Harold G. Moore Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Harold G. Moore was an accomplished U.S. Army lieutenant general and an author.

Born February 13, 1922, Harold was the oldest child of his father Harold and his mother Mary, who had four children in total. His mother stayed at home while his father worked as an insurance agent. Before completing high school, Moore left Kentucky to work in a book warehouse in the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C., feeling that he would be more likely to get an appointment to the West Point U.S. Military Academy that way.

The author kept working during the day and completed high school during the night, graduating in 1940 from St. Joseph Preparatory School. For two years, he would attend George Washington University, serving in the Kappa Sigma fraternity at this time. Moore would eventually get his U.S. Military Academy appointment not long after the U.S. went into the second World War. He went to Reception Day on July 15, 1942, and summer training. Then he attended the academy in the fall, doing well in most of his classes. The class would find out that due to the war their class would be graduating in three years, not four.

The author made it through his first year, but it was not without its trials. He decided to put most of his time towards studying and improving his student life and doing few extracurricular activities so that he could focus on his grades. He attended military training during the summer and then studied more difficult subjects in his second Academy year. During his third year, Moore toured different U.S. Army basic training centers to study their techniques and tactics. Every cadet in class picked their assignment branch, and once he graduated West Point on June 5, 1945, Harold found a place in the infantry branch as a second lieutenant.

Once he graduated, Moore was assigned to Fort Benning, Georgia, to take the Infantry Officer Basic Course for six weeks. During this time he applied and was not selected for airborne jump school. He was then assigned to the Tokyo three week jump school taking place at the 11th Airborne Division.

Once out of jump school, he was assigned to Camp Crawford for three years as part of the 187th Glider Infantry Regiment. He was company commander for seven months before becoming the construction officer. He was reassigned in 1948 to Fort Bragg’s 82nd Airborne Division, volunteering to be part of the Airborne Test Section. He made one hundred and fifty jumps over the course of two years and has done over three hundred jumps in total.

Harold attended an Infantry Officer’s Advanced Course in 1951 and was assigned to the 17th Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division, commanding a heavy mortar company as a captain. He would then be a regimental Assistant Chief-of-Staff, Operations, and Plans. He was assigned to an infantry company to become promoted to major and would later become divisional assistant chief-of-staff for operations.

He would go back to West Point in 1954 to serve as an instructor in infantry tactics for three years. He went to school at Fort Leavenworth and then reported to the Pentagon, helping develop airborne equipment and air and airborne assault tactics. He graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College and then served for three years as a NATO Plans Officer in Norway.

As a lieutenant colonel, he studied at Naval War College in 1964, then got his master’s in International Relations from George Washington University. He then transferred to Fort Benning and then joined the 11th Air Assault Division, which would be deployed to Vietnam and became the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. They left August 14, 1965 for South Vietnam through the Panama Canal.

There Lt. Col. Moore would lead the 1st Battalion in the Battle of la Drang for a week starting on November 14. The group was surrounded with no zone to leave, and Moore kept on even though outnumbered by the enemy forces. He was wounded and received a Purple Heart, but did not wear it after attempting to return it and being denied, being of the opinion the wound was not serious. He was called Yellow Hair by the troops thanks to his blond hair. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his efforts at la Drang and was then promoted to colonel.

After Vietnam, the author worked for a time at the Pentagon as a military liaison. He graduated from Harvard with an M.A. in International Relations on assignment from the army, then worked a the Pentagon some more. He was promoted to brigadier general and then assigned as assistant chief of staff, operations, and plans in South Korea. He was promoted to major general, moving to South Korea with his family to work there, then commanding general in Fort Ord, California’s army Training Center. He was then a commanding general at the U.S. Army Military Personnel Center and then made deputy chief of staff for Department of the Army personnel. He retired on August 1, 1977 from the army after serving 32 years.

The author met his wife Julia Compton while at Fort Bragg, where they were married on November 22, 1949. He had five children and many grandchildren. After retirement, Moore was Executive President of the Crested Butte Ski Area in Colorado. He was also in attendance in 2009 at the opening of the National Infantry Museum in Georgia, which featured a diorama of the Battle of La Drang. He would pass away on February 10, 2017, from a stroke. He was buried with full military honors beside his wife (passed in 2004) at the Fort Benning Post Cemetery. His work was also featured in the book Building a Volunteer Army: The Fort Ord Contribution.

Moore has received many honors, including the Distinguished Service Cross form the U.S. Army, the Order of Saint Maurice, and the Distinguished Graduate Award from West Point Association of Graduates. He put his experiences into his best-selling book We Were Soldiers Once… and Young along with co-author Joseph L. Galloway, which was adapted into the 2002 film We Were Soldiers and starred Gibson as Moore. Moore has also appeared in the t.v. series Pritzker Military Library Presents, one episode of the t.v. miniseries Inside the Vietnam War, and as himself in Small Town Boy, Real American Hero.

We Were Soldiers Once… and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That changed the War in Vietnam is a 1991 book written by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway. It was the reading choice by the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps for 1993.

This book tells the story of how Lt. Col. Hal Moore led a group of 450 men in November 1965 as they were dropped into the la Drang Valley clearing by helicopter. Surrounded by 2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, and a group battalion was destroyed by the same forces three days later. It is considered one of the most important battles of Vietnam.

The men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry refused to give up, and this book includes the accounts of many men who actually fought there to show the perspective of men dealing with this huge challenge. It also shows the reader how an experience can be horrible and inspiring at the same time. Get a copy of this book to witness the perspective of this real life event from people who were there for a unique snapshot into history.

We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam is the follow-up to We Were Soldiers, written once again by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway.

Many questions from readers will be answered in this book. Some of the questions involved wanting to know more about what happened to people like Ed Freeman and Bruce Crandall. They want to know whether they’re still in touch with the people they served with and where they are now.

This is a journey that takes the reader back to the battlefields where they spend the night on the Landing Zone Xray field where many soldiers died. This book shares what they shared and felt and what they learned during this time as well as pass on a point of view on the military as well as how being part of history has changed them. Get a copy of this compelling book and continue the story started by We Were Soldiers.