We Were Soldiers

Joe Galloway

We Were Soldiers is based on the book “We Were Soldiers Once… And Young” by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and reporter Joe Galloway. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) and Joe Galloway (Barry Pepper) are the two main characters. We Were Soldiers is about the Battle of Ia Drang which took place on November 14, 1965. The battle was the first major engagement between American and North Vietnamese forces.

We Were Soldiers captures the horrors of war as well as any movie can. The most horrify moment of the movie is when Private First Class Jimmy Nakayama (Brian Tee) is hit by a friendly napalm bomb. His body is scorched and he dies shortly after being evacuated. After carrying Jimmy to the helicopter, Galloway, who had been fighting, puts down the M16 he was given and begins taking pictures with his Nikon camera.

Napalm Attack

The movie begins with a French platoon being ambushed by Viet Minh in the Ia Drang Valley. That year of the attack was 1954, the final year of the First Indochina War, and 11 years before the Battle of Ia Drang. And several moments in the movie LTC Hal Moore can be seen reading about the ambush.

Sergeant Major Plumley

The acting is fantastic. In fact, Mel Gibson actually does the worst acting in the movie. Sergeant Major Basil Plumley (Sam Elliott) provides some comic relief throughout the movie. Plumley is a World War II veteran who only uses his pistol. He refuses to use an M16, claiming it feels like a BB gun. Edwin Morrow (Private First Class Willie Godboldt) plays the greatest non-speaking part I have ever seen.

It is not mentioned in the movie, but pilots Major Bruce Crandall and Captain Ed “Too Tall” Freeman received the Medal of Honor for their actions in the battle. Crandall is played by Greg Kinnear and Freeman is played by Mark McCracken.

One flaw in the movie is it is predictable. You can see the deaths coming of some characters, and it is clear when a platoon is about to walk into an ambush. However the end of the battle was actually unpredictable, which makes up for the rest of the movie’s predictability.

Before going to Vietnam, LTC Moore gives a memorable speech to his unit saying race and religion means nothing in battle. All discrimination must be put behind them.

"We're moving into the valley of the shadow of death, where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours, and you won't care what color he is or by what name he calls God."

At the end of the movie it is mentioned that the North Vietnamese moved back into the valley. This highlights one of the major flaws in the Americans’ strategy during the Vietnam War.

Unlike Black Hawk Down, which focused on many different characters, We Were Soldiers focuses on a select few: LTC Hal Moore, Joe Galloway, Major Crandall, Sergeant Major Plumley, 2nd Lieutenant Jack Geoghegan (Chris Klein), Sergeant Ernie Savage (Ryan Hurst), and Hal Moore’s wife, Julia Moore (Madeleine Stowe).

Unlike other war movies, aside from a short scene in Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers shows the reactions of fallen soldiers’ loved ones when they receive news of their death.

The special effects in We Were Soldiers are top notch. The realistic bleeding and explosions add to the intensity of the battle.

The movie also does a good job focusing on the North Vietnamese point of view. They show the same respect, pride, and care that the American soldiers do.

We Were Soldiers is an amazing movie with plenty of action and a great story line. Other than Apocalypse Now, We Were Soldiers is the best Vietnam War movie I have seen. It is a must see movie for those who like action.