The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Lt. Col. Harold G.(Hal) Moore - Sep. 6th, 2003

Army Magazine ^ | November 2002 | Col. Cole C. Kingseed, U.S. Army retired

[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
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FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

God Bless America
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Lt. Col. Harold G.(Hal) Moore
(1922 - *)

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Beyond the Ia Drang Valley

"The will to win, the will to survive, they endure. They are more important than the events that occasion them." -- Vince Lombardi

In his novel of the Battle of Thermopylae, author Steven Pressfield describes a scene in which Dienekes, a Spartan officer, prepares his men for a battle against a numerically superior army of Persians. Watching Dienekes rally and tend to his men, the narrator identifies the essential role of an officer in combat: to prevent those under his command, at all stages of battle -- before, during and after -- from becoming so overcome by terror or anger that emotion usurps dominion of the mind. "To fire their valor when it flagged and rein in their fury when it threatened to take them out of hand" -- that was Dienekes’ job.


COLONEL MOORE AND ENEMY CASUALTY

Two and a half millennia later, a modern Spartan displayed similar attributes of self-restraint and self-composure when Lt. Col. Harold G. (Hal) Moore led the men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry into the Ia Drang Valley in the Republic of Vietnam in November 1965. Like Dienekes before him, Moore bequeathed a legacy of raw courage and inspirational leadership in war’s darkest crucible. By his own admission, Moore is not a hero, but to his men and to a generation of future officers whom he addressed at the U.S. Military Academy, he is the penultimate battle captain. When actor Mel Gibson and his entourage visited West Point in the spring of 2002 to launch the premier of his movie "We Were Soldiers," the greatest applause was reserved not for Gibson, but for Moore, who quietly slipped away unnoticed during the film’s battle scenes. Not surprisingly, in a recent survey conducted following one of his visits, the majority of cadets identified Moore as the most inspirational officer in their cadet experience.

To a Long Gray Line accustomed to visits by the Army’s most distinguished leaders, why does Moore stand out? The true essence of his popularity within the Corps of Cadets is not limited to his command of American troops in the first pitched battle in the Vietnam War between the U.S. Army and the North Vietnamese Army. Scores of commanders have conducted similar battles and achieved like success. What differentiates Moore from his fellow warriors is his message concerning preparation for battlefield leadership and his own philosophy on the conduct of a leader in battle.

Hal Moore’s road to his status as a cadet icon began in the hills of Kentucky in a small town called Bardstown. Born on February 13, 1922, Moore matriculated to West Point by a circuitous path. Unable to secure an appointment before his graduation from high school, Moore left home in February 1940 and traveled to Washington, D.C., where he hoped his chances to secure a congressional appointment would be enhanced. He completed high school at night and attended George Washington University in the evenings for two years. When Congress doubled the size of the Corps of Cadets in 1942 to meet wartime commitments, Moore finally obtained his appointment from a Georgia congressman. The entire process reinforced Moore’s belief that the first person you must learn to lead is yourself. Set lofty goals and persist until you achieve them.


Lt. Col. Moore and Sgt-Maj. Plumley

Never the best student in the mathematical sciences, Moore struggled, taking refuge in religious activities that further honed his character. His greatest joy in Beast Barracks was firing Expert on the M-1 rifle with the top score in the company. His academic pursuits proved more difficult. In his own words, his first semester at West Point was "an academic trip from hell." Moments of quiet meditation in the Catholic chapel and long hours of study finally paid dividends. As cited in West Point’s yearbook, Hal Moore graduated in 1945 under the curtailed curriculum "untouched by the machinations of the T.D. [Tactical Department] and Academic Departments."

Not surprising to anyone who knew him well, Moore selected Infantry as his branch and joined the 187th Airborne Regiment in Sendai, Japan. The summer of 1948 found 1st Lt. Moore at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he jump-tested experimental parachutes and other airborne gear. By his own calculation, he made upwards of 150 test jumps over the course of the next three years. On his first test jump, however, the parachute hung on the tail of a C-46 and Moore was dragged behind the plane, at 110 miles per hour, 1,500 feet above the drop zone before he could cut it off and use his reserve. The ability to take a few seconds to think under such hazardous conditions would become a hallmark of Moore’s character for the remainder of his military career. The years at Bragg also marked Moore as a quiet professional unfazed by challenges.

In June 1952, Moore, now a husband and father of two children, deployed to Korea. Over the course of the next 14 months, he commanded a rifle company and heavy mortar company in the 17th Infantry, 7th Infantry Division, seeing action in the battles of attrition on Pork Chop Hill, T-Bone, Alligator Jaws and Charlie Outpost. By now Moore was a battle-tested commander. When the armistice was signed in July 1953, he reported to the U.S. Military Academy to teach infantry tactics to aspiring officers. The post-Korean War army also brought Moore to the Pentagon, where he served with distinction in the Air Mobility Division in the office of the Chief of Research and Development, in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans.



Following graduation from the Naval War College in June 1964, Lt. Col. Moore received a by-name request from Brig. Gen. Harry W. O. Kinnard, commanding general, 11th Air Assault Division (Test), to serve as a battalion commander. Redesignated the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in July 1965, the division deployed to South Vietnam’s Central Highlands in response to Lyndon Johnson’s escalation of the war. It was in that capacity that Moore’s 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry fought the first major pitched battle with the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) at Landing Zone X-Ray in the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965.

Moore’s conduct of the battle is well chronicled in his and Joe Galloway’s We Were Soldiers Once. . . and Young and needs little elaboration here. Suffice it to say that the success of Moore’s soldiers in repelling the attack of a well-disciplined enemy force five times their own size was the result of Moore’s battlefield leadership and the indomitable spirit of his men. Moore was first off the lead helicopter and the last soldier to leave the battlefield three days later. Putting everything he had learned at West Point and 20 years of leadership in battle into the action, Moore inflicted over 600 dead on the enemy at a cost of 79 killed and 121 wounded. True to his word, he brought out every one of his troopers. In fact throughout his 32-year career, Hal Moore never abandoned an American soldier on the battlefield.

Following the Ia Drang Battle, Moore was promoted to command the 1st Cavalry Division’s 3rd Brigade that saw action on the Bong Son Plain in January 1966. Subsequent tours of duty included service with the International Security Affairs, Office of the Secretary of Defense; commanding general of the 7th Infantry Division in Korea, and then commanding general of Fort Ord, Calif. Moore ended his career as deputy chief of staff for personnel. When he retired in 1977, he became an executive vice president of the company that developed the ski area at Crested Butte, Colo. Four years later he formed a computer software company. Now in retirement, Moore spends his time with his wife Julie and their family in their homes in Crested Butte, Colo., and Auburn, Ala.


INFANTRY ADVANCING AT LZ X-RAY

Moore’s achievements in a career spanning three decades are legendary. First in his West Point class to be promoted to one, two and three stars, Moore received accelerated promotions on six occasions. Recipient of the Purple Heart and seven awards for battlefield valor, including the Distinguished Service Cross, Moore never lost a man as prisoner or missing in action, which brings us back to West Point and why the Corps of Cadets holds Moore in such high esteem.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

GARRY OWEN, Sir.

...25 years ago I was informed by Family that I am a direct desendant, on my South Dakota Mother's side, of a 7th Cavalry Survivor of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, meaning he must have been like in Reno's Company outside the Killing Zone.

...And then there was the 7th Cavalry's 2nd Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1965.

How GOD does seem to work His Miracles in come very Loving Ways..?

[Sparta]

What's up

[VOA]

(posted picture of Joe Galloway lovingly cradling a submachinegun...)..

Now there's a picture of what every AMERICAN combat reporter should carry
beside pencil, paper and camera!

(even if most correspondents would need training in order to not shot themselves
or their attached squad!)

[VOA]

...any idea what sub machinegun model that is that Galloway is holding?

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. Well I'm confused!

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks Phil!

[snippy_about_it]

The sky????

[SAMWolf]

Especially on John Wayne, Sam Elliott or Robert Duvall

[Sparta]

Nevermind. Nice to see you again snippy.

[SAMWolf]

Swedish K

The Swedish K, 9mm submachine gun. It is also called the Carl Gustaf model 45. It is a very fine blowback operated full automatic submachine gun with a 36 round detachable box magazine. The stock folds to the side reducing the overall length from 31.8 inches down to 19.8 inches. The Swedish K fires from the open bolt position and has an effective range of approx 100 meters. It weighs 9.25 pounds with a fully loaded magazine and fires the standard 9mm parabellum bullet at a cyclic rate of 600 RPM. At the time of the Vietnam War, this weapon was the standard submachine gun in the Swedish Army.

[SAMWolf]

We had to play recover some graphics and the only way to accomplish it was to repost the thread.

[snippy_about_it]

LOL. I was just funnin' with ya. I see SAM explained. I tried to explain in my ping list post. It's been a long night.

Good to see you again too. ;)

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...As I lovingly type away...

...on this outstanding Thread...

...I've been playing my DVD..

.."WE WERE SOLDIERS"..

...over and over again.


NEVER FORGET...just what today's Hero Protectors are doing for us all around the world as we speak...

...in a new -Time of War-..

...in a new Century...

...with an Enemy that is now...

...just around the Corner and...

...up your Street..!!!

---

'Remember the Lost and Suffering on Septermber 11, 2001' **

http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33



(**Posted by MICHAEL, Son of Hero IA DRANG Helicopter Commander BRUCE CRANDALL who was lovingly played by GREG KINNEAR in...
.."WE WERE SOLDIERS"..)

[RLK]

Moore and Plumley were both as good any anyone could ask for. After seeing the movie something went off in the back of my head and I have spent considerable time in the last six to eight months studying the battle. I wil have something to say on this at another time and another place.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bumpity, bump, bump, bump!

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...T'was truly unforgettable carrying Radio in Vietnam for the MOORE-PLUMLEY Freedom-Fighting Team in 1965.

...Nothing like it on the Face of this Earth.

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks AC! It is a great thread!

[RLK]

Up to a couple years ago Plumley was still being brought in to address graduating officer classes. Is he still around and doing it?

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank you for the heads up!

[ALOHA RONNIE]

...After I came back from Vietnam in 1966 I immediately went to work, and continued till 1997, for Matson Navigation Company which is the main Steamship Carrier of Container Freight, Autos and at the time Luxury Liner passengers to Hawaii ...thus my .."ALOHA RONNIE"..!!

...Since this also included shipping Autos of Military Familes to Hawaii whose spouses were heading to War over the decades (Some were Multiple Repeats!!!) ...I was blessed to be able to keep tabs thru them on what MOOORE & PLUMLEY were still doing for our country's Protectors.


See: http://www.Matson.com


...PLUMLEY was at our Ft. Benning Pre-Screening of .."WE WERE SOLDIERS".. in February 2002 and at its Los Angeles Premiere in March, looking really fine.

...PLUMLEY doesn't attend our Annual IA DRANG Alumni Conference in Washington, D.C. any longer, but I believe he still does lecture our Military Personnel about the Battle of IA DRANG-1965, on occasion, as does Gen. MOORE.

...PLUMLEY =

...The real ..'Lion in Winter'