Journalist Joe Galloway, chronicler of Vietnam War, dies

Longtime American overseas correspondent Joseph L Galloway, finest identified for his e-book recounting a pivotal battle within the Vietnam War that was made right into a Hollywood film, has died. He was 79.
A local of Refugio, Texas, Galloway spent 22 years as a struggle correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International, together with serving 4 excursions in Vietnam. He then labored for US News & World Report journal and Knight Ridder newspapers in a collection of abroad roles, together with reporting from the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Galloway died on Wednesday morning, his spouse Grace Galloway advised AP, after being hospitalized close to their dwelling in Concord, North Carolina. He can be survived by two sons and a step daughter.
“He was the kindest, most gentle and loving man,” Grace Galloway mentioned.
“He loved the boys and girls of the US military. He loved his country,” she mentioned.
With co-author retired US Army Lt. Gen. Hal Moore, Galloway wrote “We Were Soldiers Once … And Young,” which recounted his and Moore’s expertise throughout a bloody 1965 battle with the North Vietnamese within the Ia Drang Valley. The e-book grew to become a nationwide bestseller and was made into the 2002 film “We Were Soldiers,” starring Mel Gibson as Moore and Barry Pepper as Galloway.
“Joe has my respect and admiration– a combat reporter in the field who willingly flew into hot spots and, when things got tough, was not afraid to take up arms to fight for his country and his brothers,” Gibson mentioned on Wednesday.
Galloway was embellished with a Bronze Star Medal with V in 1998 for rescuing wounded troopers beneath hearth throughout the la Drang battle.
He is the one civilian awarded a medal of valor by the U.S. Army for actions in fight throughout the Vietnam War.Galloway additionally served as a guide for the 2016 PBS documentary “The Vietnam War,” directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.
They mentioned he shall be missed.
“Joe was a very brave and courageous reporter and phenomenal storyteller the likes of which they don’t make anymore,” Burns and Novak mentioned in a joint assertion.
“We were lucky he came into our lives and made our understanding of the Vietnam War that much more vivid.”
After reporting from the entrance strains throughout Operation Desert Storm, Galloway co-authored “Triumph With Victory: The Unreported History of the Persian Gulf War.” As he approached age 50, that was Galloway’s final fight project, however not the tip of his profession masking the US navy.
In 2002, Knight Ridder requested Galloway to return to reporting after a stint as an adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell to bolster its Washington bureau’s skeptical protection of the Bush administration’s case for ousting Hussein.
Galloway did that by contributing, typically anonymously, to his colleagues’ tales and by writing a column that always was crucial of Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and their aides who had been bent on invading Iraq.
John Walcott, Galloway’s longtime editor and good friend, recounted how an exasperated Rumsfeld lastly requested Joe to satisfy with him alone in his workplace. When Joe arrived, he was greeted by Rumsfeld and a gaggle of different high-ranking Pentagon officers.
“Good,” Galloway reported when he returned to the Knight Ridder workplace. “I had them surrounded”.
Galloway then described how after Rumsfeld accused him of counting on retired officers and officers, he had advised the group that the majority of his sources had been on energetic responsibility, and that a few of them would possibly even be on this room.”
Asked by his colleagues if that was true, Galloway replied, “No, but it was fun watching ’em sweat like whores in church.”
Galloway’s contributions to Knight Ridder’s crucial protection of the Bush administration’s case for invading Iraq was later portrayed in one other film, Rob Reiner’s “Shock and Awe,” during which fellow Texan Tommy Lee Jones performed Galloway.
“The thing about Joe is that there wasn’t a dishonest bone in his body,” director Reiner advised the AP by cellphone.
“He spoke truth to power.” We will miss him, there’s only a few individuals who maintain his stage of integrity.”
Clark Hoyt, former Washington editor for Knight Ridder, mentioned it was a privilege to work with Galloway, who he known as one of many nice struggle correspondents of all time.

“He earned the trust and respect of those he was covering but never lost his ear for false notes, as shown by his contributions to Knight Ridder’s skeptical reporting on the run up to the Iraq war,” Hoyt mentioned.
Walcott mentioned he was an exemplar of what journalism ought to be. From the People’s Army of Vietnam to Rumsfeld, nobody ever intimidated Galloway apart from his spouse Gracie, Walcott mentioned.
“He never went to college, but he was one of, if not the, most gifted writers in our profession, in which his death will leave an enormous hole at a time when our country desperately needs more like him,” Walcott mentioned.