As the French fail to defend their Indochinese colonies against communist insurgency, US president Johnson decides in cold war logic the US Army must take over the defense of the (South) Vietnamese puppet state, but refuses to mobilize properly. Devout Catholic, patriot and family father lieutenant colonel Harold Moore, CO of the the first battalion, has read up and gives superior paratrooper training to the young recruits of his reorganized 1/7th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. 1st Air Cavalry Division, relying on close collaboration with major Bruce Crandall''s team of combat and medical evacuation helicopter crews. Their dubious assignment to conquer a mountain in Ia Drang, the 'Valley of Death', on a Vietcong division, which proves dug in masterly under tough, capable lieutenant colonel Nguyen Huu An, is a bloody nightmare, with Moore personally commanding his 400 men on the front, where only brotherhood can inspire heroic efforts, as documented by a war reporter from a military family.—KGF Vissers