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Harold Gregory "Hal" Moore, Jr. (born February 13, 1922) is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General. He was most famous as the Lieutenant Colonel in command of the 1st battalion, U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, at the Battle of Ia Drang on November 14–16, 1965, in Vietnam.

Born in Bardstown, Kentucky, Moore's chances of obtaining an appointment to the United States Military Academy were reduced due to the demographics of the area. Moore therefore moved to Washington, D.C. where he completed his high school education, and attended George Washington University for two years before receiving his appointment from a Georgia congressman in 1942 (despite having never been to Georgia before). He graduated from West Point in 1945 and attended graduate studies at George Washington and Harvard universities obtaining a Masters degree in international relations.

Moore was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1945 and retired in 1977. Moore was the first of his class (1945) to be promoted to brigadier general, major general, and lieutenant general. After his retirement, Moore served as the Executive Vice President of the Crested Butte Ski Area, Colorado.

Moore's family consists of wife Julia Lyn Moore, son Harold Gregory Moore III (his children Harold Gregory Moore IV and Catherine V. Moore of Dallas) wife Evelyn Milne Moore, Stephen Moore wife Donna son Christopher UVA '05, Julie Moore (her children Cecile, Alida, Eric), Cecile (her children Julia and Stephen), and Colonel David Moore (wife Teresa daughters Elizabeth, Sarah, Mary Claire).

Selected awards

• Combat Infantryman Badge (2)
• Distinguished Service Cross (United States)
• Master Paratrooper
• 2003 USO Patriot Award

Writings by Hal Moore

• We Were Soldiers Once...And Young (Co-author: Joseph L. Galloway) which was adapted into a movie called We Were Soldiers filmed on Fort Hunter Liggett in Monterey County, California and Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia. He was portrayed by actor Mel Gibson.

See also

• Battle of Dien Bien Phu
• Basil L. Plumley
• Battle of Ia Drang

Trivia

Moore was known as "Yellow Hair" to his troops at the battle at Ia Drang, for his blonde hair, and as a tongue-in-cheek homage referencing Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, commander of the same unit (7th Cavalry) at the Battle of the Little Bighorn just under a century before.

External link

• Tribute to Hal Moore

• 1922 births
• Military personnel of the Korean War
• Roman Catholics
• United States Army generals
• Military personnel of the Vietnam War
• West Point graduates
• Living people
• People from Kentucky
• Recipients of the Combat Infantryman Badge
• Recipients of US Distinguished Service Cross
• Recipients of the Order of Saint Maurice