Joe Galloway, best known among Vietnam veterans for his heroism at the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley in November 1965 when, as a 23-year-old United Press International correspondent, he picked up a weapon and carried a severely wounded 1st Cav trooper to safety under enemy fire, died August 18 following a massive heart attack at age 79.

Galloway, who did a two-year stint in the U.S. Army after graduating from high school, had a long distinguished journalism career for UPI, U.S. News & World Report, and the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain. He served four tours in Vietnam, covered the 1971 India-Pakistan War, the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, and other conflicts. Galloway co-authored We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, the best-selling, acclaimed 1992 book about the Battle of the Ia Drang, with Gen. Hal Moore. The book was the basis for the 2012 Hollywood movie, We Were Soldiers in which Mel Gibson played Gen. Moore and Barry Pepper portrayed Joe Galloway.

Galloway was an outspoken and steadfast Vietnam veterans advocate. The man Gen. H. Normal Schwarzkopf called “the finest combat correspondent of our generation, a soldier’s reporter and a soldier’s friend,” was awarded the Bronze Star with V device in 1998 for his courage under fire at the Ia Drang. He was one of a small handful of civilians to receive that medal, and the only civilian honored by the Army with any medal of valor for combat action in the Vietnam War. He received the VVA President’s Award for Excellence in the Arts at the 1999 National Convention.

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