Paul SchutzerThe Life Picture Collection/Getty Images. The photograph that ran in LIFE in late October 1966 of Gunnery Sergeant Jeremiah Purdie, bleeding and bandaged, helped down a muddy hill by fellow marines, didnt really need a caption. With the war once again making headlines, TIME asked a number of those individuals to select an image from the period that they found particularly significant, and to explain why that photograph moved them the most. First time we ever tried to help the greenhorns heading for combat for the first time was in 2003 as Knight Ridder was preparing to send 37 reporters to war. In the fairly rendered background a soldier, probably wounded, is seen surrounded by comrades who, somehow, form an awkward Piet. (recommend up to 74 battalions by end-66: total to approx. No detail was too small to bring these American prisoners home. Bestselling author and war correspondent Joe Galloway passed away last week at the age . In the late 1940s, Giap wrote this uncannily accurate prediction of the course of the Viet Minh war against the French: The enemy will pass slowly from the offensive to the defensive. Absolutely. A short time later, Capa was killed by a land mine while out on a mission with the U.S. troops. And. He is the only civilian awarded a medal of valor by the U.S . Shoot pictures. A man who made sense of the Battle of Ia Drang for a generation is gone. I long ago worked out my own way of dealing with PTSD, and that is simply to utilize each day to its maximum potential, working to make this world a better place for our having survived and their having died. Dao wisely called an end to his press tour. Joe Lee Galloway got a Draft Deferment,during the Vietnam War. He was there on the ground for the brutal and historic fall of Dien Bien Phu that marked the end of the French involvement in the region. For us, the war looked like it was about to be over. Without them, the battles of the Ia Drang could never have taken place. It was an old guerrilla ploy that usually worked, but not here, not now. My older brother Huynh Thanh My, who was killed covering the Vietnam War for the Associated Press, always told me that an image could stop the war and that was his goal. The shot was made one-handed as we carried him out of the fire cone. After I photographed the Democratic Convention in Chicago, which was very turbulent and contested, I wanted to photograph the future President. Later artillery and napalm airstrikes were called in, but they often fell on enemies and friends alike. In this interview, Zacharias spoke with Galloway about his war reporting days and his own PTSD. 400,000 by end-66. They were replaced by new draftees, who flowed in as individual replacements and who knew no one around them, and nothing of their outfits history and esprit. Within an hour of landing and the second airlift of troops just arriving, the battle at X-ray was joined. These hard Marines suddenly became the most gentle, loving persons. Ia Drang - The Battle That Convinced Ho Chi Minh He Could Win. Here, lightly edited, are their responses. you dont. The ARVN II Corps commander knew if he lost the relief force, Pleiku would be left defenseless. I arrived from Miami on the press plane that accompanied the candidate. Colonel Crandall broke his back when he crash landed a year later while rescuing 12 trapped soldiers. When you were a young journalist heading off to Vietnam, did you have any fears? There was one photo of prisoners being guarded by an American soldier about 18 years old. The Americans trapped in the kill zone were on their own. There are submarines, there are mini-submarines, and then there are human torpedoes. Jimmy Nakayama. We Were Soldiers, 2002. Think of the War in Vietnam and the image in your mind is likely one that was first captured on film, and then in the public imagination. hasta la vista foe another decade or so The wise men talked for two days without seriously considering McNamaras Option 1getting out of Vietnamand ultimately voted unanimously in favor of further escalation of the war. troops to land would finish off the Viet Cong and I would miss my war. Why were these uniformed men just giving them away? Sadly, they probably died quickly in the war. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Military options and recommendations. On the morning of November 17, Lt. Col. Bob Tullys 2nd Battalion, 5th Cavalry, would march out of X-ray, headed northeast directly toward LZ Columbus, where a battery of 105mm howitzers was positioned. Although they could have easily crushed the defendersa 12-man American A-Team and 100 Montagnard mercenary tribesmenthe enemy dangled them as bait, hoping to lure a relief force of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) out of Pleiku and into an ambush laid by their brothers of the 33rd Regiment. with Joe Galloway, and photos from "We Were Soldiers" Find original prints from the Battle of Ia Drang at www.weweresoldiers.net. During Hal G. Moores time in the R&D at the Pentagon, He had nothing to do with anything to do with the. On November 14, 1965, the 1st Battalion (Bn), 7th Cavalry Regiment (Regt), 1st Air Cavalry (Cav) Division (Div) was sent on a search and destroy . The fighting quickly disintegrated into hand-to-hand combat, and men were dying all around. Where you aware at the time that person was suffering from PTSD or was that something that only came to you in hindsight? Amazon.com: Joseph L. Galloway: books, biography, latest update Joseph L. Galloway Home About All Books Joseph L. Galloway Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations Manage your follows Back to top Get to Know Us Careers Amazon Newsletter About Amazon Accessibility Sustainability Press Center Investor Relations Amazon Devices Joe Lee Galloway a Reporter who did not have to go to Vietnam has PTSD?! General Giap knew all along that his country and his army would prevail against the Americans just as they had outlasted and worn down their French enemy. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. JG. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. He is the only civilian to receive a combat medal form the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. The other is to stick with our stated objectives and with the war, and provide what it takes in men and materiel. Just as he pulled it I came up fighting for my life, and threw my wife out of bed and against the wall of our apartment. When the ambush was sprung, the American artillery wreaked havoc on the North Vietnamese plan and the 33rd Regiment. That said, it was often a world of anonymous photographers spending time with anonymous soldiers. At higher levels, both sides claimed victory in the Ia Drang, although those who fought and bled and watched good soldiers die all around them were loath to use so grand a word for something so tragic and terrible that would people their nightmares for a long time, or a lifetime. The Americans blew their claymore mines and emptied a magazine each from their M-16 rifles into the confused North Vietnamese and then took off, running like hell straight back to the patrol base. Major Bruce P. Crandall's UH-1D helicopter climbs skyward after. but you dont. He is also survived by two sons and a stepdaughter. He had just turned 30. (b) Any person subject to this chapter who, (1) commits an assault with a dangerous weapon or other means or force likely to produce, death or grievous bodily harm; is guilty of aggravated assault and shall be punished as a, 921. They were not. Released prisoner of war Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm is greeted by his family at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, Calif. Sal VederAP. In 2015, Galloway talked about when he arrived in Vietnam in early 1965, "I knew nothing about war except what I had learned from watching John Wayne movies." This sprang from a soldierly admiration for their dedication and bravery qualities difficult to discern in the average government soldier. Fear, tension and uncertainty are visible in the contained defiance of the mother and the awkward posture of the young warrior clutching his automatic rifle. The UH-1B Huey helicopters buzzed around the rugged area like so many bees, landing American troops among the North Vietnamese, forcing them to split up into ever-smaller groups like coveys of quail pressed hard by the hunters. To meet this possibleand in my view likelyCommunist build-up, the presently contemplated Phase I forces will not be enough. His parents had probably been killed. My picture of the U.S. corpsman carrying an injured child away from the battle in Hu is a rare occasion to show the true value of human kindness and the dignity of man. jgalloway, krwashington writes: like i say russell, if you had anything worth taking i would sue you for libel and slander and take it all. I really cant speak for the general public and what they know or dont know about PTSD. The blitzkrieg will transform itself into a war of long duration. How much preparation are they given for dealing with what they encounter? From: jgalloway krwashington I could feel those bones in the palms of my hands. His MOH citation recounts several examples of conspicuous gallantry, some despite being severely wounded. In 1971 Huet died in a helicopter shot down over Laos. In November 1965, journalist Joseph L. Galloway hitched a ride on an Army helicopter flying to the Ia Drang Valley, a rugged landscape of red dirt, brown elephant grass and truck-size termite mounds in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. The Ia Drang River Campaign of early November is an example. The written account around the photograph and a dozen others that brought Operation Prairie to LIFEs readers told of infiltrating troops and of efforts to thwart them of hills taken and given up. He and five of his brothers, four of my Moms brothers were all in uniform in WWII. Do you have an observations about why that might be so? Many had that intense blaze of realization when a comrade was suddenly, violently, unexpectedly gone, and marveled at still being left intact. In 1998, Galloway became the only American civilian to receive the Bronze Star Medal with "V" for heroism during the Vietnam War. Journalists deploy to war zones and others areas of catastrophe on an almost daily basis. Generally, the photographers who might have shot some of those images have long since bugged out, or have been captured or killed. General Westmoreland estimates that through 1966 North Vietnam will have the capability to expand its armed forces in order to infiltrate three regiments (nine battalion equivalents, or 4,500 men) a month, and that the VC in South Vietnam can train seven new battalion equivalents a monthtogether adding 16 battalion equivalents a month to the enemy forces. War sucks.. Prior to Nov. 14, 1965, the U.S. Army had never met its North Vietnamese counterpart in a major battle. All they need is some counselling and some understanding. Lee Galloway at the Ia Drang photo will be donated to the fund. Urge them to get some counselling; to spend some time talking with others afflicted by PTSD. That changed when the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment landed in Vietnam's Northern . I almost did not make the photo the man with the flag and Nixon on top of the aircraft stairs. Lt. General Hal Moore: Thank you Joe. The Recon Platoon had captured two North Vietnamese soldiers. What happened there, in the Ia Drang Valley, 17 miles from the nearest red-dirt road at Plei Me and 37 miles from the provincial capital of Pleiku, sounded alarm bells in the Johnson White House and the Pentagon as they tallied the American lossesa stunning butchers bill of 234 men killed and more than 250 wounded in just four days and nights, November 14-17, in two adjacent clearings dubbed Landing Zones X-ray and Albany. Keywords : George Forrest Vietnam Ia Drang Valley LZ Albany ambush Ghost 4-6 Fred Kluge medic Daniel Torres .45 pistol M-60 machine gun Medal Of Honor (MOH) survivor's guilt Hal Moore Shorty Rogers Joe Galloway The rest is history. Soldiers and journalists alike are reluctant to seek treatment, and for the same reason: A fear that it is a confession of fear, and may damage your career. quote Joe Lee Galloway, (a) Any person subject to this chapter who wrongfully takes, obtains, or withholds, by any means, from the possession of the owner or of any other person any money, personal property, or article of value of any kind, (1) with intent permanently to deprive or defraud another person of the use and benefit of property or to appropriate it to his won use or the use of any person other than the owner, steals that property and is guilty of larceny; or. This image shows troops getting off a UH-1 "Huey" helicopter and entering the battlefield. The caption provides pertinent information about the circumstance: the who, what and where. His bosses read the papers and discovered they had a real hero pushing one of their buses. My heart was pounding. I was lucky to get a break. I had just returned from Albany myself, and I stood and told the general, Thats bullshit, sir, and you know it! The news conference dissolved in a chorus of angry shouting. guilty of assault and shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. Neither we, nor General Dao, had expected the tide of advancing communist forces to so quickly and completely surround the town. choppers the engineers they got burned," he said with eyes distant. Joseph Lee Galloway (November 13, 1941 - August 18, 2021) was an American newspaper correspondent and columnist. The man was a brave SOB, having made a name for himself at the Battle of Ia Drang, November 14-18, 1965 (I wrote about the battle here). I thought I was bulletproof, invincible, as young men often do before they see the elephant. Subj: RE: Galloway never wore a uniform either The first units arriving in Vietnam in 1965 had trained together for many months before they were ordered to war. Joe Lee Galloway went to Vietnam 4 times,I have PTSD., Karen Spears Zacharias If we have a loved one suffering from PTSD what kind of things should we know/do to help them?, Joe Lee Galloway Urge them to get some counselling; to spend some time talking with others afflicted by PTSD.. I feel its symbolic, but Im conflicted about it, knowing what I know. The big battles began when thenLt. All through that endless night, the PAVN troops combed through the elephant grass searching for their own wounded, and finishing off any wounded Americans they came across. Galloway brandishes a Swedish K submachinegun at Danang in August 1965. day battle. After all we talked about our experiences among ourselves. He told the dozens of reporters who had assembled that there was no ambush of the Americans at Albany. The battle was extremely important because it was the first significant . Courtesy Joe Galloway and the Hal. Screw it. Dao called in a helicopter to evacuate us, but suddenly, the ARVN troops who had been seated alongside the road broke and ran for the incoming helos. The contact sheets from that day reveal that the straw roofs would be set ablaze and the hamlet burnt down because of the suspicion that the villagers were harboring communist guerrilla forces by night. The Huey was on its way to becoming the most familiar icon of the war. Another 71 Americans had been killed in earlier, smaller skirmishes that led up to the Ia Drang battles. The soldier, seen from the back, facing a Vietnamese woman hugging a baby, with a half-naked boy by her side? He was immensely proud to receive the Robert Capa Gold Medal Award for superlative photography requiring exceptional courage and enterprise abroad from the Overseas Press Club in 1955. Knowlen radioed Stockton at his temporary base at Duc Co Special Forces Camp and begged for reinforcements as fast as possible. What was his next act, and what happened after he returned from Vietnam? ======================== They decided that these results justified a strategy of attrition: They would bleed the enemy to death over the long haul. In a message dated 1/15/2004 3:23:36 PM Pacific Standard Time, jgalloway writes: like i say russell, if you had anything worth taking i would sue, you for libel and slander and take it all. Slapping a swagger stick along his leg, he quickly loaded the two journalists who had accepted his invitation, myself and UPI reporter Leon Daniel, into a Jeep and barreled into the town. This image of the sheltering soldier is particularly compelling to me for what I dont know. Medical helicopter Pilot, Bruce Crandall pulled a pistol on him. Photo by Staff Sgt. Joe Galloway was recognized with the Bronze Star with Valor when during November 1965, Battle of Ia Drang, he repeatedly disregarded his own safety to rescue wounded soldiers . We settled down in Tokyo, my next assignment. It was called Hug Them by the Belt Buckleor get in so close to the U.S. troops that the firepower could not be used, for fear of killing and wounding their own. We Were Soldiers Once.And Young: Ia Drang The Battle That Changed the War in V. Sponsored. I could see his finger tightening on the trigger. One of those soldiers wrote of marching south in 1965 with a battalion of some 400 men. (b) Any person found guilty of larceny or wrongful appropriation shall be punished as a court-martial may direct. Who were the soldiers in your early life? Col. Hoang Phuong, a historian who had spent two months walking south, charged with writing the Lessons Learned report on the coming battles, said that it was during this phase that the retreating PAVN troops began learning what airmobility was all about. Im thankful that this is my picture. They knew each other and their capabilities. But there and then, I decided to follow in his footsteps and complete his mission. General Knowles called a news conference late on the 18th in a tent at Holloway. An Interview with Army Correspondent Joe Galloway Joseph Galloway is a military correspondent and former columnist who frequently reported from war zones and is co-author of We were Soldiers Once and Young.. When the war ended in 1975, that man and five others were all that were left alive of the 400. Although he seemed unwounded he was being medevacd out of the battle. It seems to me that journalists are even more reluctant than soldiers to seek treatment for PTSD. those who died in action in this heroic event. The Battle of Ia Drang In November 1965, then Lt. Col. Moore commanded the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), on an air assault mission to secure the Ia. Over the years, Howard would often tell this story and recall sadly that Capa had died covering his assignment. The joyousness of the reunion and the coming together of the family as a visual is outstanding because it was the end of the war. As long as even one of us remembers them our friends are not dead. Joe Lee Galloway, a civilian Reporter, When I first went to war., By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. (AP Photo) A few years later on that fateful day in 1972 on the Trang Bang road, my brothers goal was accomplished. And at least one psychiatrist treating war veterans has used it in his practice. we were soldiers once and young ia drang the battle. We did. McNamara told LBJ that the enemy had not only met but exceeded our escalation. A photo of a young widow sprawled atop the grave of her soldier husband at Arlington Cemetery leaves me choked with grief and sobbing aloud. Alice Gabriner, who edited this photo essay, is TIMEs International Photo Editor. I notice that as the years dwindle down to a precious few I weep a lot more often as the memories cross my mind. All he could see was smoke rising through the jungle canopy. Joining us would be the Day One crew, including anchor Forrest Sawyer and producer Terry Wrong. Hal, over to you. ( Only 10%! When American GIs landed on British shores they exuded generosity to their allies, giving away candy, nylons and cigarettes. Though just 24, Joe Galloway was no greenhorn when he hitched a chopper ride to the remote South Vietnamese countryside in November 1965 to check on reports of a hot battle. It was a great moment for Americans! Joe Galloway. to: lzalbany65, russell: At the moment I hit the button I did not recognize the GI who was dashing across the clearing to load the body of a comrade aboard the waiting Huey helicopter. It was by choice. How has your own PTSD affected you? He was 79. The 1st Cavalrys big Chinook helicopters lifted batteries of 105mm howitzers, leap-frogging along within range of the dirt road that led to Plei Me. Larry Burrows The Life Picture Collection. During the time I spent with him and his platoon they didnt come into direct contact with the enemy, but there was always a common undercurrent that ran through them, a palpable anxiety and fear about what could come their way in a split second. In the palms of my hands know about PTSD when you were young... 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