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Old 08-20-2021, 03:18 PM
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Arrow ‘we were soldiers’ author joe galloway, vietnam war’s ‘ernie pyle,’ dies

‘WE WERE SOLDIERS’ AUTHOR JOE GALLOWAY, VIETNAM WAR’S ‘ERNIE PYLE,’ DIES
By: Mac Caltrider & Ethan E. Rocke - CoffeeOrDie News - 08-20-21
Re: https://coffeeordie.com/joe-galloway/

1st Photo link: https://coffeeordie.com/wp-content/u...08/JOE-CAV.jpg
Joe Galloway is presented a branding iron by Maj. Gen. Michael Bills, commanding general, 1st Cavalry Division, during a screening of We Were Soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, June 11, 2015. Photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Calvert, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Joseph Galloway, the legendary American war correspondent best known for his book-turned-Hollywood-blockbuster that chronicled a pivotal 1965 battle in Vietnam, died Wednesday morning, Aug. 18, of complications from a heart attack, The Washington Post reported. He was 79.

Galloway spent 22 years as a war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International. During four tours of duty as a UPI correspondent, Galloway provided extensive coverage of the war in Vietnam, earning the respect and admiration of fellow journalists and the soldiers whose lives he reported on.

2nd photo link: https://coffeeordie.com/wp-content/u...9492905233.jpg
A UH-1D Iroquois helicopter climbs skyward after inserting soldiers near Ia Drang. Photo by Katie Lang, courtesy of DVIDS.

“Ever the soldier’s friend who lived in the mud with them and endured their privations, he was my generation’s Ernie Pyle,” San Antonio Express-News senior reporter Sig Christenson wrote in a tribute published by the Military Reporters & Editors Association. “I so grieve his loss.”

In November 1965, Galloway jumped on an Army helicopter with members of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, for an air assault operation into Vietnam’s Ia Drang Valley. The roughly 450 American soldiers, led by then Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were quickly surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers in a bloody fight that became one of the most significant battles of the war. An Army pilot later called the Battle of Ia Drang “hell on Earth, for a short period of time.”

3rd photo link: https://coffeeordie.com/wp-content/u...5-1024x682.jpg
Joe Galloway answers questions from a packed house of Troopers after a screening of We Were Soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, June 11, 2015. Photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Calvert, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Galloway “carried an M16 rifle alongside his notebook and cameras, and in the heat of battle, he charged into the fray to pull an Army private out of the flames of a napalm blast,” according to The Washington Post. More than three decades later, the Army awarded the Bronze Star with V — the military’s fourth-highest award for valor in combat — to Galloway for his actions under fire in the battle. According to The Associated Press, Galloway “is the only civilian awarded a medal of valor by the U.S. Army for actions in combat during the Vietnam War.”

“At that time and that place, he was a soldier,” Maj. Gen. Joseph K. Kellogg said when the Army awarded Galloway the Bronze Star Medal. “He was a soldier in spirit, he was a soldier in actions and he was a soldier in deeds.”

Galloway accepted the medal “in memory of the 70-plus reporters and photographers who were killed covering the Vietnam War, trying to tell the truth and keep the country free.”

In 1992, Galloway published We Were Soldiers Once … and Young, the intricately detailed, bestselling chronicle of the Battle of Ia Drang, which he co-authored with retired Lt. Gen. Harold “Hal” Moore. The battle resulted in hundreds of American casualties and three Medals of Honor. Galloway and Moore’s book was adapted for the big screen in Mel Gibson’s 2002 film We Were Soldiers, in which Barry Pepper portrayed Galloway and Mel Gibson played Moore.

4th photo link: https://coffeeordie.com/wp-content/u...5-1024x806.jpg
US soldiers at LZ X-Ray during the battle of Ia Drang. US Army photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

“What I saw and wrote about broke my heart a thousand times, but it also gave me the best and most loyal friends of my life,” Galloway said in a 2001 interview with the Victoria Advocate, according to The Washington Post. “The soldiers accepted me as one of them, and I can think of no higher honor.”

A former colleague, Lewis Lord, described Galloway as “a most unlikely anti-war activist,” according to The New York Times, adding, “He hates war, and he loves soldiers.”

In 2002, Galloway joined the staff at Knight Ridder — one of the few journalistic outlets that deeply scrutinized the Bush administration’s rationale for invading Iraq. A vocal critic of the administration, Galloway was later portrayed by fellow Texan Tommy Lee Jones in Rob Reiner’s 2017 film Shock and Awe, which tells the story of Knight Ridder’s standout reporting against the mass-media war drum that helped the administration make the case for war. He was highly critical of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, two of the war’s main architects.

4th photo link: https://coffeeordie.com/wp-content/u.../1000w_q95.jpg
Marines give Joe Galloway a bird’s-eye view of Haditha, Iraq, Jan. 12, 2006. Photo courtesy of DVIDs.

“Galloway gave Rumsfeld such hell in his columns for Knight Ridder and McClatchy News Service that Rumsfeld invited him to the Pentagon for a charm offensive over lunch. It didn’t work,” Army veteran and former UPI and AP reporter Dennis Anderson told Coffee or Die Magazine. “Over the fine China and silver, the non-combat former Navy pilot who was secretary of defense asked why Galloway didn’t think he cared about soldiers. ‘Because you’ve never had one die in your arms,’ Galloway responded. […] Joe was never afraid to speak, or snarl, truth to power, and that put him sideways with Rumsfeld. I can tell you this much: A lot of people will miss Joe Galloway. Rumsfeld, not so much, I think.”

Galloway also served as a consultant for Ken Burns’ 2017 documentary The Vietnam War. His contributions helped create one of the most comprehensive examinations of the divisive conflict.

5th photo link & last: https://coffeeordie.com/wp-content/u...y-1024x689.jpg
Renowned war correspondent Joe Galloway passed away Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2021. Photo by Christopher Michel, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

“He never went to college, but he was one of, if not the, most gifted writers in our profession, in which his death will leave an enormous hole at a time when our country desperately needs more like him,” longtime friend and editor John Walcott told the AP. “He never sought fame nor tried to make himself the star of his stories. As sources, he valued sergeants more than brand name generals and political appointees.”

“He was the kindest, most gentle and loving man,” Grace Galloway, his wife, told the AP. “He loved the boys and girls of the U.S. military. He loved his country.”

Joe Galloway is survived by his wife, Grace, his two sons, and a stepdaughter.

About these two writer(s):

a. Mac Caltrider is a staff writer for Coffee or Die Magazine. He served in the US Marine Corps and is a former police officer. Caltrider earned his bachelor’s degree in history and now reads anything he can get his hands on. He is also the creator of Pipes & Pages, a site intended to increase readership among enlisted troops. Caltrider spends most of his time reading, writing, and waging a one-man war against premature hair loss.

b. Born in Los Angeles and raised in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, Ethan is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning photographer and filmmaker. He served as an infantryman with the 101st Airborne Division, deploying once to Kosovo for peacekeeping operations. After leaving the Army, he joined the US Marine Corps as a “storyteller of Marines,” serving in Okinawa and the Asia-Pacific region with III Marine Expeditionary Force and at the Marine Corps Motion Picture and Television Liaison Office in Los Angeles, where he served as a consultant on dozens of television shows and documentaries and several feature films.

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Personal note: War(s) and/or Conflict(s) are all important - they are all necessary to keep the correct aspect of the news. The truth is painful at times - but better to know the truth then a fabricated lie. Newscaster's in the field go where the action is. We've lost many in the field of conflict - wanting to be there to see and feel - the reality of wars. To make a record of those who fight and the those fallen who gave their lives in action. The truth is better news then fabrication - or extrapolation thereof. The sacrifices made by the many - need to be exalted for their actions. Self sacrifice for other's takes courage and many in the field have that - and they exercise this by friendship their training and selfless sacrifice's. I salute them all - and for all those who gave their lives - they will never be forgotten - as long "we" don't forget them!
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Boats
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Boats

O Almighty Lord God, who neither slumberest nor sleepest; Protect and assist, we beseech thee, all those who at home or abroad, by land, by sea, or in the air, are serving this country, that they, being armed with thy defence, may be preserved evermore in all perils; and being filled with wisdom and girded with strength, may do their duty to thy honour and glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

"IN GOD WE TRUST"
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