could you ask Galloway what mountian 5 miles east of Plei Me is over 6,000ft, as he said the 1/7 and he stayed overnight after crossing a chest deep stream at 6,000ft.
Russell l. Ross
1741 Maysong Ct. Sa
San Jose, Ca
95131-2727
ph408 926-9336
JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY, PLAGERIST, LIAR, CONMAN.
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Topic: Distinguished journalist, author speaks
Name: Russell L. Ross
Email: lzalbany65@aol.com
Location: San jose, Ca
Comment:
In a message dated 1/15/2004 3:23:36 PM Pacific Standard
Time,
jgalloway@krwashington.com writes:
like i say russell, if you had anything worth taking i
would sue you for libel and slander and take it all. but
you don't. only a couple bottles of blue pills which you
need to use more regularly.
Russell L. Ross
1741 Maysong ct
San Jose, CA. 95131-2727
408 926-9336
Below "IF YOU WANT A GOOD FIGHT...." Soldier Of Fortune
September 1983 vol.8 no.9 page 22-29.
This is the 2nd Rewrite of We Were Soldiers Once and
Young, I,m still looking for the 1st, In the 1st. verson
Galloway writes Col. Moore was told to stay out of the
mountains. I will pay up to $100.00 or more for that
article. It was in Military type Magzine, like Soldier Of
Fortune also.
BY JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY KnightRidder's Military Consultant.
JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY never served in the military
KnightRidder's Military Consultant.
We Were Soldiers is FICTION
From: lzalbany65@aol.com
Date: 6/13/2003
Time: 3:01:52 AM
Remote Name: 205.188.208.5
Comments
Well you see I was there
in the movie the only thing true is Moore being the first
one on X-Ray and the Bugle being picked up at X-Ray and no
he was not the last to leave X-Ray he left on the 3rd lift
out and came back. the rest is Fiction as was the story
X-Ray part.
Moore didnt see Galloway save Nakayama
anytime you or Moore and Galloway want to back up their
story in a court of law let me know.
Mr. JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY HAD NO MILITARY SERVICE, Training
AT ALL.
Who am I? lzalbany65@aol.com Russell L. Ross 1741
Maysong ct. San Jose, Ca 95131-2727 ph 408 926-9336
Sept 1965-66 SP/4 Russell L. Ross RA17630469 D company
2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry Recon Platoon ( LoneRanger call
sign ) 1st Cavalry Division Airmobile An Khe Vietnam.
1964 B company 1st Battalion 511 Infantry ( Airborne ) 11
Air Assualt ( test ) FT. Benning, Georgia.
1965 B company 1/511 became B company 2nd Battalion 8th
Cavalry ( Airborne ) 1st Cavalry Division Airmobile FT.
Benning, Georgia.
And in July 1965 I was sent to the 2nd Battalion 7th
Cavalry 1st Cavalry Division Airmobile.
JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY ( Rambo The Reporter ) IS NOW SELLING
HIS COMBAT PICTURES FROM LANDING ZONE X-RAY. Joseph L.
Galloway The Walter Mitty of the war, Rambo the Reporter,
A Plagiarist, Fiction writer, and now add fraud.
Galloway brandishes a Swedish K submachinegun at Danang
in August 1965. day battle. Joe prior to Xray battle
He is the only civilian to receive a medal from the U.S.
Army for valor during the Vietnam War�a Bronze Star
with Combat V for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire in
the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965.
( Even though Moore didnt see him do this he wrote him up
for it .added by me )
A veteran of 42 years in journalism with United Press
International and U.S. News & World Report, he is
coauthor with retired Army Lieutenant General Harold G.
Moore of We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young (New York:
Random House, 1992).
Galloway�the award-winning newsman and current special
consultant to Secretary of State General Colin Powell
spoke recently with Fred L. Schultz at U.S. Naval
Institute headquarters. STEVE NORTHUP
http://www.usni.org/Proceedings/Articles02/PROgalloway02.htm
Why is Joseph L. Galloway altering his combat pictures of
Landing Zone X-Ray?? is it becouse they show the truth and
not the lies written by Galloway and Moore in their Book
We Were Soldiers Once and Young ( The X-Ray part ).
Joseph L. Galloway is altering some of his combat
pictures to match the story line in the book, as he now
has the equipement to change them.
!!!!!WARNING!!!!! if you buy these pictures, be warned,
some of the pictures you see at this web site isnt the
orignal pictures.
he has now since changed the ural here is the new ones
http://www.weweresoldiers.net/
http://www.weweresoldiers.net/plate2.htm
OLD URAL >>
http://www.biggolddog.com/photos.htm
The photographs offered are from the personal collection
of Joe Galloway ( Rambo the Reporter ) and were taken at
LZ X-Ray during and after the action in the Ia Drang
Valley, November 14-16, 1965. The images reflect the
savagery of the combat, a feel for the emotions of the
soldiers involved and a sense for the terrain in which
the battle was fought.
The photographs have never before been published and most
have been seen only by a handful of participants in the
action. ( Actually some pictures have been published and
seen by over 26 million people ) These images will help
put a real face on the people, places and events in the
upcoming movie, "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young",
starring Mel Gibson. A film based on the book of the same
name by Lt. Gen. Hal Mooore and Joe.
Ia Drang Scholarship Fund.... As a lasting tribute to the
men of the 1st of the 7th Cavalry who gave so much in the
Ia Drang, a permanent scholarship fund was established
for the children and grandchildren of those who died in
action in this heroic event. To honor that commitment,
10% of the purchase price of every Joe Galloway at the Ia
Drang photo will be donated to the fund.
Stories Part Fiction he embelished for them. U.S. NEWS
and World Report Oct 29,1990 Pg 32 Fatal Victory Pg 36
Vietnam Story.
ARTICLES Galloway Plagarized. U.S. News and World Report
Oct 25, 93 Page 45 Step by Step into a Quagmire SOURCE:
Stanley Karnows Vietnam a History Pages 479-485.
U.S. News and World Report Feb 4,1991 Page 49 "Who's
Afraid of the truth" SOURCE: Soldier of Fortune Dec 84 Pg
104 Press Escorts by Fred Tucker. ( TUCKERS GORRILLAS ).
In the movie Gibson portray Galloway as a Reporter who
pick's up a weapon only to protect the wounded. BUT!!!
Galloway was the most heavely armed Reporter in Vietnam.
Page 32 Joseph L. Galloway Had wrangled a ride in to the
Plie Me camp while it was under siege, and becouse of the
shortages of fighters found him self assigned to a .30 cal
light machine gun. With two other reporters After the
battle was over Major Charles Beckwith hands Galloway an
M-16 rifle, Galloway told Beckwith, Strictly speaking,
under the Geneva Convention he was "A civilian
noncombatant." As you see there is no logic. Galloway has
just spent 3 days maning a .30 cal machine gun killing
PAVN troops and after the battle is over decides he is a
civilian noncombatant?
The question is why didnt Galloway join the service? He
was always to busy playing Soldier instead of being a
Reporter. He wanted to be at any battle he could get to,
to record it, But when he get's there at the battle. He
start's to play Soldier. You cant write or record
History, While you busy playing soldier.
Of all the reporters in Vietnam, Galloway was the most
danegerous to the Americian troops, in His Walter Mitty
and Rambo persona. He had no idea what the soldier's job
was, He as a reporter and could do what he wanted and go
where he wanted to at any time. Joseph L. Galloway( Rambo
the Reporter ) ROAMED all over VIETNAM, Killing as he
pleased.
Page 35 November 13,1965 Galloway hitched a ride from
Pleiku to Catecha the 3 Brigade headquaters Galloway " I
dug a foxhole out on the perimeter with B company 1/7,
Under one of those $50.00 tea bushes, set out some spare!
magazines ( M-16 ).
Galloway playing Soldier, It would have been better if he
said I set out some spare film rolls. to record events,
his mind set is playing soldier.
Page 32 Galloway writes: " At first lite I pinched of a
small piece of C-4 explosive from the emergency supply in
my pack and used it to boil up a canteen cup of water for
coffee.
Walter Mitty part: If you lit C-4 very carefully you
could be drinking hot coffee in maybe 30 secounds. If you
were careless it blew your arm off.
If Galloway was so eager to receive the Bronze Star, Then
he should be ready to pay the price for violating the
UCMJ. Conspiring to take a $500,000 Helicopter and
receiving Military equipement, 1 M16 Rifle, 1 Carl
Gustaf,
I had to sign for all my equipement as all soldiers did
and had to turn it in when I left, Who did Galloway leave
the M-16 with, Does he have papers saying he turned it in?
The same with the Carl Gustaf, Where did he get it? Did he
buy it, Pick it up on the Battlefield? Did he sell it when
he left? If he turned it in, Does he have the paper work
to show it?
Galloway conspired with a friend ( A Huey Pilot )into
flying into Plei Me camp. There were orders for all
aircraft to stay out of the area, The friend went AWOL,
He and Galloway took the Huey and flew into Plei Me,
Beckwith needed, medical, and ammo.
At Plei Me Major Charles Beckwith had put Galloway and 2
other Reporters on a machinegun. and had given Galloway
an M-16 Rifle.
MYTH's: Page 156-157 Vincent Cantu and Galloway meet
during fierce attack on D and C company's. Galloway was
taking pictures. Vincent Cantu braved the fire and
sprinted to where Galloway was.
TRUTH: Soldier of Fortune Sept 83 Page 28 Galloway writes
"During a ( LULL!!)." I met Vincent Cantu this was before
the(skyhawk) naplmed the Command post.
MYTH's: Page 35 Galloway The plantation billed the U.S.
$50 for each tea bush and $250 for each rubber tree.
TRUTH: Soldier of Fortune Sept 83 Page 25 Galloway They
billed U.S.$25 for each tea bush $125 for each rubber
tree.
Galloway only left the saftey of the Command Post During
" LULL's " in the Battle, As soon as the firing started
up, He would headed right back to the Command post, He
only took pictures of the dead and wounded. Where are his
action pictures?
Fiction We Were Soldiers Once and Young X-Ray part. page
references are from the hardback.
FICTION: Fabarication applies particulary to a false but
carefully invented statement or a series of statements,
in which some truth is sometimes interwoven, the whole
usually intended to deceive.
The Greatest Hero "People everywhere are smitten- With a
tale that is written. Once a hero's deeds are known-
They're as good as etched in stone. Every word, folks
take to heart- And think this makes them very smart.
Amazing how the very wise- Never stop to realize- That
what they read may not be true. Groo
Moral: Even when the words are true the may not speak the
truth Groo
Can you make Col. Klink ( Moore ) and Rambo the Reporter
(Galloway ) into hero's pages from the hardback
Lt. Col. Moore was the Col. Klink of the war? He knew
nothing, nothing
Page 17 Moore's new concepts & techniques were written in
the 1950's FM 57-35 Army Transport Avation-Combat
Operations, 1963 FM 57-35 Airmobile Operations. by
Officers he worked with? in 1957. Moore in 1957 "I was in
on the concept of Airmobility with Gavin, Norton, Seneff
Williams". With 2 1/2 years writing, 1 1/2 years training
in Airmobile tatics in the 11Air Assault Division Test,
for a total of 4 years and yet he retained nothing about
Airmobile tatics.
Page 37 Crandall "Moore wanted Aviation present, to be
part of his Staff".
Moore, Crandall or his ALO had to coordinate the flight
time from Plei Me to X-Ray, flight routes, fire support,
resuppy, Medevac Huey.
Moore couldnt plan the operation with out Crandall (
aviation ) present.
Page 60 As Crandall flared the huey to land at Landing
Zone X-Ray Moore & his troops starts firing their
weapons.
FM 57-35 There is no firing from the helicopter during
flight, landing or any other time.
Pity the troop to their right a face full of hot brass,
left ear drums ringing, brass on floor or getting caught
in the Huey's controls
Moore who had been listening to the battle of Landing
Zone Albany on the radio voluntered for the 1st Battalion
7th Cavalry to go to Columbus to guard the artillary, So
the 2nd Battalion 5th Cavalry could go and reinforce
ALBANY.
MYTHS of The Ia Drang Valley Some Officers even Kinnard
stated that Moore voluntered to go into ALBANY but he
didn�t. and from Persons in the book That Moore and
Galloway write good about give in return and adds to the
MYTHS about the 1/7 and Moore.
One Reporter Bob Poos of Soldier of Fortune writes that
Moore and the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry was the ones who
relived the Plie me camp,
Soldier of Fortune March 83 page 29-30 ARVN AMBUSH 3rd
column last 2 paragraphs.
Plie Me did get relief- with a vengeance- from the 1st
Cavalry Division. Through a strange coincidance, the camp
commander, Capt Harold Moore, Learned later that much of
the relief force was commanded by a name sake, Lt. Col.
Harold Moore commander of the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry.
When in fact it was my old unit the 2nd Battalion 8th
Cavalry.
Capt George Forrest when he spoke to the Old Guard said
Lt. Col. Moore was there in the 11AAD in 1963.
So starts the myths about Lt. Col. Moore and the 1st
Battalion 7th Cavalry.
Moore idea would cost time becouse the 1st Battalion 7th
Cavalry would have to be to Columbus 4 hours, Then the
2nd Battalion 5th Cavalry would have to be flown to
Albany another 4 hours. 8 hours to renforce Albany?
So why didn�t Kinnard send the 1st Battalion 7th
Cavalry to reinforce ALBANY?
They were probally to drunk? they had spent the day of
the 17 in the Bars of Pleiku
The most outrageous LIE Page 287 At Landing Zone Albany.
There on the dying enemy soldier something shiny. A big
battered old French army Bugle.
FACT: This Bugle was captured at Landing Zone X-Ray and
brought into Landing Zone Albany by the reinforcements.
Leadership Principle 1 Be Technically and Tactically
Proficent To know you job thoroughly, you must posses not
only specific knowledge of its details but also a broad
general knowledge concerning its area of intrest. you
should be competent in combat operations and training as
well as in the technical and admimistrative aspects of
your duties. If you demonstrate deficincies in these
functions,your subordinates will lose confidance in you
as a leader.
Moore is under the delusion he has come up with a new Air
Assault tatic for the 1st lift would doom his men. for the
want of a nail, The 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry. As the
Battle of Landing Zone X-Ray would grind up, The Troops,
Helicopters and Artillary. Making them unavalible for
other units.
Leading to the walk to Landing Zone Albany by the 2/7.
What happend. It would appear Moore would be the first
one chosen by Kinnard for the 11 AIr Assault test, When
it started up in 1963 but he wasnt.
He had To write a letter to Major General Kinnard ( His
Old Boss ) begging for a Infantry Battalion in the 11 air
Assault Division.
It wasent till 1964, 1 year after it started he got the
call. He didnt get one with the 11 Air Assault but
instead was given a Infantry Battalion in the 2 infantry
Division. The 2nd Battalion 23rd Infantry.
Moore Had never commanded a Infantry Battalion before.
But one of the hand picked officers by Kinnard in 1963
was Lt. Col McDade, He was chosen for the G-1 spot, He
would be given command of the 2nd Battilion 7th Cavalry
around November 7,1965 aproximately 10 days before the
battle of Landing Zone Albany.
McDade Had never Commanded a Infantry Battalion before.
THERE WAS ANOTHER FACTOR, MOORE AND MCDADE WERE HAVING A
POWER STRUGGLE.
Keep abreast of current military devolopements. Moore "I
thought up a new technique for the inital lift." There
are only two types of Air assaults.
Moore under the delusion he had come up with a new
technique.
The ground Commander ( Moore ) must concider two general
types of Airmobile assault when preparing the ground
tatical plan. These types of assaults differ primarily in
the proximity of the LZ to the assault objective
The first and preferred type is the landing of the
assault ehelons immediately on, or adjacent to, the
objective
The secound type of assault involves landing a distance
from the objective in a secure LZ, and requires assembly,
reorganization, and movement to an attack position prior
to the assault on the objective.
What happend to Moore's H-hour.
Moore Get's his H-hour confused with the Attack time in
the mission order.
H-hour in air assault terms is difined as the time the
lead helicopter touches down on the Landing Zone.
Moore puts the H-hour at H-1030.
He then gets word the Artillary cant fire until H-1017.
H-hour get delayed. 1 incremint? ( usually 15 minutes ).
So that should make H-hour, H-1045.
But Moore ( who is in the lead Huey ) dosent set foot on
LZ X-Ray until H-1048,
3 minutes late.
Lt. Col. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway's part.( the
enlisted mens,Officers, Junior Officers and the 2/5, Bco
2/7 and 2/7 Battalion stories cannot be disputed.)
Moore couldnt READ a MAP? Page 30 November 9, 1965 Moore
"What does the RED STAR that is on the intelligence map
mean?"
The Red Star is not a military symbol its explanation
should have been on the lower right side ( margin ) of
the map.
Moore " I had no doubt the 1/7 my Battalion would be
chosen to mount the attack into the Ia Drang as the 2/7
had a new commander.
Fact!! " the 1/7 was closer to the objective then the 2/7
" and had nothing to do with the readiness of the
Battalions. (Gen.John J Tolson).
Page 17 Moore's new concepts & techniques were written in
the 1950's FM 57-35 Army Transport Avation-Combat
Operations.1960's FM 57-35 Airmobile Operations.
By Officers he worked with?
Page 17 1957 Moore "I was in on the concept of
Airmobility with Pentagon Reasearch and developement
group. Moore "I was the 1st man in the Airborne Branch".
4 years writing and training in Airmobile tatics.
Yet Moore retained nothing about Airmobile tatics.
Page 41 Moore "I thought up a new technique for the
inital lift".
There are only 2 types of Air assaults This is the 2 one.
Page 37 Crandall "Moore wanted Aviation to be present, to
be part of his Staff"
FM 57-35>Both the Ground Commander ( Moore ) and Aviation
Commander ( Crandall ) or his ALO had to coordinate>flight
time from Plei Me to X-Ray, flight routes,resuppy. Moore
couldnt plan the operation with out Avation present.
FM 57-35 Key personnel are distributed among the aircraft
of the lift so the loss of one aircraft does not destroy
the command structure.
Page 58 Moore and Crandall in the same Huey.
Page 59 The lift is flying at 110 knots.
FM 57-35 When diffrent types of aircraft fly in a single
lift, cruising speed of the slower aircraft must be the
controlling speed of the lift.
UH-1B's are Gunships fly at 80 knots
UH-1D's are Slicks 110 knots.
I ask Bco's 1/7 3rd Platoon Leader Dennis Deal, why didnt
Moore lay on water for his men ( B co would be on the LZ
for over 4 hours ) and why he said it was not the
Aviations job to haul out Wounded Troops?
B co's 1/7 3rd Platoon Leader Dennis Deal "dont ask me I
knew nothing about Airmobile tatics."
Page 106 Moore we needed water, medical supplies and
ammo.
Page 107 Bco 1/7 3rd Platoon Leader Dennis Deal by 3pm we
ran out of water, the wounded kept begging for water.
Page 145 November 15, 1965 at 6:20am Jemison shared his
last drops of water.
Page 112 November 14, 1965 While all day long the
Battalion Supply Officer was riding in and out of X-Ray &
Galloway came. 240# of water, medical, ammo not coming in,
1 Wounded troop not going out.
Page 106 Moore "hauling Wounded was not the slick crews
job" ( Aviation )
FM 7-20 the Battalion Commanders hanbook, Hauling wounded
is the secoundary mission of all military aircraft.
Page 63 Moore used his command Huey to haul out a non
wounded POW.
Page 167 but none his wounded troops, Lt Franklin
terribly wounded was set aside to die.
FM 1-100 Army Aviation The Command and Control Huey is to
be used for Command and Control ONLY it shouldnt be used
for anyother purpose, like RESUPPLY. .
a Medevac Huey was suppose to fly with the assault
echelon ( 1st Lift )
Page 105 a wounded troop was stumbling toward the aid
station, Galloway " stay away go back" what was this 17
year old's thoughts 50 feet from the aid station and
treatment and told to stay away?
FM 57-35 page 12 paragraph 24 supply 6 miscellaneous. a.
probable water supply points are predesingnated. and
comes in with the fowllowing echelon.
FM 7-20 page 271 paragraph 313 returning aircraft may be
used for the evacuation of casualities.
Galloway had no military service.
COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY no one expects the battalion
commander to act as a rifleman no matter how proficient
he is.
As he does so.
who commands his battalion?
Who gives guidance to his Company Commanders, he is
taking responsibility away from his men and not meeting
his own.
Page 34 Moore "I went to school on the Division
Commander, authority must be pushed down to the man on
the spot.
Page 40 Moore "I personally to influence the action would
be in the 1st Huey to land on X-Ray."
Page 60 Moore leading his command group clear a sector of
X-Ray, on the way back to the LZ, meet the troops who were
suppose to clear that sector.
Page 73 Moore "I was tempted to join A co or C co's
company's men"
Page 108 Moore "My operations Officer`& the Avaition
Liason Officer had controlled all flights into X-Ray, I
then took control, every Huey coming to X-Ray must radio
me for landing instructions.
Page 109 Crandall Moore was now a signalman at the far
end of the LZ was standing up, directing us where to
land.
Page 109 The Brigade Commander had given Moore
pathfinders.
Page 195 Moore "I personally lead the final counterattack
to make certian that the Company Commander of Bco 2/7 &
his men did a safe, clean, job & to look for my Missing
Troops.
Moore didnt bring in his execuitive Officer( 2nd in
command ) to help run the battalion command post.
Page 39 Moore "we had never maneuvered in combat as a
battalion"
Page 28 Moore the Battalion made 2 sweeps near An Khe.
Page 31 nov 9 Moore "We shuttled the Battalion in 16
Hueys"
Page 32 nov 9 Galloway "My first time out with Moores 1/7
Battalion"
Original story Solider of Fortune November 83 Page 25 Nov
9 Galloway "before nitefall Moore waved his battalion
across a stream"
Each Huey could carry 10 Troops. 10 troops X 16 Hueys=160
Troops per lift.
Page 30 a enemy base camp
Page 55 a radio transmision intercepted, estamated a N V
regiment was near X-Ray
Page 57 commo wire was seen.
Page 39 Moore puts only 80 men (5 per Huey) in the inital
lift.
Page 57 riflemen extra ammo all they could carry.
Air Assault tatics emphasize maximum inital lift, to get
maximum lift each huey carries minimum amount of fuel +
30 min reserve, with refueling & ammo Points near the
Pickup Zone.
Troops only basic load of ammo and web gear (intrenching
tool, 2 canteens, bayonet and poncho and 1st aid pack )
Page 40 Moore "later lifts could carry more men 100 as
fuel burned off".
Page 198 Rear area Operation Officer Dick Merchant "the
Huey could carry 10 men"
Page 111 Winkle"I had a total of 16 men in my Huey".
Fourner "it was left up to each pilot how many men he
carried" on later lifts I was carring 9-12 troops.
How it should have happend according to Air Assault
Tatics FM 57-35
With only 16 Hueys weight is a factor, so the inital lift
( the assault echelon ) must contain sufficant Troops to
secure the Landing Zone. The Alowable Cargo Load the (
ACL ) of each UH-1D for this mission should have been
3,000 pounds as its under 50 nautical miles ( only 14.3
miles to the objective )
using the Space method a space is defined as the weight
of a fully combat equiped troop ( 240 pounds ) 10 Troops
= 2,400 pounds per Huey.
Page 39 B co 114 troops, A co 40 troops, Ground
Commanders command group 6 for a total of 160 troops in
the 1st lift.
Moore was a Pilot?
Page 58 Crandall ( The Aviation Commander ) is starting
the Huey from the left seat the co-pilot seat, There is
no starter on that side.
Page 58 Moore as they load the Hueys "what is the flying
time from Plei Me to Landing Zone X-Ray"? 14.3 miles.
Page 37 Moore and Crandall plan an Air Assault.
Page 40 with a time table & failed to put down the flying
time from Plei Me to Landing Zone X-Ray, with out this
information, How did they plan the Assault???
Page 58 Mills 13 min 15 sec. Page 59 Speed ( rate ) 110
knots this time will take them 25 miles away.
The correct time is 8 min.
Formula for Time is Distance X 60 divide by Rate ( Speed
) 14.3 X 60 = 858 divide by 110 = 7.8 min = 8 min time is
rounded up to the nearest min.
Formula for Distance is rate ( Speed ) X time divided by
60 110 X 8 = 880 divide by 60 = 14.6miles = 15miles miles
is rounded up to the nearest 1/2 mile.
using 7.8 min for time for the distance 110 X 7.8 = 858
divide by 60 = 14.3 miles The distance from Plei Me to
Landing Zone X-Ray.
Page 188 A blazing flare under an unopened parachute hit
the ammo dump, the Sgt.Major grabbed it with his bare
hands, it burns at 4,000 degrees, it needs the parachute
to lite the candle.
Letter from Randy Wallace, the Screenwriter and Director,
about the film:
The Wheelhouse 15464 Ventura Boulevard Sherman Oaks, CA
91403-3002
Randall Wallace 7 February 2001
To all men who fought in the Ia Drang Valley, November
1965, and their families.
Gentlemen,
As many of you have already heard, we are preparing to
make a film version of Hal Moore and Joe Galloway's book
WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE...AND YOUNG.
As you can imagine, this is an enormously ambitious
undertaking.
As the prologue of Hal and Joe's landmark book states,
"Hollywood has gotten the story of the Vietnam veteran
wrong every damn time, whetting the knives of twisted
politics on the bones of our dead brothers."
Well this time we mean to get it right.
This is not to say that any of us making the film are
unconcerned with accuracy.
The Disclamer> ( It is not meant to tell the story ) of
each individual, ( or to capture the same kind of truth )
a documentary would.
I salute you.
Best regards,
Randall Wallace
1st Cavalry Division as the Division Commander Kinnard
had to use the whole of the division resorces to keep Lt.
Col. Moore from losing Landing Zone X-Ray.
Kinnard "I violated a lot of priniples about how hard you
work your guy's and how many hour's you fly your
helicopters."
"I literally flew the Blades off the choppers."
Things wrong with the trailer
Why is Moore shown stepping out of the Huey on the right
side at X-Ray? When he was on the left behind Crandall,
who was in the co-pilots seat. Page 58 hardback, Page 67
paperback
Moore as they land at X-Ray. as Crandall flared the Huey
to land I FIRED burst into the brush to the LEFT, toward
the mountian. page 60 hardback, page 69 paperback
Why are there 5 Hueys flying in the formation, when there
is supposed to be only 4, in the over head shot there are
6 Hueys.
As they land at X-Ray they are in some type of formation
that dosent exist. Page 59 Hardback, Page 68 paperback
The Hueys as they fly to X-Ray are suppose to be in a
Heavy left formation, But they are eather in a column,
trail formation
COMMAND RESPONSIBILITY No one expects the battalion
commander to act as a rifleman no matter how proficient
he is, as he does so, who commands his battalion? Who
gives guidance to his Company Commanders, he is taking
responsibility away from his men and not meeting his own.
"What the hell is the is the colonel doing up here?"
Sergeant Thompson ask. page 195 hardback, page 228
paperback
Moore as the battle started " I was tempted to join
Nadal's or Edwards men; But I might get pined down and
simply become another rifleman." "My duty was to LEAD
riflemen." page 73 hardback, page 85 paperback.
Why is Moore shown leading the troops from the 1/7 in the
battle for X-Ray, when he didnt, he was in the command
post during combat, and only came out during Lull's in
the battle. Moore " For almost 8 hours I had been
involved in the mimute-to-minute DIRECTION of the battle.
Now I wanted to personally walk the perimeter. Just befor
dark Sergeant Major Plumley and I broke away from the
command post and set out to check the perimeter." page
131 hardback, page 155
the only troops He lead were troops from the B co 2/7 and
only the last counter attack on the 16th around noon.
Moore "I personally lead the final counterattack to make
certian that the Company Commander Diduryk of Bco 2/7 &
his men did a safe, clean, job & to look for my Missing
Troops. We killed 27 more and crushed all resistance."
Page 195 hardback, page 228 paperback
Moore calles for illumination, and his mortars fire.
Moore "No morter fire would be permited especially
illumination rounds. I wanted the mortars to hold back
their illumination rounds for our last light in the sky
in case the air and artillery folk used up all of their
flares". page 184 hardback, page 216 paperback
Moore didnt call in the broken arrow code Hasting the FAC
did page 149 hardback, page175 paperback
What other troops did Moore gets credit for doing it
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Topic: Distinguished journalist, author speaks
Name: Russell L. Ross
Email: lzalbany65@aol.com
Location: San Jose, Ca
Comment:
Galloway Wife+
Jimmy 2 wives?,Cathy,Trudy. Galloway 2 diffrent places
same time 1700hrs hes at LZFALCON and 1700hrs at
Chatecha
Posted on Fri, Apr. 29, 2005 Joe Galloway
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/galloway/11525840.htm
There were men such as Jim Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho, who
had so much to live for. His wife, +Cathy, + gave birth
to their baby girl, Nikki, a couple of days before he
died on Nov. 15, 1965. Special Report: Cover Story
(10/29/90) Vietnam story The word was the Ia Drang would
be a walk. The word was wrong By Joseph L. Galloway
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/soldiers/vietnam_901029.htm
"Two of my people, Pfc. Jimmy D. Nakayama and Specialist 5
James Clark, were a few yards away, and Colonel Moore was
hollering something about a wing man and I looked up,"
Nye recalls. "There were two planes, and one had already
dropped his napalm. Then everything was on fire. Nakayama
was all black and Clark was all burned and bleeding."
+Nakayama died.+ Three days later, Nye learned that
Nakayama's wife had given birth to a baby girl on the day
her husband was killed. Today, Vietnam is different from
when the war started and ended By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY
Knight Ridder Newspapers HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam -
Never mind that dateline. It will always be Saigon to me,
the place where I landed 40 years ago to cover a war that
would eventually consume much of my youth and much of my
country's innocence before it ended in bitter, bloody
chaos three decades ago. The old familiar streets are
still here, but now they're lined with chic shops and
boutiques instead of the seedy bars where delicate
Vietnamese women once wheedled overpriced "Saigon Teas"
out of big American GIs. The traffic is, at once, both
denser and calmer as motorcycles have replaced bicycles
and the man-powered cyclo taxis have been banned from the
center of town. Pedestrians seem to risk death just
crossing a street full of speeding motorbikes, but it's a
carefully choreographed dance. There are rules for the
walker: Don't run. Don't try to dodge. Just walk slowly
straight ahead and let the motorbikes adjust for you. The
Vietnamese are still the hardest-working people I have
ever known, hustling and bustling and chasing a buck and
a living with determination. The majority of them,
60-plus percent, are under the age of 30, and for them
the war is something in the history books. The country
and the people are far different than they were when we
came and when we left. In the cities, the old shabby
yellow colonial buildings that survived have been spruced
up and modernized. Office towers and high-rise hotels
tower over their older neighbors. Cranes are everywhere
in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City as new construction sprouts
on every available scrap of land. Communists may still
rule here, but business is still business, and business
is good in Vietnam. The country's economy grew at a rate
of 7.7 percent in 2004. Two-way trade between Vietnam and
the United States has reached $6 billion annually. Trade
with neighboring China is also at $6 billion a year. A
local Honda plant cranks out millions of the ubiquitous
motorbikes that sell for the equivalent of $1,000 to
$2,000. On the outskirts of Hanoi, a huge gate modeled
after the Brandenburg in Berlin, complete with sculpted
horses, marks the entrance of a new subdivision for the
very affluent. A planned but still unbuilt house there
sold six months ago for $250,000. The same non-existent
home has already changed hands twice. The last buyer paid
$450,000 for it. Yet in poorer rural areas such as Quang
Tri province, the per capita income is still around $200.
What we call the Vietnam War the Vietnamese call the
American War. "You see, we have fought so many wars over
a thousand years that we could never call yours `the
Vietnam War' - it would be meaningless to us," explained
an earnest young guide in Hanoi. The American War takes
up only one paragraph in the history book taught in grade
schools in Vietnam today. But a big, busy bookstore on
what once was Tu Do Street in old Saigon carries shelves
full of books about the war and biographies of some of
the great North Vietnamese Army commanders, such as Gen.
Nguyen Huu An, who did his best to kill all of us in the
Ia Drang Valley during some terrible November days in
1965. A friend and fellow scribbler, Phil Caputo,
inscribed a copy of his book "A Rumor of War" to me: "As
an old French general once told another, `The war, old
boy, is our youth - secret and uninterred.'" By then, in
the late 1970s, both of us knew exactly what that old
French general meant. It seemed so simple and
straightforward when we began that march 40 years ago
with the landing of the first American Marine battalion
at the port city of Danang. We were a modern superpower
blocking the spread of communism to a Third World
country. War has a way of looking simple going in - and
generally turns out to be far more complex and costly
than the architects ever thought possible. This one sure
was. The Vietnam War consumed the presidency of the brash
Texan Lyndon B. Johnson, who sent the first combat troops
there. It brought young American protesters into the
streets and helped topple Johnson's successor, Richard
Nixon. A third president, Gerald Ford, inherited an
orphaned war that ended in chaos and defeat on his watch.
To those who fought it, mostly young draftees on both
sides, the war was unavoidable, a duty their country
demanded of them. To those caught in the middle, the
peasant farm families, it was an unending and deadly
disruption to their lives. One and a half million
Vietnamese perished in those 10 years. On the black
granite wall in Washington, D.C., the names of 58,249
Americans who died in Vietnam are engraved. The war gave
me the best friends of my life and took some of them away
almost immediately. I can still see their faces as they
were then. There was Dickie Chapelle, with her
horn-rimmed glasses and a boonie hat decorated with the
jump wings she'd earned in some other war long before.
She told me that the first rule of war corresponding was
that you must survive in order to write the story and
ship your film. A Marine walking in front of her set off
a booby-trapped mortar shell and a tiny fragment nicked
her carotid artery. She bled to death, her head in the
lap of another reporter, Bob Poos, while a Catholic
chaplain gave her the last rites. And Henri Huet, half
French, half Vietnamese, all heart, all smiles. He took
me on my first combat operation, teaching me every step
of the way how to do this insane work and stay alive. He
went down in a South Vietnamese Huey helicopter inside
Laos in 1971 with the finest photographer of the war,
Larry Burrows of Life magazine, and another who might
have inherited Burrows' mantle had he lived, Kent Potter
of UPI. I think of them all, all 66 who died in our war
giving everything they had, telling the truth and showing
the real face of war to America and the world. I think,
too, of the young American soldiers who died all around
me in the Ia Drang Valley and elsewhere in a war that
seemed like it would never end - and never really has in
my memory and in my heart.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
There were men such as Jim Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho, who
had so much to live for. His wife, +Cathy,+ gave birth to
their baby girl, Nikki, a couple of days before he died on
Nov. 15, 1965.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Then there were those on the other side, such as Gen. An
who did his best to wipe us out in the Ia Drang and came
damned close to it. Years later, in 1993, he and some of
his officers went back to our old battlefield with us,
walked that blood-stained ground and shed tears with us
for all who died there, American and Vietnamese. Gen. An
died of a heart attack a year later. In 1995 my good
friend Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and I visited Gen. An's home in
Hanoi to pay our respects to his widow and children.
There, in a glass case of his most precious possessions,
along with his uniform and medals and photographs of the
young warrior, was a copy of our book, "We Were Soldiers
Once ... and Young," which told the story of the battle.
I think, too, of Col. Vu Dinh Thuoc, who started his
career as a private storming the French positions at
Dienbienphu and progressed to lieutenant commanding a
company at the Ia Drang and on to colonel commanding a
division in the final attack on Saigon. As we later
walked the battlefield together, Thuoc tapped me on the
chest and said: "You have the heart of a soldier. It is
the same as mine. I am glad I did not kill you." So am I,
colonel. So am I. And I am glad that peace and a measure
of prosperity have at last come to Vietnam and its people
after a thousand years of war. There's no room left for
anger or bitterness, only memories, and they, too, will
vanish soon enough. Joseph L. Galloway is the senior
military correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. He
spent 22 years as a foreign and war correspondent and
bureau chief for United Press International, and nearly
20 years as a senior editor and senior writer for U.S.
News & World Report magazine. His overseas postings
included four tours as a war correspondent in Vietnam. On
May 1, 1998, Galloway was decorated with the Bronze Star
with V for valor for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire
in the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965. His is the only
medal of valor the U.S. Army awarded to a civilian for
actions during the Vietnam War. He is the co-author, with
retired Lt. Gen. Hal G. Moore, of the national bestseller
"We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young," which was made
into the movie "We Were Soldiers," starring Mel Gibson.
Special Report: Cover Story (10/29/90) Vietnam story The
word was the Ia Drang would be a walk. The word was wrong
By Joseph L. Galloway
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/soldiers/vietnam_901029.htm
"Two of my people, Pfc. Jimmy D. Nakayama and Specialist 5
James Clark, were a few yards away, and Colonel Moore was
hollering something about a wing man and I looked up,"
Nye recalls. "There were two planes, and one had already
dropped his napalm. Then everything was on fire. Nakayama
was all black and Clark was all burned and bleeding."
+Nakayama died.+ Three days later, Nye learned that
Nakayama's wife had given birth to a baby girl on the day
her husband was killed. Honor Among Soldiers by Joe
Galloway
http://web.ask.com/fr?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mwarrior.com%2Fsoldiers.htm&s=a&bu=http%3A%2F%2Fweb.ask.com%2Fweb%3Fq%3DJoe%2BGalloway%26o%3D0%26page%3D1&q=Joe+Galloway&o=0&qt=0&ma=These%20are%20comments%20by%20Joe%20Galloway%2C%20who%20co-authored%20the%20book%20%22We%20Were%20Soldiers%22%2C%20with%20LTG%20Hal%20Moore.&mt=These%20are%20comments%20by%20Joe%20Galloway&mb=
Hal Moore and I began our research for the book-to-be, We
Were Soldiers Once...and Young, in 1982. It was a
ten-year journey to find and ultimately to bring back
together as many of those who fought in LZ X-ray and LZ
Albany, a separate battle one day after ours only three
miles away in which another 155 young Americans died and
another 130 were wounded. We had good addresses for only
a few. Late one night a week later my phone rang at home
in Los Angeles. On the other end was Sgt. George Nye,
retired and living very quietly by choice in his home
state of Maine. George began talking and it was almost
stream of consciousness. He had held it inside him for so
long and now someone wanted to know about it. He described
taking his small team of engineer demolitions men into
X-Ray to blow down some trees and clear a safer landing
zone for the helicopters. Then he was talking about PFC
Jimmy D. Nakayama, one of those engineer soldiers, and
how a misplaced napalm strike engulfed Nakayama in the
roaring flames. How he ran out into the fire and screamed
at another man to grab Jimmy's feet and help carry him to
the aid station. My blood ran cold and the hair stood up
on the back of my neck. I had been that man on the other
end of Nakayama. I had grabbed his ankles and felt the
boots crumble, the skin peel, and those slick bones in my
hands. Again I heard Nakayama's screams. Honor Among
Soldiers by Joe Galloway If you have fed from a steady
diet of Hollywood movies about Vietnam you probably
believe that everyone who wore a uniform in America's
long, sad involvement in war in Vietnam is some sort of a
clone of Lt. William Calley---that all three million of
them were drug-crazed killers and rapists who rampaged
across the pastoral landscape. Those movies got it wrong,
until now. There is one more Hollywood film now playing
called We Were Soldiers and it gets it right. Ask any
Vietnam veteran who has gone to see the movie. In fact,
ask any American who has gone to see it. It is based on a
book I wrote with my lifelong friend Lt. Gen. (ret) Hal
Moore; a book written precisely because we believed that
a false impression of those soldiers had taken root in
the country which sent them to war and, in the end,
turned its back on both the war and the warriors. I did
four tours in Vietnam as a war correspondent for United
Press International---1965-66, 1971, 1973 and 1975. In
the first three of those tours at war, I spent most of my
time in the field with the troops and I came to know and
respect them and even love them, though most folks might
find the words "war" and "love" in the same sentence
unsettling if not odd. In fact, I am far more comfortable
in the company of those once-young soldiers today than
with any other group except my own family. They are my
comrades-in-arms, the best friends of my life and if ever
I were to shout "help!" they would stampede to my aid in a
heartbeat. They come from all walks of life; they are
black, white, Hispanic, Native American, Asian; they are
fiercely loyal, dead honest, and entirely generous of
their time and money. They are my brothers and they did
none of the things Oliver Stone or Francis Ford Coppola
would have you believe all of them did. On the worst day
of my life, in the middle of the worst battle of the
Vietnam War, in a place called Landing Zone X-Ray in the
Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam, I was walking around snapping
some photographs when I caught a movement out of the
corner of my eye. It was a tall, lanky GI who jumped out
of a mortar pit and ran, zig-zagging under fire, toward
me. He dove under the little bush I was crouched behind.
"Joe! Joe Galloway! Don't you know me, man? It's Vince
Cantu from Refugio, Texas!" Vince Cantu and I had
graduated together from Refugio High School, Class of
'59, 55 boys and girls. We embraced warmly. Then he
shouted over the din of gunfire: "Joe, you got to get
down and stay down. It's dangerous out here. Men are
dying all around." Vince told me that he had only ten
days left on his tour of duty as a draftee soldier in the
1st Battalion 7th U.S. Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division
(Airmobile). "If I live through this I will be home in
Refugio for Christmas." I asked Vince to please visit my
mom and dad, but not tell them too much about where we
had met and under what circumstances. I still have an old
photograph from that Christmas visit---Vince wearing one
of those black satin Vietnam jackets, with his daughter
on his knee, sitting with my mom and dad in their living
room. Vince Cantu and I are still best friends. When I
walked out and got on a Huey helicopter leaving Landing
Zone X- Ray, I left knowing that 80 young Americans had
laid down their lives so that I and others might survive.
Another 124 had been terribly wounded and were on their
way to hospitals in Japan or the United States. I left
with both a sense of my place, among them, and an
obligation to tell their stories to any who would listen.
I knew that I had been among men of honor and decency and
courage, and anyone who believes otherwise needs to look
in his own heart and weigh himself.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Hal Moore and I began our research for the book-to-be, We
Were Soldiers Once...and Young, in 1982. It was a
ten-year journey to find and ultimately to bring back
together as many of those who fought in LZ X-ray and LZ
Albany, a separate battle one day after ours only three
miles away in which another 155 young Americans died and
another 130 were wounded. We had good addresses for only
a few. Late one night a week later my phone rang at home
in Los Angeles. On the other end was Sgt. George Nye,
retired and living very quietly by choice in his home
state of Maine. George began talking and it was almost
stream of consciousness. He had held it inside him for so
long and now someone wanted to know about it. He described
taking his small team of engineer demolitions men into
X-Ray to blow down some trees and clear a safer landing
zone for the helicopters. Then he was talking about PFC
Jimmy D. Nakayama, one of those engineer soldiers, and
how a misplaced napalm strike engulfed Nakayama in the
roaring flames. How he ran out into the fire and screamed
at another man to grab Jimmy's feet and help carry him to
the aid station. My blood ran cold and the hair stood up
on the back of my neck. I had been that man on the other
end of Nakayama. I had grabbed his ankles and felt the
boots crumble, the skin peel, and those slick bones in my
hands. Again I heard Nakayama's screams. George Nye is
gone now. ---------------- But I want you to know what he
did with the last months of his life. He lived in Bangor,
Maine; The year was 1991 and in the fall plane after
plane loaded with American soldiers headed home from the
Persian Gulf War stopped there to refuel. It was their
first sight of home. George and some other local
volunteers organized a welcome at that desolate airport.
They provided coffee, snacks and the warm "Welcome home,
soldier" that no one ever, offered George and the
millions of other Vietnam veterans. George had gone out
to the airport to decorate a Christmas tree for those
soldiers on the day he died. When we think of ourselves
we think Shakespeare, Henry IV, Act IV, and Scene 3: "We
few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he today that
sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother." Honor and
decency and uncommon courage were common among these
soldiers and all the soldiers who served in Vietnam. I
think of how they were, on patrol, moving through jungle
or rice paddies. Nervous, on edge, trying to watch right,
left, ahead, behind, all at once. A friend once described
it as something like looking at a tree full of owls. They
were alert for sign, sound or smell of the enemy. But they
also watched each other closely. At the first sign of the
oppressive heat and exhaustion getting to someone, the
two or three people around would relieve him of some or
all of the heavy burden that the Infantryman bears: 60 or
70 pounds of stuff. Rifle and magazines. A claymore mine
or two. A couple of radio batteries. Cans of C-Rations.
Spare socks. Maybe a book. All that rides in the
soldier's pack. They would make it easier for him to keep
going. They took care of each other, because in this
situation each other was all they had. When I would pitch
up to spend a day or two or three with such an outfit I
was, at first, an object of some curiosity. Sooner or
later a break would be called and everyone would flop
down in the shade, drink some water, break out a C-Ration
or a cigarette. The GI next to me would ask: What you
doing out here? I would explain that I was a reporter.
"You mean you are a civilian? You don't HAVE to be here?"
Yes. "Man, they must pay you loads of money to do this."
And I would explain that, no, unfortunately I worked for
UPI, the cheapest news agency in the world. "Then you are
just plain crazy, man." Once I was pigeonholed, all was
all right. The grunts understood "crazy" like no one else
I ever met. The welcome was warm, friendly and open. I was
probably the only civilian they would ever see in the
field; I was a sign that someone, anyone, outside the Big
Green Machine cared how they lived and how they died. It
didn't take very long before I truly did come to care. It
is not their fault that 58,200 of them died, their lives
squandered because Lyndon Johnson and, later, Richard
Nixon could not figure out some decent way to cut our
losses and leave the Vietnamese to sort the matter out
among themselves. As I have grown older, and so have
they, and first the book and now the movie have come to
pass. I am often asked: Doesn't this close the loop for
you? Doesn't this mean you can rest easier? The answer is
no, I can't. To my dying day I WILL remember and honor
those who died, some in my arms. I WILL remember and
honor those who lived and came home carrying memories and
scars that only their brothers can share and understand.
They were the best you had, America, and you turned your
back on them. Russell L. Ross Says: July 8th, 2005 at
11:22 am Jimmys wife �s name what is it Trudy or Cathy?
Galloway cant get his FICTION straight! Jimmys wife has 2
diffrent names. Jimmy 2 diffrent days of his death.
Daughter has 3 diffrent birthdays!! From
http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0204/galloway4.htm Joe
Galloway �>>Later I would learn that his name was Jimmy
D. Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho.� �>>His wife
>>Trudie>November 7. ??� >>Jimmy died in an Army
hospital two days later, on November 17.>For a lot of
years I looked for Jimmy�s wife and daughter. >>Last
month, after the movie We Were Soldiers was released I
>>received a letter from >>Jimmy�s widow. >>Last week a
letter came from his daughter Nikki, now 36 years >>old
and the mother of >>two young sons.
������������ >>>>>No single day
has passed since that long-ago November day that I have
not thought >>about Jimmy Nakayama, >>>>>>the young woman
who loved him, >>and the daughter who would never know a
father�s love. 2 diffrent stories. 3 diffrent birthdays
for his Daughter, 9th, 15th, 17th Nov 1965.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/galloway/11525840.htm
>>There were men such as Jimmmy >>>>His wife, >>Cathy,>to
their baby girl, Nikki, >>a couple of >>days before he
died on >>Nov. 15, 1965.>Later I would learn that his
name was Jimmy D. Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho. >>His wife
>>Trudie>November 7. ?? >>Jimmy died in an Army hospital
two days later, on November 17.>For a lot of years I
looked for Jimmy�s wife and daughter. >>Last month,
after the movie We Were Soldiers was released I received
a letter from >>Jimmy�s widow. >>Last week a letter
came from his daughter Nikki, now 36 years old and the
mother of >>two young sons. >>No single day has passed
since that long-ago November day that I have not thought
>>about Jimmy Nakayama, >>the young woman who loved him,
>>and the daughter who would never know a father�s
love. You cannot always remain a witness, above and
removed from the story you are covering. There are some
events which demand your participation. The battle of
Landing Zone XRay was one such event in my life. I will
not here recount every event of that battle which
continued until the afternoon of November 16�and was
then followed by an even more horrific battle called
Landing Zone Albany which virtually destroyed a sister
battalion, the 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry. At LZ XRay 80
men died and 124 were wounded, many of them terribly. At
LZ Albany 155 Americans were killed and another 121
wounded, most of them in the space of six hours time.
Four days�234 Americans killed. Perhaps as many as
2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers of the 33rd, 320th and
66th Regiments also died there, by our hand. It was a
watershed event in the American war in Vietnam. At that
point 1,100 Americans had died in Vietnam. Before the war
ended a total of 58,200 made the supreme sacrifice for our
country. I left XRay the way I had arrived, aboard a Huey
helicopter flown by Bruce Crandall, Ancient Serpent 6.
But none of us who survived left there the same man he
was when he arrived. We had been drenched in blood and
horror. I had heard the command �Fix Bayonets!� and
seen men use those bayonets on other men. I had carried
both the wounded and dead, hauled ammo and water, and,
yes, on occasion I put down my cameras and picked up my
rifle and used it. When it was done I flew back to Camp
Holloway, hitched a ride to the MACV compound and got on
that creaky military phone system and called UPI Saigon.
Bureau chief Bryce Miller answered and I fed him my
notebooks, names and hometowns, and told him an envelope
of film was on the way. When I was done he said: �Have
you heard about Dickie Chappelle?� I said no; what?
Dickie was a good friend. She had given me some good
advice about what we were doing: �The first rule for a
war correspondent is you must LIVE to get out and tell
the story.� I had somehow, against all odds, just done
that. Miller then said: �Dickie was killed a few days
ago on a Marine operation near Chu Lai. Someone stepped
on a booby-trapped mortar shell and she bled to death.�
I put down the phone and walked outside and sat down on
the wooden steps of the Officers Club, put my face in my
hands and wept for my old friend, and all my new friends
who had died in these terrible November days. The UPI
boss, Ernie Hoberecht, wrote me a letter of
congratulations on my reporting of the battle and raised
my salary from $135 a week to $150 a week. Unheard of. I
told my mother about that raise and her response was:
�Joe, that�s blood money.� I thought that perhaps
she was right, but it sure wasn�t much money for so
much blood. The war would drag on for ten long years and
many old and new friends would die before it ended. I
soldiered on for UPI until the Fall of 1966 and left,
swearing I would never return to Vietnam. UPI sent me
back in 1971, 1973 and again in 1975 for the end of it.
Since the end of the war I have gone back four more times
doing research on the book, helping make an ABC
documentary (�They Were Young and Brave,� Day One,
aired January 1994 and again in the summer of 1994), and
one recent trip with my best friend, Lt. Gen. (ret) Hal
Moore to walk the old French battlefield at Dienbienphu.
On the 1993 documentary trip Hal Moore and I and half a
dozen other American veterans of the battle went back to
XRay and Albany in company with half a dozen North
Vietnamese generals and colonels who had fought against
us there. Together we walked those old battlefields and
agreed that those events of November, 1965, had been
pivotal in all our lives. We have broken bread with them
in their homes in Hanoi. It�s hard to explain to
someone who hasn�t lived it, but in a strange sort of
way we are blood brothers. There is no hatred; only a
shared relief that at least some of us survived to carry
the memories of those who died, and bear witness to the
horror of this war and all wars. � 2002 Joe Galloway
Send an email message to Joe Galloway Posted on Fri, Apr.
29, 2005
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/special_packages/galloway/11525840.htm
Galloway cant get his FICTION straight! Jimmys wife has 2
diffrebt names jimmy 2 diffrent days of his death,
Daughter has 2 diffrent birthdays!! R E L A T E D C O N T
E N T KRT photo courtesy Steve Northup Reporter Joe
Galloway is shown in August 1965 as a war correspondent.
>>There were men such as Jim Nakayama of Rigby, Idaho,
who >>had so much to live for. >>His wife, >>Cathy,>a
couple of >>days before he died on >>Nov. 15,
1965.>>There were men such as Jim Nakayama of Rigby,
Idaho, who had so >>>much to live for. >>>His wife,
>>Cathy,>Nov. 15, 1965. >Later, when the radios burst
into frenzied reports of action, Bravo 2/7 Cav began
lining up and loading up on choppers. >>I slipped down
the line, found one chopper with room and got aboard.
Just before we lifted off a big lieutenant came down the
line looking in every chopper. He spotted me, waved me
off, and put a medic aboard in my seat. I couldn�t
complain about that, but there was action out there in a
place designated Landing Zone XRay, and I couldn�t get
there. Moore succeeded in waving off his boss. >>aprox
1200hrs. Brown told me on the radio that he was dropping
me at Landing Zone Falcon five miles >>from LZ XRay and I
would have to catch a ride in from there. < with the 2/7
at Catecha at 1700hrs.??? Gallowy spends all afternoon at
LZ FALCON tryng to get a ride to LZ XRay More
disappointment. I jumped off the chopper at another small
clearing in the scrub brush, this one filled with a
battery of 12 105mm howitzer artillery pieces. They were
firing nonstop, providing support for Lt. Col. Mooreo"
"s besieged battalion in XRay. As the day wore on more
reporters drifted in. A new AP guy I had not previously
met. Someone from Reuters, probably my friend Robin
Mannock. A couple of others. We met every chopper,
begging for a ride in to the fight. No luck. The day was
growing older and except for the incessant din of
outgoing artillery fire we were no closer to the action.
It was then that I ran into Capt. Gregg (Matt) Dillon,
the 1st Battalion S-3 or operationsofficer. I asked how I
could get to XRay. He replied: I am going in with two
choppers full of ammo and water just as soon as it is
good dark. I said I wanted to go. He said he couldn�t
make that decision without Hal Moore�s approval, but he
would get on the radio and ask him. I stuck with him till
he picked up the radio handset and informed Moore of his
plans. �Oh yes, that reporter Galloway wants to come
along.� Hal Moore responded: �If he is crazy enough
to want to come in here, and you have the room, bring him
along.� All right! I had a ride. Now all I had to do was
hide out from the rest of the gang till they got tired and
headed back to Pleiku for the night. I disappeared behind
a tent and waited them out. Finally they were all gone
and Dillon�s two choppers roared in. 1700hrs Catecha
The 1st Battalion troops lifted on out, replaced by Bravo
Company, 2nd Battalion 7th Cav. Later, when the radios
burst into frenzied reports of action, Bravo 2/7 Cav
began lining up and loading up on choppers. ---I slipped
down the line, found one chopper with room and got
aboard. Just before we lifted off a big lieutenant came
down the line looking in every chopper. He spotted me,
waved me off, and put a medic aboard in my seat. I
couldn�t complain about that, but there was action out
there in a place designated Landing Zone XRay, and I
couldn�t get there. Back to Brigade HQ. Col. Brown came
bustling out of the tent with a couple of his staff
officers behind him. He waved me along, moving quickly
toward his command chopper, bristling all over with radio
antennas. He told me that Lt. Col. Moore and his men had
gotten into a helluva fight out there in the Ia Drang
Valley and he was headed there. As we neared the end of
the 20 mile flight we could easily locate the
battlefield: a cloud of smoke rose high above it. We
dropped down to about 1500 feet circling the clearing
below. I had earphones on and could hear Col. Brown
talking to Lt. Col. Moore. Brown wanted to land; Moore
was telling him the landing zone was under intense enemy
fire and if he landed that command chopper with all those
antennas it would be a magnet for bullets. About then,
looking down, I saw an Air Force A-1E Skyraider fighter
plane pass below our chopper, fire and smoke streaming a
hundred yards behind him. The radio squawked: Anybody see
a chute? Anybody see a chute? I watched the plane go
straight into the jungle no more than half a mile from
the landing zone. There was, sadly, no parachute. The
pilot, Capt. Paul McClellan Jr., had gone in with his
aircraft. He is still carried as Missing In Action (MIA).
He left a wife and five children. Moore succeeded in
waving off his boss. Brown told me on the radio that he
was dropping me at Landing Zone Falcon five miles from LZ
XRay and I would have to catch a ride in from there. More
disappointment. I jumped off the chopper at another small
clearing in the scrub brush, this one filled with a
battery of 12 105mm howitzer artillery pieces. They were
firing nonstop, providing support for Lt. Col. Moore�s
besieged battalion in XRay. As the day wore on more
reporters drifted in. A new AP guy I had not previously
met. Someone from Reuters, probably my friend Robin
Mannock. A couple of others. We met every chopper,
begging for a ride in to the fight. No luck. The day was
growing older and except for the incessant din of
outgoing artillery fire we were no closer to the action.
It was then that I ran into Capt. Gregg (Matt) Dillon,
the 1st Battalion S-3 or operations officer. I asked how
I could get to XRay. He replied: I am going in with two
choppers full of ammo and water just as soon as it is
good dark. I said I wanted to go. He said he couldn�t
make that decision without Hal Moore�s approval, but he
would get on the radio and ask him. I stuck with him till
he picked up the radio handset and informed Moore of his
plans. �Oh yes, that reporter Galloway wants to come
along.�0.0.010114.2263R:001c4688 E:471.1098567701
V:1058.1450.1.16.1.1.US S:NIKO GIZMO [N3]]]D
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Topic: Distinguished journalist, author speaks
Name: Russell L. Ross
Email: lzalbany65@aol.com
Location: San Jose,CA
Comment:
Moore didnt see Galloway save Jimmy
Harold G. Moore, then the 1st Battalion commander,
didn't learn about Galloway's actions until the two
collaborated
on ``We Were Soldiers Once . . . And Young,''
a best-selling book about the history of the battle
published in 1992.
Moore, who retired as a three-star general, put Galloway
in for the award.
Moores big LIE
``There was grazing machine-gun fire going over our heads
and he got up in that grazing fire
and ran to that soldier to save him,'' Moore said.
Galloway, crouching down to avoid enemy fire, saw PFC
Jimmy Nakayama and Spc.5
James Clark get caught by the flames.
With the help of Sgt. George Nye, Galloway grabbed
Nakayama's feet and carried him to
safety.
Clark died and, two days later, so did Nakayama
Joe Galloway has been telling everone that Clark dies but
he didnt hes alive!
Thursday, Jun. 4, 1998
Refugio native awarded Bronze Star
Former UPI reporter tried to save a wounded soldier
during the Vietnam War
By STEPHANIE L. JORDAN
Staff Writer
BAYSIDE -- For Refugio native Joe Galloway, reporting
the Vietnam War meant getting away from press briefings,
safe base camps and clean sheets. He saw the war as the
grunts saw it, down in the dirt with the heat, death,
blood, fear and valor.
And on Nov. 15, 1965, during the first large-scale
battle between American troops and the North Vietnamese
Army, Galloway stopped being a United Press International
reporter and became a hero.
On May 1, 1998, Galloway -- now a senior writer for
U.S. News and World Report -- was awarded a Bronze Star
with a ``V'' device for valor for his actions during the
battle. Galloway, who divides his time between homes in
Bayside and Boston, is the first civilian to be given the
award from the Army, said Maj. Gen. Joseph K. Kellogg, who
presented him with the medal at Fort Bragg, N.C.
``At that time and that place he was a soldier,''
Kellogg said. ``He was a soldier in spirit, he was a
soldier in actions and he was a soldier in deeds.''
Galloway was honored for trying to save a wounded
soldier during one of the pivotal battles of the Vietnam
War, a battle that left 234 Americans dead.
``I know that wasn't my job, but in those days
everyone did what they could to survive and help everyone
else make it out of there alive,'' Galloway said.
While with troops of the 7th Cavalry's 1st Battalion
-- part of the First Cavalry Division -- fighting in the
Central Highlands, Galloway was in the battalion command
post when an American fighter mistakenly dropped napalm
near the position.
Galloway, crouching down to avoid enemy fire, saw PFC
Jimmy Nakayama and Spc.5 James Clark get caught by the
flames. With the help of Sgt. George Nye, Galloway
grabbed Nakayama's feet and carried him to safety.
Clark died and, two days later, so did Nakayama.
``When I grabbed his feet, his boots just fell off,
and I remember my hands touching raw bones,'' Galloway
said. ``We carried him away and he was screaming. I can
still hear those screams.''
Harold G. Moore, then the 1st Battalion commander,
didn't learn about Galloway's actions until the two
collaborated on ``We Were Soldiers Once . . . And
Young,'' a best-selling book about the history of the
battle published in 1992. Moore, who retired as a
three-star general, put Galloway in for the award.
``There was grazing machine-gun fire going over our
heads and he got up in that grazing fire and ran to that
soldier to save him,'' Moore said. ``One of my medics got
shot, but Joe kept going. When the battle was over . . . I
never gave any thought to giving this award to a
civilian.''
For the 17-year-old 1958 Refugio High graduate, just
getting to the Ia Drang Valley was a battle.
Galloway, now 56, said he wasn't a great student in
high school and was only interested in reading, writing
and history. He attended Victoria Junior College for six
weeks, but didn't like it because it was too much like
high school.
``I was on my way to join the Army when my mom, God
bless her, said `But what about your journalism?' ''
Galloway said. ``We just so happened to be driving by the
Victoria Advocate's office so I stopped in and asked if I
could be a reporter.''
After 18 months at the Advocate, Galloway joined UPI.
At age 19, he was named bureau chief of UPI's Topeka,
Kan., bureau, the youngest bureau chief in the history of
the wire service.
``I guess that's because I was a young man in a
hurry,'' Galloway said.
During his three years in Topeka, from 1961 to 1964,
Galloway began lobbying his bosses to send him to Tokyo,
the UPI bureau that covered the growing war in Vietnam.
``I knew this was my generation's war,'' he said.
``Not to have gone would have been much harder to explain
than going is.''
He was in Tokyo for six months before going to Vietnam
to cover the Marines.
From his first days in-country, Galloway worked hard
to get to a firsthand view of the war. Military leaders
weren't always pleased to see him.
But his willingness to show up in the field, to live
with the troops, won the respect of many soldiers.
One of his early converts was H. Norman Schwarzkopf,
then a major, who went on to become a four-star general
and command the multinational coalition force that won
the Persian Gulf War in 1991. In Vietnam, Galloway hooked
up with Schwarzkopf in August 1965 at the Du Co Special
Forces camp. Schwarzkopf and his South Vietnamese troops
had been under attack for two weeks, and Schwarzkopf had
just found out the unit would have to walk out of the
area.
Galloway showed up and asked to march out with the
troops, Schwarzkopf said in a phone interview.
``I was hot, tired and dirty and had just found out
that we had to walk out and the last person I wanted to
have around was a fancy-pants reporter,'' Schwarzkopf
said. ``But what's different about him is that he really
knew how to be at the right place at the right time
without being intrusive. He was a friend right away.''
Galloway, Schwarzkopf said, ``is absolutely the finest
combat correspondent I've ever known.''
``He truly understands what ground combat is all
about,'' he said. ``He wasn't like many of the other war
correspondents who wrote their stories from the rear
area, or in the bars in Da Nang and Saigon. He lived the
life of the grunts.''
At least once, a commander put Galloway behind a
weapon.
In October 1965, after hearing that the U.S. Special
Forces camp at Plei Me was surrounded and under siege,
Galloway finagled his way aboard a helicopter heading
that way.
When Galloway arrived at the tiny Plei Me camp, its
commander, Maj. Charles Beckwith -- who later founded the
Army's Delta Force -- was less than pleased that a
reporter had managed to fly in when his troops were in
desperate need of food, ammunition and medical supplies.
``He was jumping up and down on his hat when I got
there,'' Galloway said. ``He told me he needed everything
in the world but a God damn reporter.''
What he did need was someone to man a machine gun, and
appointed Galloway to the task. Beckwith's instructions
were simple, Galloway said.
``Don't shoot the little brown men inside the wire
because they're mine, but shoot all the little brown men
outside the wire,'' said Galloway, repeating Beckwith's
words.
For four days and nights Galloway stayed on the line
with Beckwith's troops. As Galloway was leaving after the
battle, Beckwith gave the reporter an M-16 Galloway
carried until the war ended in 1975.
``I told (Beckwith) that I wasn't a combatant and he
said, `Son, in these mountains there's no such thing,' ''
Galloway said.
A few weeks later, and 14 miles away, Galloway would
face many of the same North Vietnamese troops who had
attacked Plei Me.
On Nov. 14, hours after the fighting in the Ia Drang
Valley had begun, Galloway hopped on a helicopter bound
for the fighting. He was kicked off because there wasn't
enough room. He boarded another helicopter, but Moore
ordered it away because it was too dangerous to land.
Galloway was grounded at the rear command post,
itching to get to the action, he said.
He hid out overnight at the base camp while other
reporters retreated to beds and warm meals. Galloway
asked Capt. Gregory Dillon if he could fly with him to
the battle.
``He was such a young guy, but was dedicated to
covering the war from the bottom end up,'' said Dillon,
who retired as a colonel. ``It was pretty hairy there the
first couple of days. We used to have an awful lot of
reporters come in after the fact, but he was willing to
take the same risks as the soldiers.''
They arrived on the morning of the second day of the
battle. Galloway had just spoken with Nakayama when an
Air Force F-100 Super Sabre dropped the jellied gasoline
on the soldiers.
Two days later, Galloway flew out to Pleiku to file
his story. For the work he did in Ia Drang, UPI gave him
a raise, from $135 per week to $150.
``I had an exclusive in the biggest battle of the
war,'' Galloway said. ``All I had to do was survive.''
On his first tour of Vietnam for UPI, Galloway spent
16 months in-country. He would return three times, the
last in 1975 as the North Vietnamese headed to their
victory.
``A mentor of mine, Dickey Chapelle, who had covered
World War II, once told me you can have the best story in
the world, but you have to get out and live to file it,''
Galloway said.``War is a great story. There is always
room for you on the front page and in many ways it's a
simple story. Afterwards, you wonder if you can cover
normal life. I mean you wake up one day, when you're 30,
and realize you have more friends dead than alive.''
Galloway lived in Asia for a total of 12 years before
transferring to UPI's Moscow bureau. Later, he moved to
UPI's Los Angeles bureau as its chief. In 1982, Galloway
went to work for U.S. News & World Report, eventually
going to work for the magazine in Washington, D.C.
But in 1992, Galloway would go into battle again, this
time with tanks and armor roaring across the Iraqi desert.
As he did in Vietnam, Galloway reported the war from the
sharp end.
Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1991, Galloway
looked up his old friend H. Norman Schwarzkopf, now
commanding the coalition forces. Galloway wanted to
return to the First Cav, Schwarzkopf said, but the
general knew where the real action would be.
``We argued about it because I wanted him to go on the
24th Mech (Infantry Division),'' Schwarzkopf said. ``I'm
sure all the way there he was cursing me under his breath
thinking that I wanted to give some press coverage to the
24th.''
But Galloway soon found out that the 24th was one of
the armor units assigned to the charge across the desert
in an end-run around heavily fortified Kuwait.
Since Galloway had been briefed on the plan, he was
able to interview combat leaders before the battle, he
said. The ground war started on a Monday, ended on
Thursday, and Galloway's story was due on Friday.
Galloway had survived another war.
Joe Galloway still covers the military, but the men he
met in Vietnam -- some of whom never returned home -- are
never far from his mind. Galloway often gives talks on
military bases, and reminds the men and women in uniform
of the unspoken bond that unites a fighting force.
``I remind the soldiers that when they leave (the
military) it will be the last day that the man on their
left and the man on their right will die for them,''
Galloway said. ``Back when I started uncommon valor was a
common virtue. It was during that time when I made some of
the best and closest