perspective, but one theme that is constant among our service personnel is their pride in the service to country. 40 years after the first full-scale engagement between u.s. troops and the people s army of vietnam, the vietnam archive at texas tech university in lubbock interviewed veterans from the battle ofs ia drang valley. it was after these battles, waged in november 1965 that north vietnamese forces began engaging in guerrilla warfare. the americans, outnumbered by the north vietnamese army prevailed, but at a heavy cost. enrique pujals was a second lieutenant and a platoon leader with the 2nd battalion, 7th cavalry in the fall of 1965. his platoon got into the fight at landing zone x-ray where his men were first hit with friendly fire. up next, excerpts from his oral history interview. immediately following this 30-minute program we ll hear from tracy black enders, the daughter of a newspaper reporter who was embedded with the 7th cavalry. now, enrique pujals. i wa
probably the western side of the perimeter. no real heavy probes because they were looking for weaknesses in the line. my company being fresh, we had ample supply of ammunition. we were a solid company. they didn t find too many weaknesses. so they obviously probed some place else. tell me about your general feelings and your remembrance. of colonel mcdade. before the walk. what kind of commander was he? before before, yes. didn t know him. thefs there what, three weeks, four weeks? even if he had been there the whole time i didn t know him. he was a battalion commander of another battalion. remember, my unit was attached. right. so i m asking because did he make contact with you all? didn t make contact with us because we didn t fall under his command until we were ordered to move out. i mean, i could say the same about hal moore. i had not laid eyes on hal moore until the morning that we walked in to the lv. his reputation being a tough battalion comma