Challenge 21: A Book With a Great First Line

Donna's Book: We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam by Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway (HarperCollins, 2009)

To be honest, I don't think that a good book will ever have a bad first line.  As a published author (albeit of history text books) I know how many hours I spent getting that first line just right.  So this is really an excuse to read one of the books that's been on my reading list for ages, but hasn't really fit into any of the categories so far.

This one fits, and it also has a great first line as a bonus:  "It has been more than forty years since those nightmarish days of November 1965, when an understrength 450-man battalion of the 7th US Cavalry launched an audacious helicopter air assault into the heart of enemy territory in the Ia Drang valley."

Comments: 

This i' one of the most beautiful and powerful books that I've ever read. I never had the privilege of meeting Lt Gen Moore but, just from reading his book, I know I would have followed him into the Ia Drang valley in November 1965, and anywhere else since. Every chapter brought tears to my eyes. But mostly what made me sad is the complete and utter contrast with the so-called 'leadership' in America today.

I never met Lt Gen Moore but I can still follow where he led: "Never quit. There's always one more thing you can do to influence any situation in your favour."

I am the proud daughter of a Vietnam veteran. I am proud to be an American. And I will never quit.
#resist