We Were Soldiers

Steyn On-Line ^ | November 11, 2023 | Mark Steyn

[Twotone]

A few years back, I started Veterans Day on "Fox & Friends", reacting to the live footage of President Trump in Hanoi. We talked about the Vietnam war's domestic impact on the American psyche, and how it took many decades for that to change. This Veterans Day movie pick is one of the cultural artifacts of that evolution in perception - a film about soldiering that wears its allegiance in its very title. It was released about six months after 9/11, in the spring of 2002, and in that sense is a movie about an old war seen through the lens of a new one.

The best thing about We Were Soldiers is how bad it is. I don't mean "bad" in the sense that it's written and directed by Randall Wallace, screenwriter of Braveheart (which won Oscars for pretty much everything except its screenplay, which was not overlooked without reason) and Pearl Harbor (whose plonking dialogue has been dwelt on previously in this space). Mr Wallace is as reliably uninspired as you can get. And yet it serves him well here.

Pearl Harbor was terrible, but it was professionally terrible, its lame dialogue and cookie-cutter characters and butt-numbingly obvious emotional manipulation skillfully woven together into state-of-the-art Hollywood product. By contrast, in its best moments, We Were Soldiers feels very unHollywoody, as if it's a film not just about soldiers, but made by soldiers - or at any rate by someone who cares more about capturing the spirit of soldiery than about making a cool movie. It's the very opposite of Steven Spielberg's fluid ballet of carnage in Saving Private Ryan, and yet, in its stiffness and squareness, it manages to be moving and dignified in the way that real veterans of hellish battles often are.

[ansel12]

Col. Moore and Mel Gibson, both Catholics, became close, some who knew Sergeant-Major, Basil Plumley say that he was portrayed as a little more gentle than he was in real life.

[Publius]

One of our Army bases has been renamed Fort Moore in Hal’s honor.

[T-Bird45]

1) US Army installations are “forts”, not “bases”, when located in the US. The one you referenced was named Fort Bragg, home of the Infantry.

2) While it was not my personal privilege to know General Moore, my sense of his concept of an officer’s honor makes me wonder if he would have declined the attachment of his name in place of Bragg. JMO…YMMV

[NorthMountain]

Wallace turns a great book into a clunky film,

I see two possibilities here:

1) Mark Steyn did not watch the same film that I watched.

2) Mark Steyn is an idiot.

[wgmalabama]

Agreed. I thought it was a good film and is probably in my top 10.

[bravo whiskey]

I think Sergeant Major Plumley and Sam Eliot became close too.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Pinging ALOHA RONNIE who was Col. Moore’s radio operator. Unfortunately he hasn’t posted since late spring of 2020.

[ansel12]

“Plumley received the Doughboy Award in 1999. His awards and decorations included Silver Star (one Oak Leaf Cluster); Legion of Merit; Bronze Star (one Oak Leaf Cluster and Valor Device); Purple Heart (three Oak Leaf Clusters); Air Medal (one silver and three bronze Oak Leaf Clusters); Army Presidential Unit Citation (two Oak Leaf Clusters); Army Commendation Medal; American Defense Service Medal;
American Campaign Medal;

Word War II Victory Medal;
Korean Service Medal (with Arrowhead device and three campaign stars);
Vietnam Service Medal (with one silver and three bronze campaign stars);

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal; Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation; Republic of Korea War Service Medal; United Nations Service Medal for Korea; Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation with Palm; Vietnam Campaign Medal; Combat Infantryman Badge (three awards); Master Combat Parachutist Badge (with gold star, indicating 5 combat jumps); Vietnam Army Basic Parachutist Badge; Order of St. Maurice; and Garry Owen Distinctive Unit Insignia.”

[Guenevere]

We were Soldiers or Braveheart?
….Steyn has an unfair dissing of Braveheart

[MuttTheHoople]

That was Sam Eliott’s only movie where he didn’t have his trademark mustache.

[frog in a pot]

You wrote
I see two possibilities here:

IMO, a variation of your second possibility, that Steyn is an idiot, seems most certain:
3) Steyn either left before the film was over, or doesn't understand warfare enough to offer a credible opinion of the historical event.

From the article: ...the 1st Batallion [sic] of the 7th Cavalry walked - or helicoptered - into an ambush and, despite being outnumbered five to one by the enemy, managed to extricate themselves.

As I recall, the 1st Battalion stood toe-to-toe against the larger enemy forces and fought until what was left of that enemy decided to save itself and disappeared.

"Managed to extricate themselves" my a$$. The 1st left the battlefield at its convenience and under no threat. (Much as we did after the Peace Accords.)

At least Steyn got it right in his final two sentences. "One of the reasons Colonel Moore wrote his book was to memorialize as individuals, as personalities, the men under his command. It's well worth reading."

[doorgunner69]

What service, when, and where did he serve?

[Political Junkie Too]

He's apparently still with us (as of May 2023) according to this article:

Memorial Day Ceremony Held At The Los Angeles National Cemetery

The Invocation was given by Father Tom Gibbons, Paulist Productions. Glen Schecter, President of the Los Angeles National Cemetery Support Foundation, gave the Welcome to the crowd. The POW/MIA Ceremony was led by Col. Steven Miska, USA, Ret., Temoc Meza, Glen Schecter & Ronnie Guyer.

And here...

Vietnam War POWs gather, remember at Nixon Library reunion

Ronnie Guyer is all smiles as the band plays while fellow POWs enter a ceremony at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the return of the Vietnam POWs in Yorba Linda, CA, on Tuesday, May 23, 2023. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

-PJ

[Rummyfan]

Colonel Hal Moore - later Lt General - was one heckuva soldier, as were all these men.

[Rummyfan]

Fort Bragg is now Fort Liberty.

[FlatulusMaximus]

I liked Saving Private Ryan, but I think We Were Soldiers is a superior movie overall. Scenes have haunted me for years. I’m past due for a reprise, just to see Sam Elliot describe Custer!

[Tijeras_Slim]

Great! Thanks, PJ2.

[Publius]

I should be more precise in my use of language.

[NorthMountain]

I was thinking of “We Were Soldiers”