We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam (32 page)

229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, Bravo Company, 10, 87

United Press International (UPI), 151

Galloway with, xi, 10

U.S. Army

1st Cavalry Division, 3, 6, 11, 12, 13, 15, 29, 31, 36, 62, 63, 65, 78–79, 149

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), 3, 28, 123, 182

1st Corps, 79

2nd Corps, 79

2nd Infantry Division, 76, 79

3rd Infantry Division, 76

4th Infantry Division, 68

5th Cavalry, 11, 42, 113, 124, 206

7th Cavalry, xv, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11–13, 14, 38, 39, 41–42, 63, 64, 74, 77–78, 90–92, 96, 105–6, 113, 118, 122, 124, 125, 149, 185, 205–7

7th Infantry Division, 174–78

8th Army, 173, 177–78

11th Airborne Division, 76

23rd Infantry 2nd Battalion, 76

23rd Infantry Battle Group, 76

24th Infantry Division, xi, xviii

82nd Airborne Division, 76, 217, 220

173rd Airborne, 68

187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, 76

229th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 10, 87

change from draftee to all-volunteer, xviii, 180–81

NCOs, 71–81

officers’ career trajectory, 72–73

radio, PRC-25, 85–86

Special Forces A-Team, 6

telegram notification of soldier’s death, 101, 108, 203, 215–16

U.S. Military College at West Point, xii, 47, 68, 72–74, 132, 157–63, 218

cemetery, 195

Moore’s farewell speech, 168–69, 195–96

USMS
Maurice Rose
, 54

U.S. News & World Report
, 17, 23

cover article on Ia Drang, 2, 5, 15–16, 21

National Magazine Award, 16

Veterans Administration, xvi–xvii

Victoria, queen of England, 194

Viet Cong, 54

massacre of civilians after fall of Saigon, 148

Viet Minh, 22, 34, 60, 68–69, 129, 189

ambush of Group Mobile 100, 67

at Dien Bien Phu, 44–47, 130, 135–37, 138 (
see also

Dien Bien Phu)

Vietnam, country of (
see also
Vietnam War)

America’s shared history with, 26

army officers, continuing service of, 33

attacked by Chinese, 69

Ban Me Thuot, 148

Bien Hoa, 150

Bong Son Plain, 62, 207

Cam Ranh Bay, 149–50

capitalism, modern, in, 43, 151–52

Catecka Tea Plantation, 9

Central Highlands, xi, xv, 1, 3, 16, 35, 63, 68, 152, 207

Chu Lai air base removed, 54–55

Chu Pong Massif, 5, 6, 11, 21, 33, 36, 38, 88, 97

contemporary, 43, 53–54, 56, 57–62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 149–52

Danang air base today, 53–54

diplomatic recognition and most-favored-nation trade status sought, 2, 26–27

Duc Co, 110

economic boom, 42–43, 149–51

French in, 22, 31, 34, 45–47, 60, 61, 67–68, 129–30, 134, 137, 147–48 (
see also

Dien Bien Phu)

Hanoi (
see

Hanoi)

Hong Kong Mountain, 65

hotels, seedy, 62, 83–84

An Khe base, 84

lessons of the French ignored by American leaders, 26, 31, 45, 67–68, 130, 131

Mang Yang Pass, 67–68

military cemeteries, 60, 97–98, 141

modern revolutionary movement, 30

modern technology in, 153

Nha Trang, 149

nuoc mam, 59

Phan Thiet, 150

Pleiku, 3, 6, 10, 38, 68, 79, 83–86, 110, 122, 125

Plei Me village, 6, 10, 97

port city of Qui Nhon, 54

Quang Ngai province, 55

Qui Nhon, 62

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City (
see

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City) smells of, 59

thousand years of war, xiii, 25

tigers of, 96, 104, 105, 148

trade with China and the U.S., 151–52

“two-step” viper, 104

village life, 57

Xuan Loc, 150

Vietnamese Communist Party, 43

Vietnam Historical Museum, 25

Vietnam Memorial, Washington, D.C., 106

Vietnam Military Museum, 42, 44

Vietnam War, xiii, 192–93

American POWs, 140

as “American War,” 56

Ap Bac battle, Mekong Delta, 31–32

B-2 Front (North Vietnamese), 35

B-52 bombing raids, Christmas, 1972, 40

battle for Ban Me Thuot, 36

Battle of Hill 875 (Dak To), 68

Battle of Xuan Loc, 150

bloodiest battle, xvi (
See

Ia Drang Valley, battles of)

C-123 crash, 63

casualties, American, 107, 190, 193

casualties, Vietnamese and Cambodian, 107, 190

Chu Lai air base, 54–55

Danang, 28, 36, 35, 53–54

draftees sent to, 56, 78, 180

Duc Co, xi, 88

erasure of all evidence of, 60–62

failure of leadership and, 55–56, 193

fall of Saigon and South Vietnam, 4, 22, 35, 36, 58, 68, 153–54

fuel-air bomb used, 150

futility of, 62

Giap’s analysis, 189

H and I fire, 65–66