Thursday, January 16, 2025

Soldiering--A Matter of the Heart

 By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

    Joe Galloway hated wars but loved soldiers. This began his lifelong career as a war correspondent for the Vietnam War and every war in between, including Iraq. 


    He performed four tours in Vietnam, between 1965 and the fall of Saigon in April 1975. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroism while accompanying the 7th Cavalry Regiment into the 3-day war at Ia Drang against North Vietnam. 

    His heart, body and soul went every weary step with those 18- and 19-year-old heroes of Vietnam—and because of his commitment to this end, he has become the voice of the forgotten soldiers of this Vietnam generation of valiant Americans. 

    A proud descendant of Scottish ancestors who first found themselves in Ireland before migrating to the States, Joseph Galloway came from a colorful line of storytellers. So naturally, though he was unaware at the youthful age of eighteen, he was destined to become a journalist and writer. Only, at the time, he had his heart set on becoming a soldier in the Army like his father had been in World War II. 

    Joseph L. Galloway was born in Bryan, Texas, on November 13, 1941. After his father returned from the U.S. Army, they relocated to Refugio, Texas due to his father’s employment by Humble Oil.  Joseph worked on the high school newspaper, and graduated at seventeen, then went on to college. 

    As Joseph Galloway confirmed during a Veterans Radio show in 2009:

    “I was driven out of college by an early morning German language class taught by a portly lady with badly fitting dentures. In my view the class stood between me and joining the Army. I was seventeen. I had to browbeat my mother into agreeing to sign for me. 


    “We were two-blocks from the recruiting office in Victoria, Texas, when we passed the local newspaper. Mom said, ‘Joe, what about your journalism?’  I said, “Good call, Mom, stop the car.” I had been their campus stringer for those few weeks, and I walked in and asked if the editor had a job. He did and he hired me on the spot for $35 per week and a free subscription to the paper. I was on my way.” 

    Joseph soon outgrew that small-town paper and went on to work for the United Press International (UPI) in Missouri and Kansas. He was on his way all right—right into the Vietnam War where he wanted to be. 

    Those years in Vietnam shaped his life forever. Many of the men who fought in that war would agree with him. Joseph arrived in Vietnam in 1965. The United States was optimistic that the war would be over soon. After all, General William Westmorland promised so.

    In March of that same year, the U.S. Air Force began Operation Rolling Thunder. Over one hundred American fighter bombers attacked North Vietnam targets. They were supposed to bomb for only eight weeks—but this ended up continuing for three years. 

    During this same time, U.S. airstrikes began against the Ho Chi Minh trail. The constant bombardments did not halt the flow of soldiers and supplies from the North. American jets lost totaled five hundred that attacked this trail. American bombs were dropped in South Vietnam against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. After every bomb attack, the damage was immediately repaired by the North Vietnamese.  

    The U.S. total drop came to eight million tons of bombs. This is four times the tonnage that was dropped during World War II. Most American bombs were dropped in South Vietnam against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. The Vietnam War was the largest display of firepower in the history of warfare. 

    The time came in November of 1965 that the U.S. Army and the People’s Army of Vietnam butted heads with men and firepower in the Battle of Ia Drang. U. S. soldiers totaled 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Harold Moore. They were flown in by helicopters. This was the first use of large-scale helicopter air assault, with Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers that could be called in at a moment’s notice. Landing, the men were immediately surrounded by more than 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers. 


    Galloway was the only journalist to witness the actions of these heroic outnumbered Americans. How they persevered, sacrificing themselves for their comrades, these young men refused to give up against these insurmountable odds.

    To Galloway’s amazement, he was awarded The Bronze Star for a heroic act in the line of duty:

    “…Early On November 14, 1965, in the fury of the action, an American fighter bomber dropped two napalm bombs on the action, Battalion Command post and Aid Station area gravely wounding two soldiers. Mr. Galloway and a medical aid man rose, braving enemy fire, and ran to the aid of the injured soldiers. The medical aid man was immediately shot and killed. With assistance from another man, Mr. Galloway carried one of the injured soldiers to the medical aid station. He remained on the ground throughout the grueling three-day battle, frequently under fire, until the 1st Battalion, l7th Cavalry was replaced by other forces of the 1st Cavalry Division.”

    Galloway and Moore would after their Vietnam years co-author a book. Galloway spent many hours interviewing over one hundred men to confirm that the information he wrote was accurate. The book is entitled We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang—The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam. 

    A motion picture was later adapted from this book in 2002, depicting the battle and the odds of them winning over such impossible odds. The true-to-life movie version stars Mel Gibson as Moore and Barry Pepper as Galloway. Galloway’s hard work was recognized admirably in this epic film. The factual event of this three-day battle portrays the heroic deeds beautifully of these young soldiers who were just out of high school—but ready to die for their country.


    In 2008 Galloway co-authored “We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey to the Battlefields of Vietnam.”

    “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 during an interview with the Victoria Advocate, of the Texas Daily. “The soldiers accepted me as one of them, and I can think of no higher honor.”

    In the heat of battle during the Vietnam War, Galloway could be seen with a strap around his neck, his camera dangling, and a M16 in his hand. “They (North Vietnamese) were shooting at me,” Galloway said, “and I felt obliged, on occasion, to shoot back.”

    Galloway was the only reporter who braved the fire of the battlefronts. He preferred getting the truth firsthand. He would jump on board a helicopter flying to the battle site to drop off supplies and pick up casualties, he’d then help the wounded safely in and run up to the acting commander.  

    On one such incident, a Master Sergeant of the Special Forces told Galloway, “I have no vacancy for a reporter, but I’m in desperate need of a corner machine gunner, and you’re it!”  Galloway spent three days and three nights with that machine gun firing at all the little brown men outside the wire.”

    Galloway feels soldiering is a matter of heart. In Galloway’s words, “There is a sense about the soldier of selfless sacrifice. He isn’t in it for glory. There is no glory in combat. There is no glory in war. It’s a hard, bloody task that will leave you carrying the burden of memories that no one should see, especially when you are 18 or 19 years old…. I’ve counted it a privilege to have been allowed to stand beside them then, to stand beside them today, and they are my brothers. What can I say?”

Look for next month’s exciting conclusion of Soldiering—A Matter of the Heart.

   


LOVE'S FINAL SUNRISE: New Yorker Ruth Jessup and Amish-bred Joshua Stutzman lived in different worlds; their lives collided into catastrophic proportions battling wits against a psychopath and The New World Order...  Fleeing for her life and suffering from amnesia, Ruth finds herself in an hourglass of yesteryear. Can Joshua’s Amish ways help them survive these final three-and-one-half years? 

    To be honest, I’m not usually drawn to fiction. But for this no-nonsense nonfiction lover, Love’s Final Sunrise was a risk that paid off in full measure. I highly recommend this author’s way of weaving intrigue, romance, and Christian principles.  Lori Ann Wood

    Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted


Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny and Love's Final Sunrise and two pictorial Arcadia history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer. She has written short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, and Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-two years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, three dogs, three cats, six chickens, and three bunnies. You can learn more about her at CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com 

https://homeofheroes.com/heroes-stories/vietnam-war/joseph-l-galloway/ 


2 comments:

  1. Thank you for posting about this brave man! I might have to look for that movie. Happy New Year to you and your family.

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    1. Connie R. I saw the movie and I think you would enjoy it!

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