Gentleman Warrior Lt. General Hal Moore Passes Away at 94

As many of you may now have already heard, a true American Hero has left us. Lt. General Hal Moore (who commanded the 7th Cavalry during the Battle of the Ia Drange Valley of Tears November 1965) has quietly passed away just shy of his 95th birthday. He has now boarded the last chopper for a final flight out of the LZ with his beloved wife Julia and his trusted friend CSM Basil Plumley to a better place where he will be greeted by formations of his former Sky Troopers who stand at attention awaiting to salute his arrival. He represented the best of us during the worst of times.He was a true Gentleman warrior. He will forever bear a special place in the heart of this proud son of a former 1st Air Cavalry Sky Trooper and many others who descend from them. Like his best friend Joe Galloway, many of us owe Lt. General Hal Moore a debt of gratitude. For if he had not told his story many of us whose fathers served there and could not speak while they were alive we would never have known of the sacrifice and bravery of the American Soldier at the base of the Chu Pong Massif. For now that he is gone, there will never be another Gentlemen Warrior like him. Godspeed General and thank you for a lifetime of service and the example you set of which we could only dream of emulating. God Bless & Godspeed.

 

Garry Owen

50 Years Ago This Week: America Enters The Vietnam War

It was 50 years ago this week in 1965 that then Resident Lyndon Baines Johnson announced on American Television that he would be sending the Air Mobile Division to Vietnam thus embarking our nation to a war few people understood yet wanted to fight that tore our nation apart. 

Here is an excerpt from that famous speech:

"We intend to convince the Communists that we cannot be defeated by force of arms or by superior power. They are not easily convinced. In recent months they have greatly increased their fighting forces and their attacks and the number of incidents. I have asked the Commanding General, General Westmoreland, what more he needs to meet this mounting aggression. He has told me. We will meet his needs.

I have today ordered to Viet-Nam the Air Mobile Division and certain other forces which will raise our fighting strength from 75,000 to 125,000 men almost immediately. Additional forces will be needed later, and they will be sent as requested."

Among the many men of the 1st Air Cavalry Air Mobile Division that would be sent halfway around the world to Vietnam was my late father Luis E. Rosas-Luca seen here from his bunk aboard the troop ship that took him to the war zone.

Memory Day 2015

This year as in many years passed, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund honored 165 former servicemen who died from service related illnesses connected to the Vietnam War in Washington n D.C. at the Vietnam Memorial. Better known to many as “The Wall,” the Vietnam memorial served as a backdrop for a ceremony that had over 1400people in attendance among them yours truly the son of former 146^th TAW Alumni Luis E. Rosas who had made the journey to honor his father and induct him into the VVMF Virtual Honor Roll which contains the names and pictures of some 2000 Vietnam Veterans who largely died from complications related to their exposure to Agent Orange during their tours of Vietnam. 

Luis’s surviving son American Mishima author Louis Edward Rosas Jr. was accompanied by former U.S. Army Sergeant Jim Beaver who served with Luis Rosas at Fort Benning and at An Khe Vietnam as members of the 1^st Air Cavalry Division, 15^th Transportation Corps Battalion, Delta Company to pay tribute to his service during 1965-1966 as a member of the Avionics Shop which paved the way for a lifetime career in both civilian and military aviation maintenance. This was a deep emotional journey which we plan to write about in a future book titled "A SON'S JOURNEY TO THE WALL."

The Memory Day Service is an annual event. If you have a family member who has passed away from a service related illness from the Vietnam War, you may apply to have them inducted into the Virtual Honor Roll whose names and photos will one day go on display at a future planned VVMF museum set to be constructed adjacent to the Vietnam Memorial Wall. Selected non-perishable items left at The Wall will one day go on display there. 

Since the Wall's construction, people have left everything from teddy bears to dog tags at the base of the Wall. For Louis Rosas Jr. he left the dog tags of his father’s friend he had kept and a newly released paperback copy of his father’s book MY FATHER’S WAR IN VIETNAM AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE HON CONG MOUNTAIN. He did this so that in his own words as he refers’ to his father gracing the cover:”We did this so long after I am gone, my father’s smile will still be here to greet visitors and in doing do live on.”

To Read about Luis E. Rosas life and service in Vietnam please visit:

MY FATHER'S WAR IN VIETNAM AND THE LONG SHADOW OF THE HON CONG MOUNTAIN

To find out more about the VVMF Memory Day please visit:

VVMF MEMORY DAY