Valley of Shadows

The literary basis for the successful film We Were Soldiers, starring Mel Gibson

On 14 November 1965, helicopters landed some 450 men of the US 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Harold Moore, in a small clearing in Vietnam's Ia Drang Valley. They were immediately surrounded by about two thousand North Vietnamese soldiers. Three days later, just four kilometres away, the sister 2nd Battalion was crushed by the enemy. Together, these two actions in landing zones X-Ray and Albany constitute one of the most brutal and important battles of the Vietnam War.
How these men persevered in combat, sacrificed for their comrades, and never gave up creates a vivid picture of war, both inspiring and shocking. In addition to the personal experiences of Lieutenant Colonel Moore and Joseph Galloway, the only journalist on the scene at the time of the fighting, interviews they conducted with hundreds of the men who fought there, including the North Vietnamese commanders, helped create the overall picture of the battle. This harrowing story rises above the specific suffering it chronicles to capture a picture of men facing the ultimate challenge in a way they could not have imagined just hours before.
The Battle of Ia Drang Valley also demonstrates the American technological superiority that would play a major role in the rest of the war. It was arguably the first battle where airmobile operations using helicopters proved their combat potential. The ultimate defeat of the United States in Vietnam was not the result of the North Vietnamese Army's superior fighting skills, but of the political decisions of the US government, which limited the US military's ability to effectively fight its enemy. But at its core, this is a story of heroes and heroism. In addition to describing the fighting itself, it recounts the causes of the war, its escalation, and the context of the American view of it. It remains one of the best books about combat in the Vietnam War.
Each year, the Commandant of the US Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is so significant and timeless that every Marine should read it. In 1993, he chose this very book. The book has an 8-page black-and-white picture supplement.