MMMM #564: RIP General Moore

  

U.S. Army General Hal Moore,  2-13-1922 - 2-10-2017

  

      I was fortunate to have interviewed the late General Hal Moore for a CBS 8 TV two-part story in 2010. I later wrote a story about him for PRIME Montgomery Magazine. Editor Bob Corley also wrote about the General, who died on Friday evening in Auburn.   
     He would have turned 95 today. 
     He died on the date of his late wife's birth.
     You can watch the movie about Moore's bravery in Vietnam during the first large scale battled between North Vietnamese and American forces, but read the book too. The Publisher's description:

The General's Display.

In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, only two and a half miles away, a sister battalion was chopped to pieces. Together, these actions at the landing zones X-Ray and Albany constituted one of the most savage and significant battles of the Vietnam War.

Gen. Moore and Mel Gibson on the set of the movie.

   When I told the General I had served in Vietnam four years after the battle, he thanked me for my service.  Such is the character of heroes.

     Watch the movie in which Mel Gibson plays the General if  you like, but also read the book about his actions in the Ia Drang Valley. It may change your mind about the war and the men like Gen. Moore who fought it.



[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of www.timlennox.com]