Product Description

In November 1965, 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt.Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War. How these men persevered - sacrificed themselves for their comrades and never gave up - makes a vivid portrait of war at its most inspiring and devastating. General Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the ground throughout the fighting, have interviewed hundreds of men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders. This account rises above the specific ordeal it chronicles to present a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge, dealing with it in ways they would have found unimaginable only a few hours earlier. It reveals to us man's most heroic and horrendous endeavour. In this history of one of the most violent periods of the 20th century, the author relates the personal experiences of men on the brink of death for a cause they didn't understand. The book has been adapted for film, starring, amongst others, Mel Gibson.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19089 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 529 pages

Neil Sheehan, author of A Bright Shining Lie
'If you want to know what it was like to go to Vietnam, then you must read this book.'

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'

Wall Street Journal
'Between experiencing combat and reading about it lies a vast chasm. This book makes you almost smell it'

Customer Reviews

We were soldiers once and young
I first read this book about 8 years ago.
Put simply, if there is a finer book on the horrors of the Vietnam war then I have yet to read it.
Hal Moore decribes in brutal frankness the reception that awaits them when they are sent to Vietnam at the start of the war. His narrative is insightful and at points very poignant if not downright painful to read.
This book describes a time when America was just waking up to the realities of the Vietnam war through a group of men who had no way of knowing the ferocity of the reception they would recieve in the La Drang valley or the barbarity of hand to hand combat with an enemy that was prepared to go to any lengths in the defence of it's country.
This is a must have for anybody with an interest in that conflict or for that matter in that particular decade. It decribes a battalion of soldiers who although highly trained were not prepared for what they would encounter but dealt with everything that was thrown at them and managed to survive and come out the other side.
For this reason alone it is a painful but rivetting read.

A study on fighting, but not fighting men...
This is a good book if you really want to know – sometimes in quite tedious detail - what exactly went on in LZ X-Ray and LZ Albany, moment by moment, man by man.

If you want character build-up and insightful discourse on the motivations of men in extreme circumstances, look elsewhere.

In the vast majority of cases, it is the actions of the men that are detailed, not motivations or innermost thoughts. Even when the narration is handed over, first person, to the men who survived, we learn little of what made them do the extraordinarily brave things that fill page after page.

An unfortunate failing of this book is Hal Moore’s entirely understandable desire to pay tribute and respect to every man he mentions by name. In a somewhat clinical, militaristic fashion, each serviceman, in addition to his rank, has his middle initial included when first introduced. Also, if, as happens in all to many cases, that serviceman is subsequently killed or wounded, Moore insists upon repeating this gesture along with detailing his hometown and family background.

I suspect this “naming and placing” is an attempt to bring home to the reader the humanity of those who were cut down in their prime - often en masse. Unfortunately, for me, these continual roll calls serve to distract and interrupt from the hugely courageous actions of the men in question, thus diminishing that aspect of the narrative, whilst also, unfortunately, not actually making them any more real for me.

I feel I should somehow apologise for this criticism, because in so many other respects this is an excellent book. The concept of Air Mobility is briefly examined in the context of post the mass-paratroops landings of WW2, and the US experiences in Korea, and pre any other major engagements against the PAVN. The exacting operational considerations of an air-mobile engagement are also examined by Moore and prove insightful for the reader.

Moore emphasises how the “correct” use of close air and artillery-support was possible at LZ X-Ray, but not at LZ Albany. I feel he could have given more credit to the attacking commanders for identifying how to proactively overcome the threat and execute their plans accordingly. In general however, Moore does not show any jingoistic tendency to denigrate the abilities or sacrifices of the Vietnamese enemy and, if anything, a grudging admiration for their training and bravery is evident throughout the book.

In summary, this is not the easiest of reading, but it is rewarding.

Read it if you want to know more about the war in Vietnam. Or, if you want to know more about the men who fought the war in Vietnam, read a few other first-person accounts beforehand and then read it! Either way, read it.

An eye opener to the realities of a fierce and bloody war
Let. General Moore and Joe Galloway have provided an accurate and bloody portrayal of what happened at LZ Z-Ray and LZ Albany in the opening days of the Vietnam war.

In it, you'll discover act of heroism, bravery and courage in the line of fire such as Thomas Metsker who gave his place in the helicopter evacuating the wounded to a more seriously wounded soldier, only to see him die as he placed the injured man on the helicopter. Thomas Metsker is just one of the many men whose tale is told with remarkable clarity by the survivors.

There are poignant moments in the aftermath from the wives and children when they relate what happened to them, when they discovered their loved one would never be coming home and it was heart-warming to read about what happened to the survivors when the story ended.

When you have finished reading the book, go and see the film. It's not as accurate but still good.