout every phase of this project.

Aside from We Were Soldiers Once and Young and We Are Soldiers Still , other works produced by Moore include Building a Volunteer Army: The Fort Ord Contribution , a 139-page monograph published by the Army Center of Military History. Building a Volunteer Army chronicles the early years of Project VOLAR and Moores development of the training programs therein. The After-Action Reports written by Moore give a detailed account of his units battles in the Ia Drang Valley and Bong Son campaigns. Other primary sources included video footage from Moores interviews at the Priztker Military Library, Texas Tech University Vietnam Studies Center, and the American Veterans Center.