It has always been difficult for me to spend all my time dealing with the important issues of life, and of death. I like the joyous things of life too much for that. I also tend to be myopic in concentrating exclusively on whatever engages my interest at the moment I constantly need to remind myself of the bigger picture although usually when I forget someone or something happens to help refocus my attention. To-day was one of those days where it was not until 22.00 that I came again to a film which impressed before when I first experienced and everything else before in the day was placed in perspective. We were soldiers is the story of the U S A first major involvement in the Vietnam War, The Battle of La Drang.
It was a battle fought by 1000 USA forces against 4000 Viet Cong who had 20 years experience fighting on their turf. Although the American politicians were committed to deploying a substantial force to replace the token "advisors" the involvement was not initially treated as a war requiring a state of emergency which meant that the experienced officers and ranks were free to leave when the contracted commitment ended and therefore there was an imbalance between new recruits and the experienced. From the outset the military recognised that the campaign would involve a different the of fighting with the helicopter becoming both a fighting machine and a method of moving men and equipment quickly from place to place. My understanding is the decision was taken to test the new approach at La Drang without realising that the Viet Cong had assembled a significant force in the area intending to push southward.
What took place over four days in November 1965 is described by the Wikipedia in a16 page article as a microcosm of the entire USA involvement in Vietnam in that the use of the helicopter was effective, and ultimately prevented a massacre of the US forces but the Viet Cong responded by throwing in as many men as they could as close as they could with the consequence that US forces were ambushed and cut off and that during the subsequent fight American servicemen were killed and injured by friendly fire. The battle ended with a withdrawal of USA forces from the area and the Viet Cong was able to regain control of the territory and thus claim to have been the victors despite their significant loss of men compared to those of US forces. The casualty figures are said to have been some 234 US killed in the battle and 305 in total during the campaign in the area with 245 wounded in the battle and 524 in total. Approximately 1000 Viet Cong were killed in the battle and over 1500 during the campaign.
We were soldiers once, And Young was written by Lt General Harold, "Hal" Moore and war Journalist Joseph Galloway. The film was released in 2002 and starred Mel Gibson as Hal Moore, lasts over two hours and significantly misrepresents the conclusion of the battle and its outcome. The basic facts are correct in that Col Moore was one of those leaders who was first into battle and last from the field, and who knew that in order to survive it was necessary for the men to be trained as well as possible and for them to have full confidence in their officers and to rely and support on each other. In his book and in the Battle record the extent to which his command was over run and became desperate is emphasised as well as the fact that they would not have survived had it not proved possible to withdraw the surviving forces from the area by air. They would not have been able to fight their way out of the position and the approach of the Viet Kong was not to take prisoners on the basis that eventually the US would stop sending his men over to die. Lieutenant Rick Rescorla (who died in the Twin Towers after ensuring that as many as possible escaped see Blog 165) is quoted in the Moore and Galloway book as saying " There were American and NVA bodies everywhere. One dead trooper was locked in contact with a dead NVA, hands around the enemy's throat. There were two troopers, one black, one Hispanic, linked tight to-together. It looked like they had died trying to help each other. " While the film does portray the horror and nature of the situation the battle is shown to end as if they US achieved a victory when in fact the Viet Cong regained full control over the area
Hal Moore was commissioned at the end of World War II, graduating from West Point, continuing graduate studies at George Washington and Harvard Universities. He served in Korea before Vietnam, and was wounded in both wars and received several honours. After retirement he became President of the Crested Butte ski area in Colorado and remains Hon Colonel of his Regiment.
Julia Compton (Mrs Moore) grew up knowing about the separations involved with army life and the risks of loss. Aged twelve her father fought in Europe in World War II. As wife of a Commanding officer she was opposed to the long standing tradition that news of a fatality was delivered by a taxi cab to the next of kin and she adopted the approach of following .. the delivery to offer her sympathy and support to the bereaved. She then led a successful campaign to change the practice and from then the army created special teams of uniformed officers as part of a survivor support network. She married Hal in 1949 and the couple had five children before his service in Vietnam. One of her sons fought with the Airborne Division in Panama and the Gulf War I assume Lt Col ret Steve Moore and a second son is Col David Moore. She died in April 2004 and is buried at Fort Benning near her parents and among troopers of her husband's regiment.
In the UK we pay our service men fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq a year what average premiership footballers are paid in a week and we repeatedly failed to provide the combat equipment required while planning to spend million replacing the Trident Nuclear Weapon which has never been used in conflict or will be used.
I have previous expressed the view that my local Councillor lost his seat because Gordon Brown has failed to cut it as Prime Minister but a word of support is needed for the government and against critics among the elderly.. It is unlikely that the Tory Party or local opposition parties would have fought to provide the minimum income for elders living on their own or as couples, agreed to the free TV licences for those over 75, introduced the winter fuel/Christmas bonus or developed concessionary bus travel into a nationwide free scheme. However the outstanding issue for elders is concern that their savings, including their property, will be used to pay for their prolonged care rather than go to their children and grand children or to causes they support and this tends to over shadow all the other improvements in the position.
I was reminded of the improvements when I further investigated the opportunities enabled by the provision of free bus travel. Having discovered that among the 400 bus routes from or into Tyne and Wear that there was a bus to the coastal resorts of Whitby with its fish fleet and Scarborough the original Northern Riviera, hence calling my work in relation to the Rivers Tyne and Wear and the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland with the South Shields, North Shields and Tynemouth at the estuary of the Tyne, Rivera, the new era of the rivers.
I confirmed that the service operates on Sundays from mid May until mid July when for two months it becomes a daily service and that for those with the over sixty passes it a free three hour journey there and another three hours back. Thus I will be saved the tiring hassle of driving an not being able to enjoy the scenery, saving the increasing costs of petrol and improving my contribution to reducing my carbon impact on the environment. There is a cheap day train option comprising two single journeys for a total of £27 and the standard day return is £46. The journey time is reduced by one hour and there are earlier and later start times as well as later return times. Seats are available on a first come first served basis, so I looked to see where else I could travel if I was unsuccessful on the chosen day. I could travel to Alnwick for the Castle, Fountains, Castle and Town or stay on this bus to Bamburgh and Berwick or I could spend a day at Hexham or stay on this route to Greenheads, Brampton and onto to Carlisle.
While I was still in the travel zone I discovered a new four times an hour service to Sunderland, which is under 40 minutes but does not take the coast route. Using one of the national journey planners I also came up with an alternative approach which is to take the Metro North to Gateshead Interchange and then take the route 21 service to Chester Le Street and which continues to Durham and Bishop Auckland. It was doing this that I noted that route 28 takes one to the Beamish Museum. It will be advisable to plan to take these trips on good days outside the summer holiday period, unless prepared to get to the starting stop in good time for the next service.
I needed fruit and some household items and with the sun shining I walked into town and was rewarded by the green grocers at the Metro station providing two large cartons of strawberries, three cartons of grapes and one pound of cherries for an amazing £3.50. I continued on to have look around the Saturday market and was impressed by the range of inexpensive but specialist DVDs on trains and ships for example and on books, although I have vowed not to increase my collection unless I come across sought after items which are part of my historical experience.
I had a prawn salad for lunch adding sliced olive salad from the vacuum packs and found this version ahd a hot bite a hot bite to them. Wow. It was tea time for smoked salmon with lemon on brown bread and cup of tea.
This evening it was the final of Britain's Got Talent and a great show was provided with astonishing results as a consequence of the subsequent public vote. There were two outstanding performances. The twelve year old Faryl was breath taking in her performance of Ave Maria but was not one of the top three according to the public vote and Andrew also exceeded expectations with his performance, looking confident and happy but only came third. The young dancer from Warrington, repeated his Singing in the Rain performance which thrilled everyone in the semi finals but lacked the energy this time and whose performance was below that of the two singers, won with the two Indian (one a Sikh) dancers were runner up who were the final act to perform which gave them good positions and put in a third improved performance. The classy female quartet of professional classical musicians were 9th to perform but failed to get a rating which was suggested that the public went for the underdogs who might not become successful. I sense a mood of public rebellion against authority, not as serious as with the death of Princess Diana, but it is growing.
It was a battle fought by 1000 USA forces against 4000 Viet Cong who had 20 years experience fighting on their turf. Although the American politicians were committed to deploying a substantial force to replace the token "advisors" the involvement was not initially treated as a war requiring a state of emergency which meant that the experienced officers and ranks were free to leave when the contracted commitment ended and therefore there was an imbalance between new recruits and the experienced. From the outset the military recognised that the campaign would involve a different the of fighting with the helicopter becoming both a fighting machine and a method of moving men and equipment quickly from place to place. My understanding is the decision was taken to test the new approach at La Drang without realising that the Viet Cong had assembled a significant force in the area intending to push southward.
What took place over four days in November 1965 is described by the Wikipedia in a16 page article as a microcosm of the entire USA involvement in Vietnam in that the use of the helicopter was effective, and ultimately prevented a massacre of the US forces but the Viet Cong responded by throwing in as many men as they could as close as they could with the consequence that US forces were ambushed and cut off and that during the subsequent fight American servicemen were killed and injured by friendly fire. The battle ended with a withdrawal of USA forces from the area and the Viet Cong was able to regain control of the territory and thus claim to have been the victors despite their significant loss of men compared to those of US forces. The casualty figures are said to have been some 234 US killed in the battle and 305 in total during the campaign in the area with 245 wounded in the battle and 524 in total. Approximately 1000 Viet Cong were killed in the battle and over 1500 during the campaign.
We were soldiers once, And Young was written by Lt General Harold, "Hal" Moore and war Journalist Joseph Galloway. The film was released in 2002 and starred Mel Gibson as Hal Moore, lasts over two hours and significantly misrepresents the conclusion of the battle and its outcome. The basic facts are correct in that Col Moore was one of those leaders who was first into battle and last from the field, and who knew that in order to survive it was necessary for the men to be trained as well as possible and for them to have full confidence in their officers and to rely and support on each other. In his book and in the Battle record the extent to which his command was over run and became desperate is emphasised as well as the fact that they would not have survived had it not proved possible to withdraw the surviving forces from the area by air. They would not have been able to fight their way out of the position and the approach of the Viet Kong was not to take prisoners on the basis that eventually the US would stop sending his men over to die. Lieutenant Rick Rescorla (who died in the Twin Towers after ensuring that as many as possible escaped see Blog 165) is quoted in the Moore and Galloway book as saying " There were American and NVA bodies everywhere. One dead trooper was locked in contact with a dead NVA, hands around the enemy's throat. There were two troopers, one black, one Hispanic, linked tight to-together. It looked like they had died trying to help each other. " While the film does portray the horror and nature of the situation the battle is shown to end as if they US achieved a victory when in fact the Viet Cong regained full control over the area
Hal Moore was commissioned at the end of World War II, graduating from West Point, continuing graduate studies at George Washington and Harvard Universities. He served in Korea before Vietnam, and was wounded in both wars and received several honours. After retirement he became President of the Crested Butte ski area in Colorado and remains Hon Colonel of his Regiment.
Julia Compton (Mrs Moore) grew up knowing about the separations involved with army life and the risks of loss. Aged twelve her father fought in Europe in World War II. As wife of a Commanding officer she was opposed to the long standing tradition that news of a fatality was delivered by a taxi cab to the next of kin and she adopted the approach of following .. the delivery to offer her sympathy and support to the bereaved. She then led a successful campaign to change the practice and from then the army created special teams of uniformed officers as part of a survivor support network. She married Hal in 1949 and the couple had five children before his service in Vietnam. One of her sons fought with the Airborne Division in Panama and the Gulf War I assume Lt Col ret Steve Moore and a second son is Col David Moore. She died in April 2004 and is buried at Fort Benning near her parents and among troopers of her husband's regiment.
In the UK we pay our service men fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq a year what average premiership footballers are paid in a week and we repeatedly failed to provide the combat equipment required while planning to spend million replacing the Trident Nuclear Weapon which has never been used in conflict or will be used.
I have previous expressed the view that my local Councillor lost his seat because Gordon Brown has failed to cut it as Prime Minister but a word of support is needed for the government and against critics among the elderly.. It is unlikely that the Tory Party or local opposition parties would have fought to provide the minimum income for elders living on their own or as couples, agreed to the free TV licences for those over 75, introduced the winter fuel/Christmas bonus or developed concessionary bus travel into a nationwide free scheme. However the outstanding issue for elders is concern that their savings, including their property, will be used to pay for their prolonged care rather than go to their children and grand children or to causes they support and this tends to over shadow all the other improvements in the position.
I was reminded of the improvements when I further investigated the opportunities enabled by the provision of free bus travel. Having discovered that among the 400 bus routes from or into Tyne and Wear that there was a bus to the coastal resorts of Whitby with its fish fleet and Scarborough the original Northern Riviera, hence calling my work in relation to the Rivers Tyne and Wear and the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland with the South Shields, North Shields and Tynemouth at the estuary of the Tyne, Rivera, the new era of the rivers.
I confirmed that the service operates on Sundays from mid May until mid July when for two months it becomes a daily service and that for those with the over sixty passes it a free three hour journey there and another three hours back. Thus I will be saved the tiring hassle of driving an not being able to enjoy the scenery, saving the increasing costs of petrol and improving my contribution to reducing my carbon impact on the environment. There is a cheap day train option comprising two single journeys for a total of £27 and the standard day return is £46. The journey time is reduced by one hour and there are earlier and later start times as well as later return times. Seats are available on a first come first served basis, so I looked to see where else I could travel if I was unsuccessful on the chosen day. I could travel to Alnwick for the Castle, Fountains, Castle and Town or stay on this bus to Bamburgh and Berwick or I could spend a day at Hexham or stay on this route to Greenheads, Brampton and onto to Carlisle.
While I was still in the travel zone I discovered a new four times an hour service to Sunderland, which is under 40 minutes but does not take the coast route. Using one of the national journey planners I also came up with an alternative approach which is to take the Metro North to Gateshead Interchange and then take the route 21 service to Chester Le Street and which continues to Durham and Bishop Auckland. It was doing this that I noted that route 28 takes one to the Beamish Museum. It will be advisable to plan to take these trips on good days outside the summer holiday period, unless prepared to get to the starting stop in good time for the next service.
I needed fruit and some household items and with the sun shining I walked into town and was rewarded by the green grocers at the Metro station providing two large cartons of strawberries, three cartons of grapes and one pound of cherries for an amazing £3.50. I continued on to have look around the Saturday market and was impressed by the range of inexpensive but specialist DVDs on trains and ships for example and on books, although I have vowed not to increase my collection unless I come across sought after items which are part of my historical experience.
I had a prawn salad for lunch adding sliced olive salad from the vacuum packs and found this version ahd a hot bite a hot bite to them. Wow. It was tea time for smoked salmon with lemon on brown bread and cup of tea.
This evening it was the final of Britain's Got Talent and a great show was provided with astonishing results as a consequence of the subsequent public vote. There were two outstanding performances. The twelve year old Faryl was breath taking in her performance of Ave Maria but was not one of the top three according to the public vote and Andrew also exceeded expectations with his performance, looking confident and happy but only came third. The young dancer from Warrington, repeated his Singing in the Rain performance which thrilled everyone in the semi finals but lacked the energy this time and whose performance was below that of the two singers, won with the two Indian (one a Sikh) dancers were runner up who were the final act to perform which gave them good positions and put in a third improved performance. The classy female quartet of professional classical musicians were 9th to perform but failed to get a rating which was suggested that the public went for the underdogs who might not become successful. I sense a mood of public rebellion against authority, not as serious as with the death of Princess Diana, but it is growing.
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