Joe Galloway Quotes in We Were Soldiers (2002)

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Glad you made it son.

Joe Galloway: Thank you, Sir, You too.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [after a short pause] I'll never forgive myself.

Joe Galloway: For what, Sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: That my men - that my men died and I didn't.

Joe Galloway: Sir, I don't - I don't know how to tell this story.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well you got to Joe. You tell the American people what these men did here. You tell them how my troopers died.

Joe Galloway: Yes, Sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Thank you.

Joe Galloway: [narrating] We who have seen war, will never stop seeing it. In the silence of the night, we will always hear the screams. So this is our story, for we were soldiers once, and young.

Joe Galloway: [Narrating; voice-over] In Saigon, Hal Moore's superiors congratulated him for killing over 1,800 enemy soldiers. Then ordered him to lead the Seventh Cavalry back into the valley of death. He led them and fought beside them for 235 more days. Some had families waiting. For others, their only family would be the men they bled beside. There were no bands, no flags, no Honor Guards to welcome them home. They went to war because their country ordered them to. But in the end, they fought not for their country or their flag, the fought for each other.

[first lines]

Joe Galloway: [Narrating; voice-over] These are the true events of November, 1965, the Ia Drang Valley of Vietnam, a place our country does not remember, in a war it does not understand. This story's a testament to the young Americans who died in the valley of death, and a tribute to the young men of the People's Army of Vietnam who died by our hand in that place. To tell this story, I must start at the beginning. But where does it begin? Maybe in June of 1954 when French Group Mobile 100 moved into the same central highlands of Vietnam where we would go 11 years later.

Joe Galloway: Sir, I don't know how to tell this story.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well you have to, Joe. You tell the American people what happened here. You tell them how my troopers died.

Joe Galloway: Yes sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: You got a death wish, Galloway?

Joe Galloway: No, sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Then why are you here?

Joe Galloway: Cause I knew these dead boys would be here, sir.