We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam (Hardcover)

~ (Author), (Author)
Key Phrases: termite hill, North Vietnamese, Dien Bien Phu, Viet Minh (more...)

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."

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (August 19, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061147761
• ISBN-13: 978-0061147760
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #79,340 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #42 in	Books > History > Military > Life & Institutions
  #83 in	Books > History > Military > Vietnam War
  #99 in	Books > History > Asia > Vietnam

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wistful and weepy, August 21, 2008

By	Charles A. Krohn (Burke, VA USA) - See all my reviews

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.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK follow up, September 8, 2008

By	madhatter "madhatterlg" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

Maybe my expectations were too high....after all 'We Were Soldiers Once..and Young' is one of the all time great narratives of war. This one pales by comparison, but it still worth picking up. It's more a reflective piece and in that regard gets too self-absorbed in places. Definitely worth the read, but don't expect to get swept up like the first book.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading., October 6, 2008

By	JOHN FRANCIS - See all my reviews

Certainly no one can question the courage or loyalty of Lt. Gen Moore or that of his co-writer Mr. Galloway. However don't expect to read another Soldiers Once....this is a review of Gen Moore's return to Viet Nam. I'm not sure everyone would equivocate the North Vietnamese, with the troops of the American force as the General seems to do here. Whether we should forgive and forget, that they were just good ol' boys doing their job, would seem to me to be up to those who were there also to decide. It would seem that there would be those who are not willing to forget and forgive so easily as the General seems to do. However this should be recommended reading for any young person....well worth the time.