We Were Soldiers Once, And Young by Harold Moore

 

You really have to persevere through to the end. After reading all of the initial chapters with the horrors of war and finally coming to Aftermath and Chapter 24 it all falls together. 

Much of the text was a more honest content than one might find in a book written by an experienced author or trained novelist. However, Col. Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway used the testimony of others there at Ia Drang in 1965 to tell the story. This is not historical fiction. 

They don’t hold back much, if any, about the many horrors of battle in the main fight, depicted somewhat in the movie “We Were Soldiers,” and the following lesser-known fight at Landing Zone Albany. Again, the book tells you much more than the movie.

It took me longer than normal to read this for two reasons. I couldn’t stomach the grizzly details as much as I thought I could, but mostly it was my medical situation, which has kept me in medical facilities since shortly after I started reading it in early February. A lot of that medicine is not good for the eyes, too.

The need to read here was sparked in research, and I’ve also moved to where there’s a library a short walk away. That’s very nice, but this hot, sweltering, humid heat isn’t nice at all.

I’m glad I read “We Were Soldiers Once, And Young.” I wasn’t in Vietnam, but grew up with it, and needed to know.