We Were Soldiers Page #6

I'll show you where. Follow me.

Yes, sir! Let's go!

Captain, have your men dig

some firing steps.

Throw some dirt on those bodies,

keep the smell down.

Roger, Sergeant Major.

Kind of makes you wish you'd

signed up for submarines, don't it?

Brigade headquarters wants you out

on the first chopper at dawn.

What idiot would keep ordering that

in the middle of a goddamn battle?

Gen. Westmoreland wants a briefing.

Give me the horn.

I am in a fight...

and I object to this order

to return to Saigon.

Now, I will not leave my men.

Is that clear?

Out.

There's two of my men

unaccounted for out there...

and it's where

the worst of the fighting was...

so they'll be out there someplace.

Let's go out and get 'em.

I'm with you, sir.

All right.

Let's go.

They...

brought another...

Oh, God, Julie.

Julie, it's yours.

No.

He died keeping my promise.

Sir, they're ordering us all out.

All of us.

They're gonna march reinforcements in.

They don't understand a damn thing, do they?

Can't get out.

He's waiting up there in a cave,

and that's what he wants.

The minute he sees live soldiers

hopping on a helicopter...

he'll be all over us

and then he'll get what he wants.

He'll get his massacre.

Requesting permission

to rejoin the lines, sir.

All right, son.

Garry Owen, sir.

I wonder what was going through

Custer's mind when he realized...

he'd led his men into a slaughter.

Sir, Custer was a p*ssy.

You ain't.

Goddamn.

Hell.

Right now they're planning

their final attack...

the one that will finish us off.

They'll nibble at us all night,

then...

come dawn they'll hit us

with everything they got.

That's what I'd do if I was him.

Sergeant Major, hand out

the last of the ammunition.

Yes, sir.

Fix bayonets.

You were wondering

how Custer felt, sir.

You ought to ask him.

Sergeant Savage!

Checking the dead enemies

for documents...

and I found this on the guy

that tried to bayonet you.

Translated some of it,

mostly personal.

Thought you might wanna have

a look at it.

What was that?

It's American artillery.

Friendly fire.

How many casualties?

What the hell happened here, Joe?

Hey, Joe.

Colonel Moore!

Colonel!

Colonel Moore!

What is the key to your victory?

Sir, tell us how you feel.

Do you feel the States

will be forced...

to take the North Vietnamese

more seriously?

How do you feel about

the loss of your men, sir?

Have you notified

the families, sir?

I'm glad you made it, son.

Thank you, sir.

You too.

I'll never forgive myself.

For what, sir?

That my men...

That my men died and I didn't.

Sir, I don't...

I don't know how to tell this story.

Well, you got to, Joe.

You tell the American people

what these men did here.

You tell 'em how my troopers died.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

All of our men, living and dead,

are off the field, sir.

Well done, Sergeant Major.

In Saigon, Hal Moore's superiors

congratulated him...

for killing over 1,800

enemy soldiers.

Then ordered him to lead

the men of the 7th Cavalry...

back into the Valley of Death.

He led them...

and fought beside them...

for 235 more days.

Kids, go to bed.

Isn't there someone at the door?

Go to bed!

Children, your daddy's home!

Daddy!

Some had families waiting.

For others, their only family

would be the men they bled beside.

There were no bands, no flags...

no honor guards to welcome them home.

They went to war because

their country ordered them to.

But in the end they fought

not for their country or their flag.

They fought for each other...

Dear Barbara...

I have no words to express to you

my sadness of the loss of Jack.

The world is a lesser place

without him.

But I know he is with God

and the angels.

And 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.

We who have seen war...

will never stop seeing it.

In the silence of the night,

we will always hear the screams.

So this is our story...

for we were soldiers once...

and young.

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