We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam by Harold G. Moore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This Gives Life to Thee

No contentious politics, no military apologetics, no analysis of motives, or rationalizations of judgmental error, We Were Soldiers is a memorial to the soldiers of the Air Cavalry during their first battles in Vietnam. The book reports almost every step taken by the two battalions involved in the week-long battles of Ia Drang, mostly in the words of the soldiers - on both sides - who took those steps. It is a humbling and heartbreaking chronicle of comradeship, suffering and frequent violent death. Written without any conventional narrative and in direct journalistic prose, the book presents no message other than remembrance. Consequently I think it is impossible to read without feeling awe at the courage and devotion to each other shown by these men.

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