European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                \ i 1 i a a a Tig 3 Vietnam and the la Drang Valley of death by Vernon Scott up Hollywood reporter americans have had a unique Opportunity to witness a 1965 Battle that turned the. Vietnam police action into a full scale War thanks in part to deliberately mis leading reports by our government. It was the Battle of la Drang Valley actually two firefights in which 234 americans and 2,000 North vietnamese army troops were killed. They were Young and Brave a one hour special that aired recently on abcs Day one shows that both american and North vietnamese leaders were convinced by the battlers outcome that their countries could win the War. Late last year Forrest Sawyer Host narrator of Day one a flew to the Central Highlands Battlefield with 11 survivors. Among them were Harold Moore a retired lieutenant general who As a colonel commanded . Troops in the Battle and Joseph Galloway former up reporter and Moore a co author on the Book we were soldiers once. And Young. They were Young and Brave based on that Book includes actual Battle film taken on the ground and from helicopters 29 years ago by two american combat cameramen and by vietnamese photographers. The show ranges Back and Forth Between the carnage As it took place and interviews on the Battlefield with both american and vietnamese survivors. It is among the very Best documentaries Ever done on warfare. A the Battle was perhaps the most important of the War a Sawyer said. A but most people done to know about it. It was the first time an elite american Force engaged the North vietnamese regular army As opposed to guerrillas and the Viet Cong. A both sides took the others measure. They had never fought each other before. When the smoke cleared our military leaders concluded vietnamese casualties were so High that they  sustain such losses. We believed we could win a War of attrition. A a. A a a Quot a the idea of How to win the War began at this Battle from the . Point of View. Lyndon Johnson was pres we Harold Moore second from left Nguyen Huu an Cente who led North vietnamese forces Forrest Sawyer second from right and two North vietnamese veterans pose at the la Drang Battlefield. Abc ident and the commanding general was William Westmoreland. At the same time the vietnamese con eluded the legendary americans could be beaten. Both sides convinced they would win escalated the War. A the bloody combat began nov. 14,1965, when 1,600 vietnamese engaged a battalion of 400 men from the 7th Cav regt. We used helicopters for the first time As airborne infantry instead of travelling Overland. Only about 100 americans were on the. Ground when it began and they soundly Defeated the vietnamese. The kill ratio was 10 to 1. A the americans brought in air Power and the vietnamese retreated. Colonel Moore performed brilliantly. His superiors thought the vietnamese called it quits. Our military has since tried to cover it up. They be never looked into it because it is an pm bar assent to the army. A a Moore a battalion was replaced by another with an inexperienced commander and for some unknown reason instead of lifting the new battalion out by chopper they were ordered to March to another Landing zone 3 Miles away without artillery or air.  a a. A a they did everything wrong under the new commander. Strung out in single file they marched straight into a vietnamese ambush. They were mowed Down and surrounded. It was hand to hand fighting. The americans fought valiantly. But they were heavily outnumbered. A finally napalm was called in. Burning death was dropped on vietnamese and americans alike. Half the battalion suffered casualties. A essentially the . Pushed that fight away and for Vised on the earlier Victory. Americans were told we achieved a Brilliant Victory in the la Drang Val icy which was not True. A actually there had been a Victory and a loss. The vietnamese called it a great Victory for  Day one concentrates on individual heroics great bravery searing Heartbreak and horrible death. No Hollywood War movie comes close to revealing the tragedy of warriors in Battle with such clarity and up close terror As they were Young and Brave. The drama becomes greater when some of the heroic men 28 years later revisit the killing Fields and weep for their fallen comrades retelling personal stories of being hit by bullets and shells. They were Young and Brave which aired Jan. 10 on Abc has not Boon sch Odulo for broadcast by arts. The misery of the Gulf War by Walter Goodman the new York times the segment Anatomy of a War brings Back the persian Gulf War in Whiz bang fashion. This two hour edition of investigative reports is powered by what Bill Kurtis narrating Calls a some of the most stunning and dramatic pictures Ever  the scenes live up to the description president Saddam Hussein of Iraq who had lately been compared to Hitler by president Bush playing Uncle Saddam to Western hostages hundreds of thousands of displaced palestinian workers surging into Jordan smart american bombs Landing smack on pinpointed Baghdad targets in a spectacular Light show stupider bombs like the one that hit an air raid shelter were less celebrated scud missiles striking Israel the anti scud Patriot missiles turned out to be less miraculous than claimed Allied coalition troops moving into Iraq past charred corpses and Long lines of destroyed tanks pitiable iraqi soldiers begging to be taken prisoner the Oil Wells in Kuwait aflame a Farewell gift from Iraq. Several of the analysts and journalists interviewed Here lament that these and other Eye Poppers concealed More than they revealed. A television hid death very successfully a one of them says and another Calls television a the perfect  there is agreement that for most of the War the world was seeing what the Pentagon wanted it to see. The daily military briefings confesses a reporter turned the army of correspondents into a unpaid  the program makes a Case that the overwhelming Victory pictured on television took Little account of a multitude of problems that could not be readily captured by a camera. The Oil Fields of saudi Arabia May have been saved but Anatomy of a War s observers agree that the planning for peace did not match the planning for War and the so called new world order proclaimed by Bush was merely a Label for the persistence of old disorders in the Middle East. It is pointed out that when the ground assault stopped Short of Baghdad Iraq was left with enough Force to crush the kurdish resisters who had been encouraged but not helped by Washington a million people became refugees. Since then the Baghdad government has obstructed the . Search for Evi dance of nuclear weapons. As for Kuwait it has yet to be transformed into a Model democracy. And Saddam Hussein having been left in Power at the Behest of Arab members of the coalition can claim a sort of Victory despite the miseries inflicted on his people. The program notes that after a War that was personified As a confrontation Between two leaders the iraqi loser has managed to survive politically longer than the american Winner. Anatomy of a War was written by Michael Mac Lear and Bob Harris who helped produce the show with David Kirk for scree life inc. In association with the Canadian broadcasting corporation for a amp a network. Ann Medin handled much of the interviews. The program includes King Hussein of Jordan John Sununu former White House chief of staff William Webster former director of the Central intelligence Agency and Hosni Mubarak president of Egypt. Anatomy of a War which aired on aae on Jan. 14, Haa not been a be ruled Tor broadcast by arts. January 23,1994 sunday a v Page 23