The FReeper Foxhole Revisits A Profile of Lt. Col. Harold G.(Hal) Moore - Sep. 6th, 2003

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

[snippy_about_it]

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.
.

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


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The FReeper Foxhole Revisits

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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.

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FReeper Foxhole Armed Services Links

[SAMWolf]

How can a country that can produce General Hal Moore be so close to electing John Kerry?

I'm still trying to figure out how Clinton was elected twice. Men like Hal Moore and those who served with him are what keeps my faith in America going.

[SAMWolf]

Morning E.G.C.

More rain predicted although we have been getting some sun breaks during the afternoons.

[SAMWolf]

Morning GailA.

MMMM! That's got my breakfast eating genes going this morning.

[E.G.C.]

Watching out for severe weather today. Already warnings coming out for North Texas.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Mayor.

Used to sing "Lemon Tree" to my kids as a lulluby. Still have the Trini Lopez version on a 45 around here somewhere.

[SAMWolf]

Morning alfa6.

Gonna try and get the "project" up to code this weekend and finish it off?

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!
Whoa gloomy skies encourage sleep, I been doing my share!

[Valin]

On This Day In History


Birthdates which occurred on October 22:
1689 Johan V king of Portugal
1810 Henry Bohlen Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1862
1811 Franz Liszt Raiding, Hungary, romantic composer/virtuoso pianist
1845 Sarah Bernhardt France, silent film actress (Camille, Queen Elizabeth)
1880 Joe Carr Ohio, NFL hall of famer/NFL president (1921-39)
1885 Giovanni Martinelli Montagnana Italy, opera singer (NY Met)
1887 John Reed journalist who reported on Mexican, Russian revolutions
1896 Charles Glenn King biochemist (discovered vitamin C)
1905 Karl Jansky discovered cosmic radio emissions in 1932
1907 Jimmie Foxx baseball HR hitter (Detroit Tigers)
1917 Joan Fontaine Tokyo Japan, actress (Gunga Din, Ivanhoe, Rebecca)
1919 Doris Lessing novelist (Golden Notebook)
1920 Mitzi Green NYC, actress (Little Orphan Annie, So This is Hollywood)
1920 Timothy Leary Harvard prof, LSD taker
1922 John Chafee (Sen-R-RI)
1933 Donald H Peterson Winona Mississippi, Col USAF/astronaut (STS 6)
1934 Donald McIntyre Auckland NZ, Bass-Baritone (Wotan-Das Rheingold)
1935 Judy Devlin Hashman 10 time badminton champ (1957-67)
1938 Christopher Lloyd Stamford Ct, actor (Taxi, Back to the Future)
1938 Derek Jacobi London England, actor ("I, Claudius")
1942 Annette Funicello Utica NY, actress (Mickey Mouse Club)
1943 Catherine Deneuve [Dorleac], Paris, actress (Repulsion, Hunger)
1943 Paul Zukofsky Brooklyn NY, violinist (Cappricio)
1945 Leslie West [Weinstein] rocker (Mountain-Mississippi Queen)
1947 Lee Meredith [Judith Lee Sauls], River Edge NJ, actress (Producers)
1948 John Peterson US, Middleweight (Olympic-gold-1976)
1952 Jeff Goldblum Pitts Pa, actor (The Fly, Thank God it's Friday)
1952 Patti Davis aka Patricia Ann Reagan, 1st daughter (House of Secrets)
1961 Barbara Potter Ct, tennis player (changed shirt on Wimbledon Court)
1961 Leonard Marshall NFL defensive end (NY Giants)
1963 Brian Boitano US, figure skater (Olympic-gold-1988)

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Deaths which occurred on October 22:
0741 Charles (the Hammer) Martel, ruler of the Franks, dies at 63
1383 Ferdinand I the wise, king of Portugal, dies
1725 Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlotti composer, dies at 65
1906 Paul Cezanne, French painter, dies at 67
1932 Anna Dickinson dies just a week shy of her 90th birthday
1934 Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd shot dead by FBI in Ohio
1965 Paul Tillich German/US Theologist (Courage To Be), dies
1975 Arnold Toynbee, English historian/cultural sociologist, dies at 86
1979 Jesse Bishop murderer, dies in Nevada gas chamber
1984 Napoleon Whiting actor (Silas-Big Valley), dies at 75
1992 Red Barber, sportscaster (Dodgers, Yankees), dies at 84
1994 Harold Horace Hopkins, inventor (Endoscope), dies at 75

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Reported: MISSING in ACTION

1964 TOWERY HERMAN---FT BRAGG NC.
[REMAINS RECOVERED ID 10/27/64]
1965 CHERRY FRED V.---SUFFOLK VA.
[02/12/73 RELEASED BY DRV, ALIVE IN 98]
1965 MANN ROBERT LEE---LAFAYETTE IN.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1965 MC EWEN JAMES ARTHUR---WASHINGTON PA.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1965 WEGER JOHN JR.---SAN FERNANDO CA.
[FIREBALL NO RADIO CONTACT]
1966 HARRIS HAROLD L.---DURHAM NC.
1966 KLENERT WILLIAM BLUE---BELLMORE NY.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 KOLSTAD THOMAS CARL---PARKVILLE MN.
[03/18/77 SRV RETURNED REMAINS TO PCOM]
1966 MC BRIDE EARL PAUL---VOLANT PA.
1967 DOOLEY JAMES E.---MANCHESTER CENTER VT.
1971 GARRETT MAURICE E. JR.---MERCER PA.

POW / MIA Data & Bios supplied by
the P.O.W. NETWORK. Skidmore, MO. USA.

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On this day...
4004 BC Universe created at 8:00 PM, according to the Anglican archbishop James Ussher 1650
1746 Princeton University (NJ) received its charter
1819 1st ship sails by Erie-channel (Rome-Utica)
1824 The Tennessee Legislature adjourns ending Davy Crockett's state political career
1836 Sam Houston inaugurated as 1st elected pres of Republic of Texas
1861 1st telegraph line linking West & East coasts completed
1862 Union troops push 5,000 confederates out of Maysbille, Ark., at the Second Battle of Pea Ridge
1862 Confederate troops reconquer Cumberland Gap, Tennessee
1875 Sons of the American Revolution organized
1883 1st NY Horse Show held (Madison Sq Garden)
1883 Original Metropolitan Opera House (NYC) grand opening (Faust)
1906 3000 blacks demonstrate & riot in Phila
1918 The cities of Baltimore and Washington run out of coffins during the "Spanish Inflenza" epidemic.
1922 Parsifal Place laid out in Bronx, named for knight in Wagner's Opera
1928 Pres Hoover speaks of "American system of rugged individualism"
1936 1st commercial flight from mainland to Hawaii
1938 Chester Carlson invents the photocopier. He tries to sell the machine to IBM, RCA, Kodak and others, but they see no use for a gadget that makes nothing but copies.
1939 1st TV NFL game-Eagles vs Dodgers
1948 Egyptian flagship King Farouk sunk by Israel
1949 200 killed in train derailment near Nowy Dwor Poland
1950 LA Rams beat Baltimore Colts 70-27
1953 Laos gains full independence from France
1954 West Germany joins North Atlantic Treaty Organization
1955 The prototype of the F-105 Thunder Chief makes its maiden flight
1962 JFK imposes naval blockade on Cuba, beginning missile crisis
1964 EMI rejects audition by "High Numbers," they go on to become The Who
1963 225,000 students boycott Chicago schools in Freedom Day protest
1964 Jean Paul Satre declines the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1966 USSR launches Luna 12 for orbit around Moon
1968 Apollo 7 returns to Earth
1969 KAPN-AM in Santa Barbara CA changes call letters to KDB-AM
1972 Oakland A's 1st championship; beat Reds, 4 games to 3 in 69th World Series
1972 Operation Linebacker I, the bombing of North Vietnam with B-52 bombers, ends.
1973 Security Council Resolution 338-cease fire to the Yom Kippur War
1974 Yanks trade Bobby Murcer to Giants for Bobby Bonds
1975 Cin Reds beat Boston Red Sox, 4 games to 3 in 72nd World Series
1975 Soviet spacecraft Venera 9 soft-lands on Venus
1975 World Football League disbands
1976 Rick Barry (SF), begins then longest NBA free throw streak of 60
1977 International Sun-Earth Explorers 1 & 2 launched into Earth orbit
1978 Laugh-in's Judy Carne arrested at Gatwick Airport for drug possession
1979 Deposed Shah of Iran arrives in NY for medical treatment
1979 Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest
1980 New South Korean constitution comes into effect
1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization decertified
1981 US national debt tops $1 trillion
1984 NFL quarterback Ken Stabler retires
1984 Paul McCartney releases "Give My Regards to Broad Street" soundtrack
1988 Supreme Ct Justice Sandra Day O'Connor OK after breast cancer surgery
1991 General Motors announces 9 month loss of $2.2 billion
1994 Statue of Sam Houston unveiled in Texas
2001 The Pentagon announced nearly 200 U.S. jets struck Taliban and al-Quaida communications facilities, barracks and training camps (Can Osama come out and play?)

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Holidays
Note: Some Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"

India, Mauritius, Singapore : Deepavali Day
Japan : Jidai Matsuri/Festival of the Eras (1895)
Puerto Rico : Veterans Day
Vatican City : National Day
US : Francis E Willard Day-temperance day
National Forrest Products Week (Day 4)
National Copycat Day
National Pharmacy Week (Day 4)
Country Music Month
National Sarcastics' Awareness Month

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Religious Observances
Christ : SS Philip, bishop of Heraclea, & his companions, martyrs
RC : Commemoration of St Theodoret, priest/martyr

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Religious History
0451 During the Fifth Session of the Council of Chalcedon, the final form of the Chalcedonian Creed was drafted. It became the Early Church's highest and most enduring "definition" of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
1844 The "Great Disappointment" began when this latest date, set for the return of Christ by religious leader William Miller, passed without event. Over 100,000 disillusioned followers returned to their former churches, or abandoned the Christian faith altogether.
1899 American Presbyterian missionary James B. Rodgers, 34, baptized his first Filipino converts to the Christian faith, thus inaugurating the beginning of Philippine Protestant churches.
1952 The complete Jewish Torah was published in English for the first time. A collection of oral and written commentary (dating 200 BC to AD 500) on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah comprises the basic religious code of Judaism.
1966 Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth declared in a letter: 'God makes no mistakes.'

Source: William D. Blake. ALMANAC OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1987.

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Thought for the day :
"He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."

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Childrens Impression of Love...
CONCERNING WHY LOVE HAPPENS BETWEEN TWO PARTICULAR PEOPLE

"No one is sure why it happens, but I heard it has something to do with how you smell. That's why perfume and deodorant are so popular." (Jan, 9)

"I think you're supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn't supposed to be so painful." (Harlen, 8)

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Signs Your Cat is Overweight...
Fifteen month gestation period, and still no kittens.

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Handy Latin Phrases...
Noli me vocate, ego te vocabo.

Don't call me, I'll call you.

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Things you would like to say at work, but won't...
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Darksheare.

"If you’re going to go to war against a major enemy, go; knock the hell out of him fast, and go in there to kill him and get it over with."

There's another lesson of Hal Moore's we could put into procatice.

[SAMWolf]

Morning PE.

Thanks for the B-25 Flag-O-Gram.

[SAMWolf]

Watching out for severe weather today

Keep your head down.

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning Feather.

TGIF!!

[Valin]

Ping

[SAMWolf]

1955 The prototype of the F-105 Thunder Chief makes its maiden flight

The F-105 of Col Fred Cherry attacks a bridge in North Vietnam.
The F-105 "Thud" was the workhorse fighter-bomber used by the Air Force in the Vietnam War.

[Lee Heggy]

"Lt. Col. Hal Moore’s simple rules governing media visits to his unit, the 1st Battalion 7th Cavalry in Vietnam in 1965.

To the press: Don’t get in the way, and don’t give out information that would help the enemy."

Wish that rule still applied.

Morning Snippy and Sam! I'll get that CD out to you after the Mine Creek re-enactment this weekend. It's gonna be a good one. They expect to have at least 3000 of us crazies there. I'll take some pics and send them along with the music.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[SAMWolf]

I just include most of the MSM in the enemy camp.

Working on a thread on Mine Creek, Probaly be in the first week of November.

Have fun this weekend.

[shield]

Thanks for the ping!

[alfa6]

A couple of Thud pics for ya

A F-105B in flite

Here is a B&W weasel shot

Well off for my nap have to work tonight. :-(

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[Professional Engineer]

Hi miss Feather