Memorial service to be held in Concord for Bronze Star-awarded war correspondent Joe Galloway

This article has 228 words with a read time of approximately 1 minute and 8 seconds.

CONCORD, N.C. (WBTV) – A memorial service will be held this weekend in Concord for Joe Galloway, the award-winning journalist, war correspondent and author whose experiences during the Vietnam War were chronicled in the book and film “We Were Soldiers.”

According to a press release, Joseph Lee Galloway Jr., died at his Concord home on Aug. 18. The memorial service is set for Saturday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church, located at 200 Branchview Drive Southeast in Concord.

Those remembering Galloway include Col. Bruce ‘Snake’ Crandall, who received the Medal of Honor for his actions as pilot during the battle of Ia Drang, flying 22 missions in an unarmed helicopter to evacuate more than 70 wounded, the release stated.

Galloway was embedded with troops during the 1965 battle of Ia Drang in the jungles of Vietnam’s Central Highlands. While there, he performed acts of valor that led to his being the only civilian to receive the Bronze Star from the Army during the Vietnam War, according to the release.

His experiences led to the book “We Were Soldiers Once…And Young,” which he wrote with Lt. Gen. Harold Moore in 1992. The book was adapted into the 2002 film “We Were Soldiers” that starred Mel Gibson, Greg Kinnear, Sam Elliott and Barry Pepper as Galloway.