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RIP: Joe Galloway. No grunt ever had a better friend.
You walked the walk, my brother.
9 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
I read the book. That's as close as I ever came.
Joe Galloway, Decorated Vietnam War Correspondent, Dies at 79
He chronicled the first major battle of the war in “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young” and raised questions about the invasion of Iraq.
The longtime war correspondent Joe Galloway in 2017. He chronicled the first major battle in the Vietnam War; his reporting later called into question the rationale for America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.Credit...Todd J. Van Emst/Opelika-Auburn News, via Associated Press
By Sam Roberts
Aug. 19, 2021
Joe Galloway, a war correspondent whose wrenching account of the first major battle of the Vietnam War was the basis for the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,” which became a best seller and the basis of a hit movie, died on Wednesday in Concord, N.C. He was 79.
His wife, Dr. Grace Liem, said the cause was complications of a heart attack.
Mr. Galloway started in journalism at 17 and worked for 22 years as a war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International. He was the only civilian awarded a medal of valor by the Army for combat action in the Vietnam War.
He later wrote for U.S. News & World Report and for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain. He played a vital role in the skeptical reporting by the chain’s Washington bureau about the George W. Bush administration’s claims that Iraq had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, claims the administration used to justify the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
{snip}
Mr. Galloway, who carried a weapon while covering the Vietnam War as a U.P.I. correspondent, was embedded with American troops during the four-day battle of Ia Drang, in the jungle of the Central Highlands, which began a day after his 24th birthday in 1965. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal with the “V” device, denoting heroism, for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire during the engagement.
{snip}
The U.S. troops were commanded by Harold G. Moore, then a lieutenant colonel and later a lieutenant general, with whom Mr. Galloway would collaborate on “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young.” The book was published in 1992 and adapted 10 years later into the Randall Wallace film “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson, in which Barry Pepper played Mr. Galloway.
{snip}
“Someone once asked me if I had learned anything from going to war so many times,” Mr. Galloway told the Pentagon spokesman. “My reply, ‘Yes, I learned how to cry.’”
Sam Roberts, an obituaries reporter, was previously The Times’s urban affairs correspondent and is the host of “The New York Times Close Up,” a weekly news and interview program on CUNY-TV. @samrob12
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 20, 2021, Section A, Page 17 of the New York edition with the headline: Joe Galloway, 79, Dies; A Decorated Reporter On the Vietnam War. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
He chronicled the first major battle of the war in “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young” and raised questions about the invasion of Iraq.
The longtime war correspondent Joe Galloway in 2017. He chronicled the first major battle in the Vietnam War; his reporting later called into question the rationale for America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.Credit...Todd J. Van Emst/Opelika-Auburn News, via Associated Press
By Sam Roberts
Aug. 19, 2021
Joe Galloway, a war correspondent whose wrenching account of the first major battle of the Vietnam War was the basis for the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,” which became a best seller and the basis of a hit movie, died on Wednesday in Concord, N.C. He was 79.
His wife, Dr. Grace Liem, said the cause was complications of a heart attack.
Mr. Galloway started in journalism at 17 and worked for 22 years as a war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International. He was the only civilian awarded a medal of valor by the Army for combat action in the Vietnam War.
He later wrote for U.S. News & World Report and for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain. He played a vital role in the skeptical reporting by the chain’s Washington bureau about the George W. Bush administration’s claims that Iraq had stockpiled weapons of mass destruction, claims the administration used to justify the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
{snip}
Mr. Galloway, who carried a weapon while covering the Vietnam War as a U.P.I. correspondent, was embedded with American troops during the four-day battle of Ia Drang, in the jungle of the Central Highlands, which began a day after his 24th birthday in 1965. He was awarded a Bronze Star Medal with the “V” device, denoting heroism, for rescuing wounded soldiers under fire during the engagement.
{snip}
The U.S. troops were commanded by Harold G. Moore, then a lieutenant colonel and later a lieutenant general, with whom Mr. Galloway would collaborate on “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young.” The book was published in 1992 and adapted 10 years later into the Randall Wallace film “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson, in which Barry Pepper played Mr. Galloway.
{snip}
“Someone once asked me if I had learned anything from going to war so many times,” Mr. Galloway told the Pentagon spokesman. “My reply, ‘Yes, I learned how to cry.’”
Sam Roberts, an obituaries reporter, was previously The Times’s urban affairs correspondent and is the host of “The New York Times Close Up,” a weekly news and interview program on CUNY-TV. @samrob12
A version of this article appears in print on Aug. 20, 2021, Section A, Page 17 of the New York edition with the headline: Joe Galloway, 79, Dies; A Decorated Reporter On the Vietnam War. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
I have such huge respect for him that I didn't really think about the fact that many (even most?) people might not know who Joe Galloway was.
Bravo Zulu.