We Were Soldiers, Chapter 1, Click2Flicks

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>THE STORY BEHIND THE MOVIE</i></p> <p><i>WE WERE SOLDIERS</i></b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="90%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="#preface"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch2.htm">2. AMERICANS IN VIETNAM</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch3.htm">3. WHY DID THE MISSION CHANGE?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch4.htm">4. LBJ DECIDES TO "GO BIG"</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch5.htm">5. CONFLICT ESCALATES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch6.htm">6. GROUND TROOPS ARRIVE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch7.htm">7. 1ST CAV IN COUNTRY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch8.htm">8. WHAT KIND OF WAR?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch9.htm">9. FLAWED POLICY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=90% cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch10.htm">10. IA DRANG OVERVIEW</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch11.htm">11. A FAILED AMBUSH</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch12.htm">12. LZ X-RAY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch13.htm">13. "A BROKEN ARROW"</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch14.htm">14. DEATH AT LZ ALBANY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch15.htm">15. RESCUE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch16.htm">16. BRUCE CRANDALL</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch17.htm">17. RICK RESCORLA</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><b><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><b><i><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3">They were determined to kill us all.</b></i><br><br> Joseph L. Galloway<br> On the battle of Ia Drang<br> November, 1965</font><br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Joe Galloway was a reporter for <i>United Press International</i> during November, 1965. He was the only member of the media accompanying 450 U.S. troops sent into the dense jungle of Plateau Kontum, South Vietnam. Their mission? Penetrate deep into Viet Cong territory and engage the enemy.</p> <p>Going where <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/36/30/36-2972a.gif" target="_blank"><b>elephant grass</b></a> grew and no flag standard stood, soldiers were transported by helicopter. It was a time when chopper-mobile troops was a new concept. But as the Americans landed in the Ia Drang valley, they had no idea what was waiting for them behind the elephant grass.</p> <p>In a later <a href="http://www.newseum.org/warstories/interviews/mov/journalists/journalistmovie.asp?id=2%20&anecdotenum=3&filename=bio_galloway_3" target="_blank"><b>video interview</b></a>, Joe Galloway recalled those harrowing days of battle:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>We were in a struggle for survival...and they were determined to kill us all. In a situation like that, where people are falling over dead beside you, shot through the head, you have some obligation to be of use beyond taking pictures and writing down your notes of what’s going on...In the middle of this battle an Air Force jet unloaded two cans of napalm right over our heads, right in the middle of our perimeter...I’d been talking to four or five demolition team guys...I look over and they’re dancing in the fire. They’re burning up. A medic and I jumped to our feet and ran toward them and the medic was shot through the head and killed by a sniper and I went in there and helped drag a man out...You come out of something like that alive and you feel that every day after that is a bonus.</b></i></font></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">This is a story about the first ground battle of the Vietnam War - the battle of <a href="http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/vietnam/airmobility/map2.gif" target="_blank"><b>Ia Drang</b></a>.</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="wewere_soldiers_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p><br>  </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>