Lt. Colonel Hal Moore Quotes in We Were Soldiers (2002)

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [Hal Moore speaks to his men before going into battle] Look around you. In the 7th cavalry, we've got a captain from the Ukraine; another from Puerto Rico. We've got Japanese, Chinese, Blacks, Hispanics, Cherokee Indians. Jews and Gentiles. All Americans. Now here in the states, some of you in this unit may have experienced discrimination because of race or creed. But for you and me now, all that is gone. We're moving into the valley of the shadow of death, where you will watch the back of the man next to you, as he will watch yours. And you won't care what color he is, or by what name he calls God. They say we're leaving home. We're going to what home was always supposed to be. Now let us understand the situation. We are going into battle against a tough and determined enemy.

[pauses]

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first 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 will all come home together. So help me, God.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I wonder what was going through Custer's mind when he realized that he'd led his men into a slaughter?

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Sir, Custer was a pussy. You ain't.

[Moore and Geoghegan a prayer before leaving for Vietnam]

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Our Father in Heaven, before we go into battle, every soldier among us will approach you each in his own way. Our enemies too, according to their own understanding, will ask for protection and for victory. And so, we bow before your infinite wisdom. We offer our prayers as best we can. I pray you watch over the young Jack Geoghegan. That I lead into battle. You use me as your instrument in this awful hell of war to watch over them. Especially if they're men like this one beside me, deserving of a future in your blessing and goodwill. Amen.

2nd Lieutenant Jack Geoghegan: Amen.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord, about our enemies, ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to Hell. Amen.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I think you oughta get yourself an M-16.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Sir, if the time comes I need one, there'll be plenty lying on the ground.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I'll never forgive myself.

Joseph Galloway: For what, sir?

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

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.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: They attack us; no casualties. They run and hide in the mountains. Naturally we chase them, of course. Smell like an ambush to you?

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: If they're trying to get us close enough to kill, I rekon we'll be close enough to kill them.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I got a problem, Snake Shit, and I think you're the solution.

Maj. Bruce Crandall: I've been called a lot of things, Colonel, never a solution.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: You know what Air Cavalry really means? You fly into hostile territory, outnumbered, 10,000 miles from home. Sometimes the battleground is no bigger than a football field, and if the choppers stop coming, we all get slaughtered. Now, I figure chopper pilots won't fly into Hell for strangers, so, I'm Hal Moore.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I can hear you laughing you know.

Julie Moore: I'm not laughing, I'm marveling.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: At what?

Julie Moore: That you can find stubbornness in your children and think it comes from anywhere but you...

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: He died keeping my promise.

Colonel Tim Brown: Last night, the enemy hit our Special Forces camp here at Plei Me.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: How many casualties did we sustain?

Colonel Tim Brown: None. The enemy forces withdrew here towards this mountain, Chu Pong, that sits right on the Cambodian border. How many men do you have battle ready at your disposal give or take?

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [to Plumley] Sergeant Major?

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: 395 sir... exactly.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [to Colonel Brown] What do you estimate the enemy strength is?

Sergeant: We appraise their numbers as manageable.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [grim tone] You mean... you have no idea?

Colonel Tim Brown: No, sir. We have no idea. But we have our orders. Simple orders from High Command: find the enemy and kill him. Nothing more.

[On the radio]

Colonel Tim Brown: Colonel, what's the situation down there?

[Colonel Moore spins around and shoots a North Vietnamese soldier that was just about to bayonet him]

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: It's getting pretty sporty down here, sir!

[after Ouellette takes a NVA prisoner just after landing in Ia Drang, the prisoner talks in Vietnamese to Moore and the rest of the solders]

Mr. Nik: [translating] He say he deserter.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Bullshit, he's a lookout.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Ask him where his friends are.

[Mr. Nik asks the prisoner in Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese lookout responds in Vietnamese]

Mr. Nik: He say this is basecamp for whole division. 4,000 men.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Where?

[Mr. Nik firmly asks the prisoner in Vietnamese who responds by speaking Vietnamese and points to the nearby Chu Pong Massif]

Mr. Nik: [still translating] That mountain. He say, it's same army that destroyed French. They want to kill Americans very badly... but they have not been able to find any yet.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Broken Arrow!

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Seen the new rifles too, the M-16.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: That's supposed to be a pretty good weapon.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Ahh, lotsa plastic. Feels like a BB gun to me. Believe I'm gonna stick with my pistol.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Think we're gonna get close enough to the enemy to use that?

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: What do you think, sir?

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: To follow your instincts and to inspire your men, by your example, you have to be with 'em. Where the metal meets the meat.

Crandall: My men call me Snakeshit, sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Why do they call you that?

Crandall: Because I fly "lower than snakeshit," sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: [Narrating; voice-over] Dear Barbra, I have no words to express to you my sadness at the loss of Jack. The world is a lesser place without him. But I know he is with God and the angels and I know even Heaven is improved by his presence there. I know you too are sure of this and yet this knowledge can't diminish his loss and your grief. With abiding respect and affection, Hal Moore.

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: Where you from, son?

Joseph Galloway: Refugio, Texas, sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well, that's the first thing I've heard today that makes any sense.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Nothing's wrong except there's nothing wrong!

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Pass this along; tell your men to fire three shots at anything that looks suspicious, on my order.

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.

Brigade Headquarters: How is it out there, Colonel?

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: We're surrounded, but we're holding on, sir. Sir, I need a confirmed count of our dead and wounded. I got to know where all my boys are.

Brigade Headquarters: You'll get it, Hal.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Here they come!

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I'm glad you made it, son.

Joseph Galloway: Thank you, sir. You too.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: I'll never forgive myself.

Joseph Galloway: For what, sir?

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

Joseph 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 'em how my troopers died.

Joseph Galloway: Yes, sir.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Sent us another bunch of officers.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Uh-huh

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Real green.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Gotta train 'em up. Makes me think I'm starting a new unit.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: They sent new rifles too

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: The M-16. That's supposed to be a pretty good weapon.

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: Lots of plastic. Feels like a BB gun to me. Believe I'll stick with my pistol.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: You think we're gonna get close enough to the enemy to use that?

Sergeant Major Basil Plumley: What do you think, sir?

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: A leader must remain cool and calm. And second, he must learn to ignore explosions... the heat and dust, the screams of the wounded. This is normal on a battlefield. Normal!

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

Joseph Galloway: No, sir.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Well, then why are you here?

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

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Why aren't you a soldier?

Joseph Galloway: I just came to take photos.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: You are shittin' me.

Joseph Galloway: No, sir. I swear to God. Anyway, one had a daughter, one had a son... my grandparents.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: What do you suppose the odds of them having the same shoe size was?

Joseph Galloway: I don't know, Colonel. It was meant to be, I guess.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Yeah. Meant to be.