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7th Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Division

These are the people we should remember on Memorial Day. Hard fighting. Up close and personal, at a big cost.

As the sun rose on Nov. 14, 1965, a clear, hot Sunday, four U.S. Army helicopters flew, as unobtrusively as such machines can, across the rugged Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam's Central Highlands. Below them was a wild and desolate place that in normal times offered a living only to elephants, tigers and a few Montagnard tribesmen. Lt. Col. Harold G. Moore scanned the terrain intently, scribbling notes and marking his maps. He was about to lead the U.S. 7th Cavalry on its most audacious charge since Lt. Col. George A. Custer led his troopers to the Little Bighorn...

<p>A Puerto Rican veteran of the Vietnam War has been awarded the Silver Star for helping to rescue a company pinned down by enemy fire in 1965.</p> <p>Angel L. Cumba served as a gunner with the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division. He received the military's third-highest decoration Thursday during a Veteran's Day ceremony in the U.S. territory.</p>

Hey Freepers! Just noticed that Mel Gibson's "We Were Soldiers" is going to be on in just a few minutes: 2:30 pm East Coast on TNT. Care to join me?

In their stunning follow-up to the classic bestseller, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam and reflect on how the war changed them, their men, their enemies, and both countries—often with surprising results. More than fifteen years since its original publication, the number one New York Times bestseller, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young is still required reading in all branches of the military. Now Moore and Galloway revisit their relationships with ten American veterans of the battle—men such as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley and helicopter pilot Bruce "Old Snake" Crandall—as well as...

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.”—Raymond Chandler, “The Simple Art of Murder” A kind of shorthand had developed between fellow OU alums Rick Rescorla and Fred McBee during their 30-year friendship. When one of them quipped Raymond Chandler’s famous quote on the detective hero, they both knew what it meant: Sometimes, you have gather your courage and just do what needs to be done.

WASHINGTON, (Army News Service, Nov. 14, 2005) – More than 200 veterans of Vietnam’s battle of Pleiku-Ia Drang reunited at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Nov. 11. This week marks the 40th anniversary of the battle of Pleiku-Ia Drang. On Nov. 6, 1965, 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopters in the Ia Drang Valley and were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was destroyed. Together, these two events were among the most savage...

. NEVER FORGET 40 Years ago today, exactly, t'was: The Valley of Death known as the IA DRANG Valley of November 14, 1965. NEVER FORGET

Rick Rescorla helped save thousands before losing his life at World Trade Center In Susan Rescorla's eyes, the very traits that made her late husband a hero on 9/11 were forged on the battlefields of Vietnam almost 40 years ago. "He was a soldier... and a warrior," she whispered, shortly after an Al Reid portrait of Rick Rescorla, an Officer Candidate School Hall of Famer who led more than 2,700 Morgan Stanley employees to safety after terrorists crashed a plane into the World Trade Center, was unveiled Thursday at the National Infantry Museum. "He made one last sweep, as he'd...

This story is about time and memories. The time was 1965, a different kind of year, a watershed year when one era was ending in America and another was beginning. We felt it then, in the many ways our lives changed so suddenly, so dramatically, and looking back on it from a quarter-century gone we are left in no doubt. It was the year America decided to directly intervene in the Byzantine affairs of obscure and distant South Vietnam. It was the year we went to war. In the broad, traditional sense, that "we" who went to war was all...

Xray Day 1, 14 Nov 1965 Lead elements of the under strength 450 man 1st Bn, 7th Cavalry air assault into a small clearing in scrub jungle below the 2300 foot Chu Pong Massif. Within an hour, a fierce battle is underway between the American Air Cav troopers and the aggressive 9th Bn of the 66th Regiment of the Peoples Army of Vietnam - North Vietnamese Regulars. The American Commander, Lt. Col Moore, fighting on the ground with his men, is faced with three on-going tasks to be accomplished simultaneously: * Shuttle in the rest of his men from 14...

Monday Sept 20, 2004 WAR AND THE PRESIDENCY | GUEST COLUMN Kerry smeared a hero: my dad   By CAROL CROWLEY Published on: 09/20/04 Many of you believe dirty politics is the motivation of Vietnam veterans speaking out in opposition to John Kerry. Let me tell you the real motivation. In the movie "We Were Soldiers," the story about the battle of the la Drang Valley in Vietnam in 1965, a young sergeant, Jack Gell, cried as he died, "Tell my wife I love her . . ." and my family relived the death of my dad. He told...

Holmes: Mel Gibson's 'We Were Soldiers' honors warriors on both sides of the Vietnam War I cringe involuntarily whenever a new Vietnam movie opens. Not so much because Hollywood has been a remorseless critic of the Vietnam War -- there's plenty of latitude to disagree about the wisdom of the American war and the manner in which is was prosecuted -- but because even the best films in the genre radiate disdain not only for the war itself, but also for the American fighting man who went to Indochina to battle communism. James Holmes more Holmes columns You know...

HEART OF A SOLDIER

I think I may accompany my daughter to see We Were Soldiers, this weekend. Though a search didn't reveal any Freeper feedback on this film, despite all that preceded it. I'm very surprised. Anyone?...Thanks.