In the first significant engagement between American troops and the Viet Cong, 450 U.S. soldiers found themselves surrounded and outnumbered by their enemy. This book tells the story of how they battled between October 23 and November 26, 1965. Its prose is gritty, not artful, delivering a powerful punch of here-and-now descriptions that could only have been written by people actually on the scene. In fact, they were: Harold Moore commanded the men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, who did most of the fighting, and Joseph Galloway was the only reporter present throughout the battle's 34 harrowing days. We Were Soldiers Once... combines their memories with more than 100 in-depth interviews with survivors on both sides. The Battle of Ia Drang also highlights a technological advance that would play an enormous role in the rest of the war: this was perhaps the first place where helicopter-based, air-mobile operations demonstrated their combat potential. At bottom, however, this is a tale of heroes and heroism, some acts writ large, others probably forgotten but for this telling. It was a bestseller when first published, and remains one of the better books available on combat during the Vietnam War. --John J. Miller


From Publishers Weekly
On Nov. 14, 1965, the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry, commanded by Lt. Col. Moore and accompanied by UPI reporter Galloway, helicoptered into Vietnam's remote Ia Drang Valley and found itself surrounded by a numerically superior force of North Vietnamese regulars. Moore and Galloway here offer a detailed account, based on interviews with participants and on their own recollections, of what happened during the four-day battle. Much more than a conventional battle study, the book is a frank record of the emotional reactions of the GIs to the terror and horror of this violent and bloody encounter. Both sides claimed victory, the U.S. calling it a validation of the newly developed doctrine of airmobile warfare. Supplemented with maps, the memoir is a vivid re-creation of the first major ground battle of the Vietnam War. Photos. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Ia Drang, in November 1965, was the first major battle fought by U.S. troops in Vietnam. It was also one of the fiercest. As a lieutenant colonel, Moore commanded the battalion that initiated the fighting. War correspondent Galloway accompanied Moore's troopers from start to finish. We Were Soldiers Once movingly depicts Ia Drang through the eyes of junior officers and enlisted men of the 1st Cavalry Division and their North Vietnamese opponents. The authors convincingly present Ia Drang as an archetype of a self-defeating U.S. strategy that emphasized wearing down a determined and skillful enemy on the battlefield. The result was an unacceptably high level of American losses for the results achieved. One of this book's most telling episodes is its depiction of an army so unprepared to deal with casualties that some telegrams notifying families of a son or husband killed at Ia Drang were delivered by Yellow Cab! Recommended for all collections.- D.E. Showalter, U.S. Air Force Acad., Colorado SpringsCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM OUR EDITORS

In November 1965, America's involvement in the Vietnam War was just beginning. When 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, commanded by Lt. General Harold "Hal" Moore, were dropped into a clearing in the Ia Drang Valley, they were immediately surrounded by more than 2,000 North Vietnamese troops. Another battalion was to take part in an intense battle less than two and a half miles away. The fighting would become some of the fiercest of the entire war. General Moore and journalist Joseph Galloway (the only journalist at the scene) recount the bravery displayed at Ia Drang.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these events constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. Told by the commander of the battalion and the only journalist on the ground through the fighting, this is the devastating, yet inspiring, story of those soldiers who sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up.

FROM THE CRITICS

Wall Street Journal

Between experiencing combat and reading about it lies a vast chasm. But this book makes you almost smell it.

New York Times Book Review

There are stories here that freeze the blood....The men who fought at Ia Drang could have no finer memorial than this one.

David Halberstam

A stunning achievement, a book that is not merely a book,but rather a monument to all the young men who were in thela Drang in those fateful November days—paper and words withthe permanence of marble. I read it and thought of The Red Badge of Courage, the highest compliment I can think of.

David Hackworth

A powerful and epic story . . . raw, gutty, and eye-stinging. This is the best account of infantry combat I have ever read, and the most significant book to come out of the Vietnam War.

New York Times Book Review

There are stories here that freeze the blood....The men who fought at Ia Drang could have no finer memorial than this one. Read all 10 "From The Critics" >

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"A stunning achievement."  — HarperCollins