I was able to drag two of the wounded back to our defensive line. I yelled to them to lay down a base of fire then I crawled to aid the wounded. I was ordering men to my left and right some didn’t even belong to our platoon. Here’s what Sergeant Jimmie Jakes of Phenix City, Alabama, who was leading four men in one of Devney’s rifle squads, remembers: “As we were advancing toward the enemy, two of my men and one from another squad were hit by machine-gun fire. When he asked where to go I put my arm around him and pointed to where I had last seen the battalion commander.” He was shot in the neck or mouth or both, was still carrying his rifle, was ambulatory and appeared stunned at what had happened to him. The firing increased in volume and intensity then I saw my first wounded trooper, probably the first American wounded in LZ X-Ray. We could all hear it through the foliage, and I heard it crackling on my radio. Says Sergeant Gilreath: “We were virtually pinned to the ground and taking casualties.” Lieutenant Dennis Deal remembers that moment: “Devney’s platoon was taking moderate fire. The North Vietnamese were using a well-worn trail as a general axis of advance. Devney’s men were under attack on both flanks, and they were in trouble. Within minutes Devney’s 1st Platoon, which was leading the assault, was attacked heavily by thirty to forty North Vietnamese in khaki uniforms, wearing pith helmets and firing automatic weapons. He’s remembered fondly for his fierce patriotism, journalistic integrity, and commitment to unearthing the truth about our military’s overseas activity.ĭiscover Galloway and Moore’s iconic rendering of the Battle of Ia Drang in the below excerpt from their unforgettable book, We Were Soldiers Once…and Young. Related: A Previously Untold Account of the Vietnam War In 2002, We Were Soldiers Once…and Young was adapted into a film starring Barry Pepper as Galloway and Mel Gibson as Moore. He served four tours in Vietnam and reported from the front lines of the Gulf War before covering the Bush administration’s War on Terror and military and political intervention in Iraq. Galloway would go on to have a highly respected career as a war correspondent. Army for actions in combat during the Vietnam War. This made him the only civilian awarded a medal of valor by the U.S. He had rescued wounded soldiers from enemy fire during the battle, for which he was awarded a Bronze Star Medal in 1998. We Were Soldiers Once…and Young catapulted Galloway into national recognition. The result is a New York Times bestseller that remains the most authoritative and moving account of the conflict to date. However, the two men didn’t just rely on their own perspectives they also interviewed hundreds of men who fought in the battle, including North Vietnamese commanders. In fact, Galloway was the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting. Galloway, who were both present at the battle. We Were Soldiers Once…and Young was co-written by Lieutenant General Harold (Hal) Moore and war correspondent Joseph L. One of the most well-known accounts of the Vietnam War centers on the Battle of Ia Drang. Notable as one of the first instances in which large-scale helicopters were used for air assault, as well as B-52 strategic bombers, the battle marks a bloody initial conflict between the troops in which both sides claimed victory-a sign of what was to come as the Vietnam War progressed. Their first real fight on the ground didn’t take place until November 14, 1965, when the US Army engaged in battle with the North Vietnam Army (NVA) in the Ia Drang Valley. 3,500 US Marines came ashore at Da Nang to aid South Vietnam in their fight against North Vietnam. Hoping to stop communism’s spread, the United States entered the Vietnam War in March 1965. and the People’s Army of Vietnam, it was the culmination of years of U.S. Although the Battle of Ia Drang was the first major physical conflict between the U.S. By the official start of the Vietnam War, the United States had long been engaged in an attempt to restrain the spread of communism.
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