14. Fact: The Battle at Ia Drang was called at best a draw for the Americans by one of their leading commanders
Lieutenant Colonel Harold G. Moore, known as Hal and later portrayed by actor Mel Gibson in the film We Were Soldiers, commanded 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry at the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965. The film was based on a book written by Moore years later. Moore fought in the battle from onset until it was finished, and his appraisal did not award a victory to the US Army. “The peasant soldiers had withstood the terrible high-tech firestorm delivered against them by a superpower and had at least fought the Americans to a draw,” Moore wrote about the North Vietnamese. “By their yardstick,” he continued, “a draw against such a powerful opponent was the equivalent of a victory”.