Joe Galloway 1965 |
"Joe Galloway is the finest
combat correspondent of our generation---a soldier's reporter and a soldier's
friend."
-Gen. (ret.) H. Norman Schwarzkopf-
"I looked over and saw Joe Galloway sitting with his back against a
small tree, camera in his lap, rifle across his knees. I knew why I was there.
I'm a professional military man and it's my job. But what the hell was HE doing
there? Turned out he was doing his job too."
-Lt. Gen. (ret.) Hal Moore- |
"Joe Galloway has more time in combat, under fire, than
anyone wearing a uniform today. He rode along on the 24th Division's tank
charge through 250 miles of the western Iraq desert in the Persian Gulf War,
and did a splendid job of telling the story."
Gen. (ret.) Barry McCaffrey |
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A native Texan, Joseph L. Galloway
joined United Press International as a reporter in 1961. During 22 years with
UPI, he served in news bureaus in Kansas City, Topeka, Tokyo and Saigon, and
was chief of bureau in Jakarta, New Delhi, Singapore, Moscow and Los Angeles.
Galloway served a 16-month tour as a war correspondent in Vietnam beginning in
April of 1965 shortly after the first American combat troops landed on China
Beach in Danang. He returned to Vietnam on three other tours in 1971, 1973 and
again in 1975 when he covered the fall of Cambodia and South Vietnam.
In addition to Vietnam duty Galloway covered the 1971 India-Pakistan War and
half a dozen other regional conflicts during 15 years of foreign service.
Galloway joined U.S. News & World Report as West Coast editor in 1982. He
later became a senior writer based at the magazine's Washington, D.C.,
headquarters. In 1990-91 Galloway returned to duty as a war correspondent in
the Persian Gulf and accompanied the Army's 24th Mech Infantry Division on its
tank charge through the western Iraq desert. Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf who has
known him in two wars calls Galloway "the finest combat correspondent of
our generation---a soldier's reporter and a soldier's friend." Joe later
joined McClatchy Newspapers as Senior Military Corresondent. He is now
semi-retired, though still writing a weekly column, and has recently issued,
along with LTG. Hal Moore, a sequel to "We Were Soldiers Once....and
Young". "We Are Soldiers Still" was published in September 2008
by Random House and is receiving critical acclaim.
Galloway received the 1991 National Magazine Award for an Oct. 29, 1990, U.S.
News cover story marking the 25th anniversary of the first major battle of the
Vietnam War, and the 1992 News Media Award of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of
the United States for his coverage of the Persian Gulf War. In 1999 he received
the President's Award for the Arts of the Vietnam Veterans of America. In 2000
he was decorated with the U.S. Army Infantry Association's Order of St.
Maurice, the patron saint of the Infantry. Galloway is co-author of two books:
Triumph Without Victory: The History of the Persian Gulf War, published in 1992
by Times Books---and the New York Times bestseller "We Were Soldiers Once and
Young" published in late 1992 by Random House.
During the course of researching WWSOAY Galloway returned to Vietnam three
times for interviews, including several with Senior General Vo Nguyen Giap. "We
Were Soldiers Once...and Young", written with Army Lt. Gen. Hal Moore is a detailed
accounting of the Ia Drang Campaign, the first major clash between American and
North Vietnamese regular troops in November 1965, and the bloodiest of any
battle fought during the entire war. Moore commanded one of the battalions in
the Ia Drang, and Galloway, then a 24-year-old reporter, was on the ground
throughout the action. The book is the basis for a movie of the same name which
will star Mel Gibson and begins filming on March 5 at Ft. Benning, GA.
On May 1, 1998, the Army awarded Galloway a belated Bronze Star with V for
rescuing a badly wounded soldier under heavy fire in the Ia Drang Valley on 15
November 1965. His is the only such medal of valor awarded to a civilian by the
Army during the Vietnam War. Galloway is a member of the board of advisers of
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and the 1st Cavalry Division Association;
and the board of directors of the non-profit organization No Greater Love.
Today Joe Galloway writes a nationally sydicated newspaper column and resides
on the Texas coast.
Read the citation awarding Joe the Bronze Star with "V" for Valor
at: Bronze Star
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