Almost 15 years since its original publication the bestseller. "We are Soldiers OnceAnd Young" (1992) is still required reading in all branches of the military. Every day the authors receive letters from readers wanting to know what's happened to the characters they came to admire such as Ed "Too Tall to Fly" Freeman and Bruce "Old Snake" Crandall. There are also questions about whether they are still in touch with their North Vietnam counterparts and where they are now.Many of these questions are finally answered in title "We are Soldiers Still", which recounts a unique journey back to the battlefields by the commanders and veterans of both sides - a journey which ended with the authors and some of the comrades stranded overnight, alone, on the isolated field code-named Landing Zone XRay where so many perished. They will tell what was learned and felt during a night when a meteor shower filled the sky and peace came upon them. The authors mix gritty and vivid detail with reverence and respect for their comrades. Their authority on the military, their ability to capture man's sense of heroism and brotherhood, and readers' fascination with their story is sure to make this a must-buy book for all history buffs. While "We Were Soldiers" brought to life an important moment in US history, "We are Soldiers Still" will illuminate how that history has changed the authors, the men involved, and our country.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. It would be a monumental task for Moore and Galloway to top their classic 1992 memoir, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young. But they come close in this sterling sequel, which tells the backstory of two of the Vietnam War's bloodiest battles (in which Moore participated as a lieutenant colonel), their first book and a 1993 ABC-TV documentary that brought them back to the battlefield. Moore's strong first-person voice reviews the basics of the November 1965 battles, part of the 34-day Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Among other things, Moore and Galloway (who covered the battle for UPI) offer portraits of two former enemy commanders, generals Nguyen Huu An and Chu Huy Man, whom the authors met—and bonded with—nearly three decades after the battle. This book proves again that Moore is an exceptionally thoughtful, compassionate and courageous leader (he was one of a handful of army officers who studied the history of the Vietnam wars before he arrived) and a strong voice for reconciliation and for honoring the men with whom he served. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Aug. 19) ""
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."
From Booklist
The authors of We Were Soldiers Once and Young (1992) here powerfully recount their return to the battlefields of the first book. They visited both landing zones for the deadly battle of the Ia Drang Valley and spent a night on the battlefield of Dien Bien Phu, haunted by a previous generation of ghosts of both sides and part of the experience of North Vietnamese veterans, too. The latter survivors, like their American counterparts, belong to a diminishing band, yet Moore and Galloway managed to interview some of Moore’s counterparts or their widows and children and found a curiosity about how matters looked from the other side equal to theirs. Scenery, memories, and the current state of Vietnam are all vividly depicted, but the most powerful writing comes in the epilogue’s tribute to two departed Ia Drang comrades, one a platoon commander who died saving lives on 9/11, the other career officer Moore’s wife of 55 years. If, as Moore says, there are no noble wars, there is a lot of nobility among the warriors. --Roland Green
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Guns are Silent, but the Memories Remain
I've always enjoyed "where are they now" reminisces. General Hal Moore and Combat Reporter Joe Galloway do yeoman's work in this sequel to We Were Soldiers Once...and Young. The original book was about the horrific first major battle of the Vietnam War in the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965. Surrounded and barely able to escape with the remnants of his battalion after 3 days of ferocious combat, General Moore longed to one day return to that hallowed ground that so many American and Vietnamese fought and died for. Finally after lengthy bureaucratic delays, he and 10 veterans of that now fabled battle, plus several of the enemy commanders, returned to the "Forest of the Screaming Souls"-The Ia Drang Valley. This book is their story of completing the circle, of putting to rest the combat demons that try men's souls. Further, the book allows the authors to explore how that war changed them all, as well as the two countries. It was an emotional journey both back to the past and to the future as Moore and Galloway examine how that battle impacted their lives and their soldiers' lives forever.
The Chapter on Leadership is very good and pertains to the realities of life whether in the military or fighting the corporate wars of today. The Chapter on War is interesting in light of the struggles America is undergoing today in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The touching Tribute to Hal Moore's wife Julie is very inspirational and worth the read, as most non-military families do not understand the heavy price military wives pay for their husband's career choice.
All in all an excellent book. As a retired military officer who served in Vietnam, Panama, and Desert Shield/Storm, I found it both touching and illuminating. The guns may be silent but the memories remain forever. It is when one is alone that those days of intense camaraderie grips one's soul to its very core and whispers that it is for the living to remember and NEVER FORGET.
Hearty recommend. It would be best if you read We Were Soldiers Once...and Young first to give you the full flavor, but it's not an absolute requirement. All in all General Hal Moore and Joe Galloway have written a fine book and I salute them.
I've always enjoyed "where are they now" reminisces. General Hal Moore and Combat Reporter Joe Galloway do yeoman's work in this sequel to We Were Soldiers Once...and Young. The original book was about the horrific first major battle of the Vietnam War in the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965. Surrounded and barely able to escape with the remnants of his battalion after 3 days of ferocious combat, General Moore longed to one day return to that hallowed ground that so many American and Vietnamese fought and died for. Finally after lengthy bureaucratic delays, he and 10 veterans of that now fabled battle, plus several of the enemy commanders, returned to the "Forest of the Screaming Souls"-The Ia Drang Valley. This book is their story of completing the circle, of putting to rest the combat demons that try men's souls. Further, the book allows the authors to explore how that war changed them all, as well as the two countries. It was an emotional journey both back to the past and to the future as Moore and Galloway examine how that battle impacted their lives and their soldiers' lives forever.
The Chapter on Leadership is very good and pertains to the realities of life whether in the military or fighting the corporate wars of today. The Chapter on War is interesting in light of the struggles America is undergoing today in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The touching Tribute to Hal Moore's wife Julie is very inspirational and worth the read, as most non-military families do not understand the heavy price military wives pay for their husband's career choice.
All in all an excellent book. As a retired military officer who served in Vietnam, Panama, and Desert Shield/Storm, I found it both touching and illuminating. The guns may be silent but the memories remain forever. It is when one is alone that those days of intense camaraderie grips one's soul to its very core and whispers that it is for the living to remember and NEVER FORGET.
Hearty recommend. It would be best if you read We Were Soldiers Once...and Young first to give you the full flavor, but it's not an absolute requirement. All in all General Hal Moore and Joe Galloway have written a fine book and I salute them.
67 of 84 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Hal Moore sums up his interesting life in this short book. It's only partially tied to the 1965 battle in the Ia Drang Valley. Still, he describes moving events in 1993 when he, Joe Galloway, a few veterans and a couple of former North Vietmanese officers meet to reflect, re-live and celebrate sacrifice on both sides. They even hold hands and pray.
The book is more about the important events in Moore's life: how he got to West Point,side-trip to Dien Bien Phu, assignments to Korea, leadership lessons and views on warfare.
One of the problems I had reading the preface is I couldn't figure out who wrote it. I also question why the authors characterize the war as good nationalists driving out the bad foreign invader,namely the United States. Moore seems to say in the end, the good guys won: "...they (the North Vietnamese) were fighting so hard because, like America's own revolutionaries, they had a burning desire to drive foreigners out of their native land...and now that the guns had fallen silent and peace had return to their land they proved to be proud fathers, good husbands, loyal citizens, and, yes, good friends."
My impression was and is the North Vietnamese were fighting to unify the country under an NVA banner. The real losers were not the Americans but the South Vietnamese. After the NVA victory an estimated 100,000 South Vietnamese were executed, others died in reducation camps and at sea. Despite what Moore/Galloway write, I don't think there's any moral equivalency between us and the North Vietnamese on one side, the South Vietnamese on the other.
The book is more about the important events in Moore's life: how he got to West Point,side-trip to Dien Bien Phu, assignments to Korea, leadership lessons and views on warfare.
One of the problems I had reading the preface is I couldn't figure out who wrote it. I also question why the authors characterize the war as good nationalists driving out the bad foreign invader,namely the United States. Moore seems to say in the end, the good guys won: "...they (the North Vietnamese) were fighting so hard because, like America's own revolutionaries, they had a burning desire to drive foreigners out of their native land...and now that the guns had fallen silent and peace had return to their land they proved to be proud fathers, good husbands, loyal citizens, and, yes, good friends."
My impression was and is the North Vietnamese were fighting to unify the country under an NVA banner. The real losers were not the Americans but the South Vietnamese. After the NVA victory an estimated 100,000 South Vietnamese were executed, others died in reducation camps and at sea. Despite what Moore/Galloway write, I don't think there's any moral equivalency between us and the North Vietnamese on one side, the South Vietnamese on the other.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I need hardly add superlatives to the monumental epic that was "We were Soldiers Once..." I consider myself priveleged to have read and thereby shared the epic events described in the company of a humanitarian, reflective and yet ultimately humble hero, General Moore.
You rocket in on that chopper and the book gets it on from the get go.
Once you are through the X-Ray and Albany horrors don't expect a respite. I cried like a child as the fallout from the deaths of these brave men was spelled out by those they left behind.
I recommend that you then watch the Mel Gibson movie to compare your mind's eye picture of the battle with Hollywood's. Old Mel did a fine job. It was exactly how I had pictured it. Book followed by movie; usually such a move is a fraught exercise but this only enhanced my understanding.
The film does not address the subsequent Albany ambush and what appears to be a huge embarassment for the army. Failures all along the line led to a needless massacre. The army looked the other way in the aftermath. Moore does not shy away from the controversy in this second book and Westmoreland gets a lot of stick. (Nothing compared to Moore's later stinging rebuke of Dubya and Rumsfeld...may they burn in hell for the US lives they have so recklessly thrown away)
"We are Warriors Still" I found compulsory reading in order to complete my Ia Drang experience. I found it mesmerizing and heartbreaking. Moore and his comrades do the ultimate service to their dead buddies by flying to the now deserted battlesite and walking the lines on one last patrol.
I ate up the book barely pausing in my need to equate now with then; in my pleasure at feeling the noble warmth of Moore's humanity. Those troops could not have had a better commander in the field. A Rommel of a man!
That being said, I share my fellow reviewers' consternation at Moore's forgiveness and embrace of foes who callously murdered both US POWs and wounded in the field.
The NVA General An's comment that they were worried that the wounded soldiers would kill them if not silenced is simply not good enough. I know some of you out there will bring up Mai Lai but that was an exception. An seems to talk of this murder as an unfortunate but necessary policy. People have gone to the gallows or the Hague for less. Moore also mentions the massacres by the NVA of the civilians in Hue and on the road to Cambodia. We're talking in the tens of thousands here. Never heard Hanoi Jane bleating about that side of the conflict. Yet Moore incomprehensibly still finds it in his heart to see the NVA as patriots. I'm sure Stalin was one too but I'd still like to have put arsenic in his tea if I'd sat with him.
There's also a chapter on leadership which seems a little out of place in this book and seems more geared to military cadets reading the book as a designated text.
In closing, you simple cannot not read this if the first book hooked you in.
I'm just waiting for the book and movie on Ricky Rescorla. A life so extraordinary it couln't have been scripted better by Shakespeare.
General Moore, Joe Galloway I salute you.
You rocket in on that chopper and the book gets it on from the get go.
Once you are through the X-Ray and Albany horrors don't expect a respite. I cried like a child as the fallout from the deaths of these brave men was spelled out by those they left behind.
I recommend that you then watch the Mel Gibson movie to compare your mind's eye picture of the battle with Hollywood's. Old Mel did a fine job. It was exactly how I had pictured it. Book followed by movie; usually such a move is a fraught exercise but this only enhanced my understanding.
The film does not address the subsequent Albany ambush and what appears to be a huge embarassment for the army. Failures all along the line led to a needless massacre. The army looked the other way in the aftermath. Moore does not shy away from the controversy in this second book and Westmoreland gets a lot of stick. (Nothing compared to Moore's later stinging rebuke of Dubya and Rumsfeld...may they burn in hell for the US lives they have so recklessly thrown away)
"We are Warriors Still" I found compulsory reading in order to complete my Ia Drang experience. I found it mesmerizing and heartbreaking. Moore and his comrades do the ultimate service to their dead buddies by flying to the now deserted battlesite and walking the lines on one last patrol.
I ate up the book barely pausing in my need to equate now with then; in my pleasure at feeling the noble warmth of Moore's humanity. Those troops could not have had a better commander in the field. A Rommel of a man!
That being said, I share my fellow reviewers' consternation at Moore's forgiveness and embrace of foes who callously murdered both US POWs and wounded in the field.
The NVA General An's comment that they were worried that the wounded soldiers would kill them if not silenced is simply not good enough. I know some of you out there will bring up Mai Lai but that was an exception. An seems to talk of this murder as an unfortunate but necessary policy. People have gone to the gallows or the Hague for less. Moore also mentions the massacres by the NVA of the civilians in Hue and on the road to Cambodia. We're talking in the tens of thousands here. Never heard Hanoi Jane bleating about that side of the conflict. Yet Moore incomprehensibly still finds it in his heart to see the NVA as patriots. I'm sure Stalin was one too but I'd still like to have put arsenic in his tea if I'd sat with him.
There's also a chapter on leadership which seems a little out of place in this book and seems more geared to military cadets reading the book as a designated text.
In closing, you simple cannot not read this if the first book hooked you in.
I'm just waiting for the book and movie on Ricky Rescorla. A life so extraordinary it couln't have been scripted better by Shakespeare.
General Moore, Joe Galloway I salute you.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Vietnam at its bloodiest
The best factual reading about any amazing man who was a true leader...I first saw the movie then realised it was a true story so I hunted down the book... Read more
Published 7 days ago by peta tempelman
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent and necessary Vietnam War history
I thought this was a heartfelt and thoughtful book about a little-known chapter of the Vietnam War. The movie does a good job but isn't able to follow through on the second phase... Read more
Published 22 days ago by TruxtonSpangler
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book
The only problem with this book is that it was apparently a library edition and was not advertised as such. Overall, the book is in excellent condition. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Cameron Smith
2.0 out of 5 stars
Return to follow up with NVA views on the battle of the highlands
Much of this is a repetition of the original book which would be OK as long as you do not read them in sequence.Amazing to get interviews with Gen Giap and others. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Golden Pilgrim 56
5.0 out of 5 stars
an amazing story
I am not a person who is really into war stories. I first listed to this on DVD then I wanted the book so I could get in every detail!!! Great book!!
Published 1 month ago by MTbound
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent follow up to the first book
I was in college during the VietNam word and supported the soldiers. This is an excellent book that adds to the original story.
Published 1 month ago by LoveToRead
5.0 out of 5 stars
Galloway
Joe Galloway is a friend of mine and a true warrior in the real sense, I read their 1st book,"We were soldiers once and young" and this one was a great second. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Hershel Davis
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ia Drang.
Worked with a Correctional Officer at Chino Prison who was there. He told me the book is very accurate for the most part.
Published 2 months ago by Jerry Hartley
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding book!
An incredible story about a battle that was almost totally obsure as far as the American public is aware. Read more
Published 2 months ago by john lee
5.0 out of 5 stars
Do I go to jail if I refuse? Am I charged more, my children taken...
Do I go to jail if I refuse? Am I charged more, my children taken from me? Tell me more..
Published 2 months ago by Why?
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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