Joseph L. Galloway and the Realities of War Corresponding

Abstract
War corresponding is an essential part of journalism in today’s society. War correspondents risk their lives to report the events of war. It is a very challenging job, and not everyone is cut out for it. One significant war correspondent of the 20th century is Joseph L. Galloway. He spent most of his working career dealing with war, with his most notable achievements being reporting from the front lines of the battle at Landing Zone X-ray in the Ia Drang Valley during the Vietnam War, being a best selling author, and receiving the Bronze Star Medal with Valor for his courage at the aforementioned battle. Joseph L. Galloway and the Realities of War Corresponding War correspondents have been around as long as the journalism career and as long as there have been wars to report. The first war correspondent is said to be Willem van de Velde. In 1653, he took a small boat across the sea to observe a naval battle between the English and the Dutch (War correspondent). War corresponding has come a long way since those days. With every war comes more and more correspondents to cover the news, battles, and outcomes. “War correspondents help the public understand the consequences of government policy, military strategy, and battlefield tactics (Steele, B)”. Without them, the rest of the world would be left in the dark and be unaware of the events of major wars. War correspondents play a crucial yet dangerous role in society. Most war correspondents are on the front lines of battle. They are sent to the most conflict-ridden and hazardous parts of the world to report back their stories, pictures, and videos. They risk their lives to bring news from war to the rest of the world. Some are captured, tortured, and even killed. This is typically not an entry-level position, since reporters are expected to provide meticulous coverage while also trying to escape enemy fire and other battlefield hazards (War correspondent). War corresponding is considered the most dangerous form of journalism and rightly so. However, war corresponding is also one of the most successful branches of journalism. Newspaper and magazine sales and television news ratings increase greatly in times of war (Steele, B). One famous war correspondent that knows the dangers of the job very well is Joseph L. Galloway. Mr. Galloway was born in 1941 in Refugio, Texas (Joe galloway). When he was seventeen years old, he tried convincing his mother to let him join the Army. She ended up steering him toward what would make him a household name: journalism. In the mid 1960’s, Mr. Galloway was shipped off to Vietnam to cover a war that seemed to be inevitable. At the age of 24, his first view of action was the battle at Landing Zone X-ray in the Ia Drang Valley, one of the first and deadliest battles of the Vietnam War (Lee, J. A.). When the Vietnamese first attacked in the Ia Drang Valley, Mr. Galloway was stranded at a nearby fire support base. He was brought into the valley by helicopter under the cover of darkness on November 14, 1965. At first light, all hell broke loose and Mr. Galloway found himself lying flat in the dirt, avoiding the oncoming Vietnamese Army. He was kicked in the stomach by Sergeant Major Bail L. Plumley who told him, “You can’t take no pictures layin’ down there on the ground, sonny!” (Lee, J. A.) He jumped to his feet just in time to see bombs explode 20 yards away from him. He and the medic raced to help, but the medic took a sniper’s bullet to the head. Mr. Galloway carried a wounded soldier from the Napalm fire. He said this of carrying the soldier:
“When I lifted him by the ankles his skin slipped right off and I could feel his bare bones in my hands. It took three hours to medevac him out and he screamed the whole time—regardless how much morphine he was given. He died two days later in the hospital” (Lee, J. A).
Mr. Galloway survived the deadly two-day battle. He spent a total of 22 years as a foreign and war correspondent and bureau chief for United Press International (UPI). He also spent nearly 20 years as a senior editor and senior writer for U.S. News & World Report magazine (Joe galloway). In 1982, he reconnected with Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore from the battle at Landing Zone X-ray and the two of them spent the next ten years writing We Were Soldiers Once… And Young. Their book detailing the experience of the battle they both lived through spent seventeen weeks atop the New York Times Bestseller list and was made into a movie in 1992 titled We Were Soldiers starring Mel Gibson as Moore and Barry Pepper as Galloway (Lee, J. A.).
Mr. Galloway has never forgotten his time in the war and the lasting friendships that he made:
“From that day to this, I’ve loved soldiers and Marines, and I feel more comfortable with them than any civilian audience I can think of. Unfortunately I had to stop all that runnin’ around, chasing up sand dunes behind 19-year-old Marines, but I surely miss it. I hate to think of my friends over there and I ain’t there for them. I ain’t there to stand beside ’em, and I ain’t there to cover ’em”(Lee, J. A.).
When Mr. Galloway’s wife died in 1996, he awoke one morning to see half a dozen men on the sidewalk outside of his house. A green van full of Army officers pulled up. A Colonel approached him and said: “Sir, we represent the 17,000 men and women of the 1st Cavalry Division. A long time ago you stood beside us in a very bad time and place. Now we are here to stand beside you” (Lee, J. A.). The soldiers that he risked his life for so many years ago were there for him in his time of need. Mr. Galloway learned that you could not buy that type of loyalty and friendship; you have to earn it. On May 1, 1998, Mr. Galloway was awarded a Bronze Star Medal with Valor for rescuing wounded soldiers in the Ia Drang Valley. This is the only medal of valor the U.S. Army awarded to a civilian during the Vietnam War (Joe galloway). He was an incredible war correspondent and his name will go down in history as one of the bravest there ever was. Mr. Galloway said, “There are old war correspondents and bold war correspondents but no old, bold war correspondents” (Galloway, J.L.). It can be argued that he will forever be an old and bold war correspondent.

References
Galloway, J.L. (April 2003). Some notes on being a war correspondent. Retrieved from http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0304/galloway.html
Joe galloway. (n.d.). Retrieved on 3 December 2011 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-galloway
Lee, J. A. (2011). Joe galloway: Old, bold war correspondent. Retrieved on 3 December 2011 from http://usoonpatrol.org/archives/2011/05/02/joe-galloway-old-bold-war-corr
Steele, B. (2011, March 02). War correspondents: duty and danger. Retrieved on 3 December 2011 from http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/everyday-ethics/talk-about-ethics/749/war-correspondents-duty-and-danger/
War correspondent. (2011, October 19). Retrieved on 3 December 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_correspondent