General Hal Moore has died

By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter

Saturday, February 11, 2017, Retired Lt. General Harold G. “Hal” Moore died in his sleep in his home in Auburn.

Moore’s book “We Were Soldiers Once….and Young” was made into a major motion picture by Mel Gibson, who played Moore in the movie.

Moore as a Lt. Colonel commanded the 1st Battalion of the 7th Cavalry during an American assault in the Drang Valley in 1965 during the Vietnam War. Air Cavalry was a new concept at the time and his command was quickly assaulted by elements of the North Vietnamese Army. The first major battle between the two armies during the Vietnam War. The Gibson movie recounts the events that happened there.

Moore was 94. Joseph Galloway, who co-authored the book told the Associated Press, “There’s something missing on this earth now. We’ve lost a great warrior, a great soldier, a great human being and my best friend. They don’t make them like him anymore.”

Galloway was a former war correspondent for United Press International. Galloway said that Moore was “without question, one of the finest commanders I ever saw in action.” “Those of us who survived Landing Zone X-Ray survived because of his brilliance of command. I think every one of us thought we were going to die at that place except Hal Moore. He was certain we were going to win that fight and he was right.”

Moore and Galloway wrote a second book, “We Are Soldiers Still.” He and Moore visited the battlefields of Vietnam 25 years later. “We went back and walked those old battlefields. At the end of the day, Hal Moore and Col. Nguyen Huu An, the North Vietnamese commander, stood in a circle in the clearing and prayed for the souls of every man who died on both sides.”

Moore’s wife, Julia, passed away in 2004 after 55 years of marriage.

Moore was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served in the US military for 32 years.

General Moore was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, which is the US military’s second highest decoration for valor, and was the first of his West Point class (1945) to be promoted to brigadier general, major general, and lieutenant general. In 2013, author Mike Guardia published the first full-length biography of Moore’s life and career titled ‘Hal Moore: A Soldier Once…and Always.’ Moore was awarded the Order of Saint Maurice by the National Infantry Association as well as the Distinguished Graduate Award by the West Point Association of Graduates.”

Galloway said the family has tentatively scheduled a religious service Friday in Auburn and a memorial service at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning Army Base in Columbus, Georgia.

He is survived by three sons, two daughters, 11 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

(Original reporting by the Associated Press’s Chevel Johnson and TV Channel WSFA of Montgomery contributed to this report)