The Hidden Hero in We Were Soldiers (2002) is Not A Soldier (spoilers)

Introduction

        History is written by the victors. The typical American war movie shows the struggle that American soldiers went through during a specific war. Rarely do we get a look at the enemy or the civilian population. We Were Soldiers (2002) is a very powerful and emotional war movie, not only because the soundtrack is somber and amazing, but because it puts the viewers into the shoes of many different people, notably a military leader, a helicopter pilot, a reporter on the front lines, the enemy, and the women that the men left behind to go to war. Unlike most war movies, We Were Soldiers attempts to humanize the enemy and shows the impact that the civilian population had on the home front.

        We Were Soldiers is a 2002 war movie based on a 1992 book, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: la Drang - The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam. The book was written by Lieutenant General Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway. Moore recounts his experience leading soldiers into the first major battle of the Vietnam War, the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965, and Galloway was the reporter on the front lines at Ia Drang. The movie focuses around Hal Moore (Mel Gibson) as he trains the men to prepare for the battle, then shows them riding in on Huey helicopters into battle. As mentioned, what makes the movie unique is that it is also told from the perspective of many other sides of the story besides Hal Moore and his soldiers:

• Joseph Galloway (Barry Pepper), the reporter, and his struggle when he is forced to take up arms as the Americans get surrounded.
• Bruce Crandall (Greg Kinnear), a helicopter pilot who flew many missions to bring ammunition and supplies to the troops while evacuating the wounded, and his struggle to cope with the situation on the ground.
• Lt. Col. Nguyen Huu An (Duong Don), the leader of the North Vietnamese forces and his reactions during the battle as well as the aftermath.
• A North Vietnamese soldier who is differentiated between the rest by wearing eyeglasses, and his struggle from being away from home with his wife.
• Julie Moore (Madeleine Stowe), Hal Moore's wife, as well as the wives of the other soldiers at home and their struggle to deal with the war.
  

The Good Side vs. The Bad Side

        When training for battle and then facing the enemy, Hal Moore shows care and empathy to his fellow soldiers. Before the battle, he is in church joined by a fellow soldier who just became a father. The soldier asks Moore how he deals with being both a soldier and a father, to which Moore replies, "I hope being good at one makes me better at the other." Then, they pray together. Moore prays to destroy the enemy and watch out for his soldiers.

        The North Vietnamese leader similarly expresses gratitude for his fellow soldiers. However, I always found his depiction a little strange, being the enemy. The Vietnam War was a hugely controversial bit of history for the U.S. Ignoring the politics on both sides, the North Vietnamese were fighting a defensive war against a power that was acting outside their sphere of influence. When the Americans finally overrun the North Vietnamese position, a little American flag is placed on a thin broken tree trunk. The North Vietnamese leader revisits the site to see the flag. As he picks it up, he reflects on the future of the war and neatly places the flag back, honoring the outcome of the battle. Hal Moore isn't really shown acknowledging or respecting the enemy, only swearing to kill them.

        A perspective that the movie indirectly shows us is the journey of a North Vietnamese soldier with eyeglasses. He is shown writing in a small red book he stores in the pocket of his uniform, but unfortunately he is killed in action. At the end of the battle, an American soldier hands the red book to Hal Moore. Inside is a picture of the Vietnamese soldier's wife, and eventually, the end of the movie shows the book that made its way back home with the wife reading it and grieving her husband. The details about the enemy in We Were Soldiers help humanize them more than depicting them as evil. They feel the same feelings we feel and have the same fears.

The Hidden Hero in We Were Soldiers

        The hidden hero in We Were Soldiers is in fact not a soldier. One of the other perspectives the movie captures is that of the American home front centered around the military wives. The established leader of the women in the movie is Julie Moore, the wife of Hal Moore. Julie is shown establishing a community with the women and helping any of them as much as possible. The U.S. military was unprepared with delivering the mass of telegrams of war casualty notifications and empowered taxi drivers to deliver them. During a heartfelt scene, a taxi pulls up to Julie's house and her heart sinks as she opens the door. Turns out, the taxi driver was looking for someone else's address that he needed help finding. Julie curses him for causing her pain, fearing she was about to receive news that her husband was killed in action. The taxi driver understandably walks away, but turns back to her. He knows what the telegram is for. He tells Julie in a sad voice that he doesn't like the job and he's just trying to do it.

        Julie offers to deliver the telegram. She selflessly tells the cab driver to tell the company to deliver all the telegrams to her house so the drivers don't have to face the pain of the job. This is a significant and noble decision that Julie takes upon herself. She is willing to sacrifice a part of herself to go out and comfort the other women whose husbands are killed in action, a job that no one would be willing to do, but it has to be done. The soldiers on the front line are typically thought about in war, but just as important are the logistics and production on the home front. If they cannot work in harmony, the soldiers are doomed to fail. Just as a fellow soldier may carry their wounded ally into cover, Julie Moore helps win the battle with the other women on the home front as Hal Moore helps win the battle with the soldiers in Vietnam, by selflessly doing what is absolutely necessary for allies to survive.

The Aftermath

        The Battle of Ia Drang was a brutal battle that ended in both sides claiming victory, but the North Vietnamese suffered many more casualties. It helped set the standard for large scale helicopter air assaults during the war, and the North Vietnamese mitigating aerial and artillery attacks by engaging in close range combat. As we may know, the rest of the war was even more brutal and faced heavy backlash from the American public, until the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam in 1975. Julie Moore's depiction in the movie is largely unrecognized compared to Hal Moore and the American soldiers, which is understandable. After the events in the movie, through her efforts, the U.S. Army changed its policy and had uniformed personnel deliver casualty notes, which continues to this day. Julie Moore would go on to lead and support numerous military community support organizations, and the U.S. Army considers her as one of the most influential military wives in U.S. history. While the sacrifices of Hal Moore and the soldiers should not be discredited, Julie Moore's depiction in the movie We Were Soldiers severely underrates her influence. With Hal Moore's interesting one-sided depiction compared to the enemy's respect and bravery, it makes things clearer. Julie Moore is a real hidden hero in the movie, fostering a community and winning the war on the home front to help carry her fellow neighbors.

"The Real Heroes Are Dead."

        The discussion about war heroes recalls the story of the six famous U.S. flag raisers at the Battle of Iwo Jima as depicted in Flags of Our Fathers, a 2006 movie directed by Clint Eastwood based on a 2000 book of the same name. The film focuses around three of the soldiers as they work together and with the government to try to figure out who else was part of the flag raising. Hailed as heroes, the soldiers each have their own struggles back home. One of the soldiers says, “I can't take them calling me a hero. All I did was try not to get shot. Some of the things I saw done...things I did...they weren't things to be proud of, you know?”, while another says, “The real heroes are dead on that island.”

        The saying, "The real heroes are dead" comes from Lieutenant Rick Rescorla, a British-American veteran who was there at Ia Drang. Hal Moore's book featured Rescorla on the cover. Rescorla refused to read the book or watch the movie adaptation, saying that he did not want to see himself and the other survivors depicted as heroes. "The real heroes are dead," he would say. Later, he worked as director of security for Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center in New York City, and his methods were credited with saving thousands of civilian lives during the attacks on September 11, 2001. Rescorla unfortunately died trying to save more people before the building collapsed. This article from the New York Times is very in-depth and talks about Rescorla's experiences, including meeting his second wife, his military experience, all the way up to his final moments.

        The only true "superheroes" are those depicted in fiction, like Superman or Wonder Woman. We are all human with our own struggles and fears. The real heroes may be dead, but the rest of them receive no recognition.