We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young

by Harold G. Moore

  7. Adams and his RTO clean up the termite hill: n. 9, ch. 11.

  8. McDonald uses the M-79 and grenades: from his letter of December 18, 1989.

  9. McCulley shot in the throat: from Nadal’s award recommendation for Sgt. McCulley, late November 1965.

  10. Wallenius and Sgt. Alvarez-Buzo and the pop-up targets: n. 2, ch. 10.

  11. Parish’s actions: his recorded 1987 statement to Moore and the citation ac companying his Silver Star award.

  12. Not only did those nine machine guns create a wall of steel, but the terrain to their front was flat, and tree growth was sparse in the beaten zone. The maximum effective range of an M-60 is 1,100 meters (Infantry Leader’s Reference Card, GTA 7-1-27, September 1975, Fort Benning). If an M-60 round did not hit a tree or termite hill, it could still kill a man three-quarters of a mile downrange from Adams’s firing positions.

  13. Cantu on the jets, artillery, De La Paz, and meeting his old friend Galloway: n. 25, ch. 7.

  13. Friendly Fire

  1. Viera and Jemison: n. 6 and n. 8, ch. 1. From what Viera says (and Edwards also) it is clear that had the NVA troops been better led and disciplined, and not diverted to killing our wounded and stripping them of loot, they would have had a fleeting opportunity to take Captain Edwards’s command post. That, in turn, would have opened a path to the battalion CP. That brief opportunity was eliminated by the rain of air and artillery fire support.

  2. Poley on getting hit: n. 7, ch. 1.

  3. Edwards and Herren on fire support: n. 1, ch. 1; n. 2, ch. 6.

  4. Edwards on the enemy sniper and Sgt. Kennedy: n. 1, ch. 1; Jemison on Byrd and Foxe: n. 8, ch. 1.

  5. Keeton: n. 10, ch. 6.

  6. Dillon on the napalm: n. 1, ch. 5; Nye on the napalm and Nakayama: n. 12, ch. 6.

  7. Burlile’s death: n. 1, ch. 11.

  8. Hastings on the second F-100: n. 10, ch. 5.

  9. Moore well remembers the black-uniformed enemy soldier stumbling, weaponless, into the clearing—the only enemy to break through the lines.

  10. Setelin on the WP: n. 5, ch. 10.

  11. Sugdinis and Sisson landing at X-Ray: from battalion after-action report, December 9, 1965.

  12. On Gwin’s quotations and information in this and subsequent chapters: transcript of Galloway telephone interview with Gwin, August 27, 1991; also “Narrative by Lt. Gwin,” 1983; Gwin letter to Moore, October 18, 1991; with 26-page transcript “A Day at Albany” and four map sketches; Gwin letter to Moore dated June 1, 1984, enclosing a draft chapter on LZ X-Ray from “Some Came Home,” a work in progress on the Ia Drang. Also multiple Galloway/Gwin telephone discussions.

  13. Maruhnich’s recollections: undated autobiography by SFC Maruhnich and 10-page handwritten attachment; Maruhnich statement and sketch, May 12, 1984; letter to Moore, March 19, 1991.

  14. Jemison on why his platoon held: n. 8, ch. 1.

  15. Tally of friendly casualties: battalion records and Moore notebooks.

  16. Diduryk: n. 11, ch. 11. Rescorla: n. 1, ch. 11.

  17. Robert Tully quotations and information in this and subsequent chapters: from Tully letter to Major Cash, September 5, 1967; Galloway telephone interview with Tully, September, 1991.

  18. Bennett on enemy resistance: from a letter from Bennett to Major Cash, September 20, 1967.

  19. Pop Jekel waits in the landing zone: n. 2, ch. 8.

  20. Edwards: n. 1, ch. 1. Dillon: n. 1, ch. 5. Wirth: n. 20, ch. 11.

  21. Tully reaches X-Ray: Rescorla (n. 1, ch. 11); Adams (n. 9, ch. 11); Cantu (n. 25, ch. 7).

  22. Selleck’s information in this chapter and subsequent ones are from his undated questionnaire, received late in 1985, and his undated (1986) tape-recorded statement.

  23. The artillery at LZ Falcon: letter to Moore from Gen. Bill Becker, formerly 1st Cav Div assistant division commander for support, June 25, 1984; completed questionnaire from James W. Green, formerly communications chief 1/21 Artillery, summer 1983; statement from Harold M. Hamilton, former 1/21 Artillery supply officer, 1983. Keeping the tubes supplied with 105mm ammo was critical. At Camp Holloway every man in reach was dragooned into service loading the shells aboard CH-47 Chinook helicopters. When the Chinooks reached Falcon, the pilots lowered the tail ramps while hovering, tilted the chopper rear down, and let the round canisters roll out the back, ready for use.

  14. Rescuing the Lost Platoon

  1. On Tully’s formation and use of Herren: Moore notes and n. 17, ch. 13.

  2. Bennett quote: n. 18, ch. 13. Location of Boyt’s company: letter, Capt. Edward A. Boyt to Major Cash, November 20, 1967. Time of attack: after-action report.

  3. Herren and Deal quotes: n. 2, ch. 6, and n. 5, ch. 6, respectively.

  4. Crooks quotations in this and subsequent chapters: letter, Crooks to Major Cash, September 19, 1967.

  5. In July 1991, at the 1st Cav Div Reunion at Fort Hood, Moore taped an hour-long interview with three of Captain Bennett’s men that was most helpful in understanding the move out to Savage’s perimeter; the physical appearance of the perimeter and the surrounding area; the linkup and brief firefight on arrival; the gathering-up of Savage’s men and equipment; and the return to X-Ray. Those men are Melvin Gregory of Jefferson City, Mo.; Stanley Rothstein of Waco, Tex.; and Ted C. Kolbusz of Chicago, III. On April 3, 1966, the 1st Battalion, 7th Cav returned to X-Ray. With a platoon as security, Plumley and Moore retraced the attack route Bravo 1/7 had used on November 15, 1965, and walked the ground around Savage’s perimeter on the knoll.

  6. Setelin onMcManus’s death: n. 5, ch. 10.

  7. Wallenius and the seven dead enemy: n. 2, ch. 10.

  8. On the evacuation of the dead: Moore recollection and Cantu (n. 25, ch. 7).

  9. Brown’s visit and Merchant’s quote: n. 19, ch. 11. Also recollection of Moore and others in CP. Also, Moore telephone discussions with Tademy and Plumley, June 1992.

  10. Brown alerting us that 1/7 would pull out of X-Ray on November 16: Dillon (n. 1, ch. 5); Moore/Dillon telephone discussion, fall 1991.

  11. The B-52 strike: an April 1983 chance meeting between Moore and Lt. Col. Ewing P. Goff, USAF Reserve, who flew on that mission. Goff said it was “the one meaningful memory from all my Vietnam missions to know that we helped your battalion when you were in a very tight situation. We’d been told you were in trouble and accuracy was paramount.” From declassified Volume IV of 3rd Air Div and 3960th Strategic Wing records of July–December 1965: Goff was commander of B-52 Tail No. 170 on the “Ivory Tusk” Mission; his radio call sign was White 7. Goff says there were 18 B-52s on that mission in a trail formation, groups of three aircraft in a tight V, with each aircraft carrying 48 500-pound bombs. Each group of three dropped 36 tons of bombs in an area 1/4 by 3/4 of a mile. Total bombs dropped by all 18 aircraft: 216 tons.

  12. General An: n. 5, ch. 1.

  13. Herren, Savage, and Tully quotes from previously cited sources: Herren, n. 2, ch. 6; Savage, n. 8, ch. 6; Tully, n. 17, ch. 13.

  14. Platoon casualty figures: Herren (n. 2, ch. 6).

  15. Deal: n. 5, ch. 6.

  16. Translation of NVA soldier’s handwritten diary: provided 1987 by the Department of Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, Calif.

  17. Tully: n. 17, ch. 13.

  18. Gilreath: n. 9, ch. 5.

  19. Stoner on smoking shrapnel and Knowles’s visit: n. 21, ch. 7. Also, Moore telephone interviews with Plumley, Knudson, and Dillon in June 1992. See pp. 239–40 in Coleman: Pleiku.…

  20. Tally of casualties: battalion records; Moore notebooks and records.

  15. Night Fighters

  1. All quotations and information from Rescorla and Diduryk: n. 1, ch. 11; n. 11, ch. 11.

  2. Martin: his undated 1988 written statement and completed questionnaire.

  3. Lund quotes and information in this and later chapters are from his undated (January 1992) letter to Moore.

  4. Both Dillon and Moore have a clear memory of the radio message that 1st Ba
ttalion, 7th Cav would be pulled out of X-Ray on November 16. It was logged in the battalion journal and reviewed by Moore during the writing of the after-action report, late November 1965. The journals of 3rd Brigade and the 1st and 2nd battalions, 7th Cav for the period of the Ia Drang campaign have never been located, according to the Office of the Chief of Military History and the Suitland Branch of the National Archives. It has never been adequately explained why those particular records are missing. The loss of those journals has been keenly felt by the authors and other historians interested in reconstructing the events of November 1965 in the Ia Drang.

  5. Moore’s memory of the radio message from then-Lt. Col. Meyer alerting him to leave the battlefield and brief the MACV staff in Saigon and the amazement and anger he felt is strong and clear, as is his memory of registering his objections in a radio conversation with Meyer two hours later. The Moore/Meyer radio conversations of that night are also covered in Major Cash’s memo of a phone interview with Moore, August 8, 1967.

  6. Plumley actions: from his Silver Star citation.

  7. Setelin quotations: n. 5, ch. 10.

  8. Selleck quotations: n. 22, ch. 13.

  9. Results of the Mad Minute: 1/7 Battalion after-action report, December 9, 1965, p. 12.

  16. Policing the Battlefield

  1. Times of sweeps: after-action report, December 9, 1965.

  2. Rescorla: n. 1, ch. 11.

  3. Wallace quotes: n. 16, ch. 7.

  4. The 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry march overland from Columbus to X-Ray: from 3rd Brigade and 2nd Battalion after-action reports.

  5. Ackerman quote: from his November 25, 1990, letter to Galloway.

  6. Selleck: n. 22, ch. 13.

  7. The order at 10:40 A.M.: 1/7 Battalion after-action report.

  8. Kluge finding the dead American sergeant: telephone conversation, Kluge/Galloway, December 21, 1991.

  9. McCulloch recollection: notes from McCulloch/Galloway telephone conversation in November 1990.

  10. Enemy weapons count: 1/7 Battalion after-action report.

  11. Cantu: n. 25, ch. 7.

  12. Parish: from previously cited recorded statement to Moore, 1987, n. 11, ch. 12.

  13. Julie Moore quote: tape-recorded statement made for the authors, December 1991.

  14. On Dickey Chapelle’s death: personal memory of Galloway. Also, U.S. Marines in Vietnam: The Landing and the Buildup 1965, book by Jack Shulimson and Maj. Charles M. Johnson, p. 94. Chapelle was killed on November 4, 1965, while on patrol with U.S. Marines on Operation Black Ferret 10 miles south of Chu Lai. A Marine walking in front of her triggered a booby-trapped 81mm mortar shell and an M26 hand grenade, and a tiny piece of shrapnel severed an artery in Chapelle’s throat. Chapelle was only the first of the war correspondents to die in combat; in the 10 years that followed a total of 63 lost their lives covering the war in Indochina.

  17. It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

  1. Adams: n. 9, ch. 11.

  2. Blount: letter to authors, April 24, 1983.

  3. Beck: n. 10, ch.7.

  4. Tanner: n. 8, ch. 10.

  5. Wallenius: n. 2, ch. 10.

  6. Hansen: n. 6, ch. 7.

  7. The standoff at the Camp Holloway bar: J. D. Coleman, Pleiku: The Dawn of Helicopter Warfare in Vietnam, pp. 227-28. Galloway interview with Mills, November 1991. Moore’s memory.

  8. Rescorla: n. 1, ch. 11.

  9. Staff Sgt. Robert Brown went on to become a sergeant major in the prestigious 3rd Infantry Regiment at Fort Myer, Virginia. Now retired, he supervises a veterans’ cemetery in the Washington, D.C., area.

  10. Information on the night of November 16 at X-Ray and the November 17 march out of X-Ray: from the after-action reports of 3rd Brigade, 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry and 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry.

  11. Biographical information on Tully: West Point Register of Graduates. On McDade: Coleman, Pleiku, pp. 231-32. Transcript of Galloway telephone interview with McDade, October 1990.

  12. Information and quotations from Col. Brown on the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry in this and subsequent chapters: transcript of an interview of Brig. Gen. Brown (ret.) by Galloway, August 21, 1991.

  13. Sgt. Maj. Scott on the 2nd Battalion: All Scott quotations and information in this and subsequent chapters are from: Time, December 31, 1965, “The Year in Review: The War”; transcript of Galloway’s interview with Scott, September 1991; letters and enclosures from Scott to Galloway, October-December 1991; telephone conversation, Scott/Galloway, January 1992.

  14. Alley on the 2nd Battalion; Alley’s biography: All quotations and information from J. L. (Bud) Alley in this and subsequent chapters are from the transcript of an interview of Alley by Galloway, November 20, 1991, and a letter from Alley to Galloway, November 25, 1991.

  15. Quotations and information by then-Lt. Col. Edward C. (Shy) Meyer in this and subsequent chapters: transcript of an interview of Meyer by Galloway, August 28, 1991.

  16. Biographical information on Gwin, and his comments on McDade and the battalion officers: n. 12, ch. 13.

  17. Epperson on McDade: This and other quotations from Epperson in this and subsequent chapters are from the transcript of an interview of Epperson by Galloway, August 24, 1991.

  18. All quotations, comments, and information attributed to then-Lt. Col. McDade in this and subsequent chapters: transcript of telephone interviews by Galloway, October 19, 1990, and November 15, 1991; interview by Galloway; notes of phone conversation Galloway/McDade, January 17, 1992; and letter, from McDade to Moore and Galloway, January 18, 1992.

  19. All quotations and comments from Rescorla on the rest at Holloway, B Company 2/7 saddling up for more combat, and his subsequent accounts of what he saw in LZ Albany: from his nineteen-page written statement on the fight at Albany, provided the authors in late 1991; three hand-drawn sketches of the Albany battlefield; four-page “Postmortem” on Albany; and two memos with comments on draft chapters, December 1991-January 1992.

  20. The nine A.M. departure time from X-Ray is from the 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry after-action report, December 5, 1965, p. 2.

  18. A Walk in the Sun

  1. All information and comments attributed to then-Lt. Col. Bob Tully in this and later chapters: from transcript of Galloway telephone interview with Tully, August 1991.

  2. Brown at X-Ray, November 17: n. 12, ch. 17.

  3. All quotations and comments by CWO Ainsworth in this and later chapters: April 1983 questionnaire; Ainsworth letters to Moore, June 2, 1983, and May 11, 1991; notes of phone conversation, Moore/Ainsworth, October 1991; transcript of Galloway interview of Ainsworth, November 1991.

  4. Comments on the 2/7 Cav’s mission: Brown, n. 12, ch. 17; Meyer, n. 15, ch. 17; McDade, n. 18, ch. 17.

  4.1 On the journals: September 8, 1967, letter to OCMH from Army Records Center stating they had not been received; Moore/Galloway 1984 discussion with Chief of Military History Douglas Kinnard. Also, Moore’s May 4, 1992, discussion with Richard Boylan, National Archives.

  5. All quotations and information attributed to then-Captain Jim Spires in this and subsequent chapters: transcript of Galloway interview of Spires, June 4, 1991. Multiple telephone discussions, Galloway/Spires, fall 1991.

  6. All quotations and information from then-Captain Dudley Tademy in this and later chapters: transcript of interview by Galloway, August 15, 1991.

  7. Description of beginning of march by Scott, n. 13, ch. 17, and Gwin, n. 12, ch. 13.

  8. All quotations and information from then-Captain Joel Sugdinis in this and later chapters are from a detailed 30-page memoir of X-Ray and Albany by Sug dinis, November 20, 1991. Biographical information on Sugdinis is from the West Point Register of Graduates. Notes of multiple telephone discussions, Galloway/Sugdinis, summer and fall 1991.

  9. All quotations and information from then-Captain Henry Thorpe in this and later chapters: transcript of a recorded interview of Thorpe by Galloway, August 9, 1991, Washington, D.C.

  10. All quotat
ions and information from then-Captain Skip Fesmire in this and subsequent chapters: detailed statement written by Fesmire at the request of Moore, October 21, 1991; letter, Fesmire to Moore, January 1992.

  11. Pujals: All comments, information, and quotations from then-Lt. Enrique Pujals in this and later chapters: letter, Pujals to Moore, March 20, 1991; letter, Pujals to Galloway, March 22, 1991; and a most valuable, detailed 20-page letter, Pujals to Moore, April 4, 1991.

  12. Specialist Smith on the rotting bodies: Smith’s article, “Death in the Ia Drang Valley,” Saturday Evening Post, January 28, 1967, p. 81.

  13. All comments and information from John Howard in this and later chapters: Howard’s written statement; with maps, to Galloway, November 19, 1990; notes of multiple telephone conversations, Galloway/Howard, August-December 1991.

  14. All quotations and information from then-Captain Shucart in this and subsequent chapters: transcript of an interview of Shucart by Galloway, November 1991.

  15. All quotes, comments, and information from then-Captain George Forrest in this and later chapters: transcript of an interview of Forrest by Galloway, August 24, 1991.

  16. All quotes from the Vietnamese generals: n. 5, ch. 1.

  17. Slovak on the tracks and arrows: undated (December 1991) written statement from Donald J. Slovak to the authors.

  18. All quotes, comments, and information from then-PFC James H. Shadden: letter to Moore, October 7, 1988; detailed seven-page letter to Moore, November 17, 1988; Galloway discussion with Shadden at the August 1990 Ia Drang reunion; telephone conversations, Shadden/Moore/Galloway, fall 1991.

  19. Then-Specialist 4 Bob Towles provided the authors with a detailed 20-page account of his actions at LZ Albany, March 9, 1991; letter to Moore, March 21, 1991; multiple telephone discussions with Galloway, 1990-1991. All comments and information from Towles in this and subsequent chapters are from those sources.

  20. Payne and the captured prisoners: With a cover letter of November 20, 1991, Pat Payne transmitted a detailed 30-page account, with five sketch maps, of his recollections of the Albany battle. All quotes and comments in this and subsequent chapters attributed to Lt. Payne are from that account.