We Were Soldiers

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We Were Soldiers
We Were Soldiers movie poster
Directed by	Randall Wallace
Produced by	Arne L. Schmidt Jim Lemley Randall Wallace
Written by	Harold G. Moore Joseph L. Galloway (book) Randall Wallace (screenplay)
Starring	Mel Gibson Madeleine Stowe Greg Kinnear Don Duong Sam Elliott Chris Klein Keri Russell Barry Pepper Dylan Walsh
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures (USA) Icon Entertainment (International)
Release date(s)	2002-03-01 (USA)
Running time	138 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$75,000,000 (estimated)

We Were Soldiers is a 2002 war film that dramatized the Battle of Ia Drang in November 1965, the first major engagement of American troops in the Vietnam War. The film was directed by Randall Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. It is based on the book We Were Soldiers Once ... And Young by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Hal Moore and reporter Joseph L. Galloway, both of whom were at the battle.

1 Plot
2 Notable musical elements
3 Cast
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Plot

A French Army unit is on patrol in Vietnam in 1954 during the First Indochina War. The unit is ambushed by Vietminh forces and, although the unit kills many Vietminh, it is eventually overrun. Nguyen Huu An orders the execution of wounded French soldiers, hypothesising that if they take no prisoners, then the French will eventually stop sending troops.

Eleven years later, Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), a dedicated U.S. soldier, is deeply committed to training his troops, who are preparing to be sent to Vietnam. The night before their departure, the unit's officers hold a party to celebrate. Moore learns from a superior officer that his unit will be known as the 1st Battalion / 7th cavalry regiment. He is disquieted because the 7th Cavalry regiment was the unit commanded by General George Custer in the 19th Century when he and his men were slaughtered at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Moore is also dismayed because President Lyndon B. Johnson has decreed that the war would be fought "on the cheap," without declaring it a national emergency. As a result, Moore believes he will be deprived of his oldest, best-trained soldiers (a formal declaration of war would have meant mobilization and extension of the terms of enlistment for volunteer soldiers) - about 25% of his battalion - just prior to shipping out for Vietnam. Before leaving for Vietnam, Moore delivers a touching speech to his unit:

"I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive, but this I swear: When we go into battle, I will be the first one to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off. And I will leave no one behind. Dead, or alive, we all come home together. So help me God."

After arriving in Vietnam, he learns that an American base has been attacked, and is ordered to take his 395 men after the enemy and eliminate them, despite the fact that intelligence has no idea of the number of enemy troops. He leads a newly created air cavalry unit into the Ia Drang Valley against over 4,000 well equipped enemy soldiers.

An emotional toll is taken back home, where Moore's wife Julie (Madeleine Stowe) and another soldier's wife take over the job of delivering telegrams that inform families (mainly wives like themselves) living at Fort Benning, Georgia, the unit's base of operation, of soldiers' deaths.

After landing in the "Valley of Death", the soldiers find a Vietnamese lookout who informs them that the location they were sent to is actually the headquarters of an entire North Vietnamese division. Another American squad is isolated at some distance from the battalion's main position, after 2nd Lt. Henry Herrick saw a scout, and ran after him, ordering his reluctant soldiers to follow. The scout led them into an ambush, resulting in the majority of the platoon members' deaths, including Herrick's. Sgt. Savage assumes command of the squad, and by calling in artillery and using the cover of darkness, holds off the Vietnamese from their position. The story switches between the Vietnamese and American points of view several times. Despite being trapped near the landing zone, and desperately outnumbered, the main force manages to hold off the Vietnamese with artillery, close air support, and even calling a last resort Broken Arrow at their most desperate point, killing some of their own soldiers but eliminating most of the Vietnamese offensive force. The American troopers regroup, secure the area and charge up the mountain where the Vietnamese division headquarters is located. The Vietnamese have set up heavy gun emplacements near the hidden entrance of the underground headquarters spoken of by the scout. Hal and his men charge right at them, into a seemingly impending massacre, but before the Vietnamese can fire, Snakeshit flies in with his helicopter and kills the Vietnamese guards with his side mounted machine guns. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese commander is alerted that the Americans have broken through the lines, and the headquarters has no troops between them and the Americans. He orders the headquarters evacated. The stranded platoon led by Savage are rescued. Moore, having completed his objective, returns to the L.Z. to be picked up, and, after all of his men, dead or alive, are removed from the battlefield, steps on to a helicopter and flys out of the valley. Strong visual emphasis is placed on Moore's being the last American to set foot off the field of battle. At the end of the movie it is revealed that Hal Moore returned home safely after 235 more days of fighting.

[edit] Notable musical elements

The mournful song heard during some of the battle sequences and the aftermath is called Sgt. MacKenzie. An account of a Scottish soldier who fought in similar carnage, it was written by his descendant, Joseph Kilna MacKenzie. It was chosen for the film by Mel Gibson and Randall Wallace due to its haunting, desolate sound, of men prepared to stand their ground in battle for family and friends.

The American 7th Cavalry Regiment's nickname "Garry Owen" is mentioned several times in the film. The nickname was derived from Irish dance tune Garryowen, the official Air of the 7th Cavalry Regiment during the 1800s. "Garry Owen" became the official nickname, a battle cry, a watchword, and a personal greeting in the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry in modern times.