weekend of march 31st on cspan 2 and 3. 40 years after the first full scale engagement between u.s. troops and the people of army of vietnam, the vietnam archive interviewed veterans from the battles. it was after these battles waged in november of 1965, that north vietnamese forces engaged in ger la warfare. up next, excerpts from one of those worldries. we'll hear from harold moore. over the next hour, moore ruminates on the nature of war and leadership and we'll hear his recollections of the battles he knew would reverberate in washington and hanoi. this is the second of two parts and opens with moore talking about freedom of the press during wartime. part one can be viewed at

cspan.org/history. >> what i -- that commanders did welcome and understand press coverage. but after the fact, they add that when the negative reports, tried to turn the volume down a bit. starting to have a problem with the way that a war was being -- i realized every now and then --

i would -- i thought it was -- or the american people. the people who send their sons and daughters off to war, they deserve to know what's going on. they depend on -- it was unfortunate -- >> is that correct? >> that's correct. >> this is one of your principles. >> that's right. >> and what was the situation there? you all -- the assault company to get out and -- when there's nothing wrong, there's something wrong, but there's nothing wrong. >> right. >> describe what you were

thinking and feeling. >> well, early in the morning before the assault, it was described in the book, i gathered a group of officers and two helicopters and we did an air recon. at a high altitude. of the objective area south of the eye drain valley mountain complex. we flew south over the mountain complex and the eye drain river as far as the special forces, six or seven miles north of the mountains. just to get an idea of the terrain and the -- these people

would give me advice. but we came back. decided in a hurry which -- [ inaudible ] i ordered h 13, two-man helicopters. above the three recon. the valley area. not just x-rayed. didn't want to zone in order to do a lens. x-ray.

it was another on the side of the mountain. they saw -- coming across the clearing. one of these helicopters. so i selected that and the assault -- in fact -- at the position fired our choice and i gathered together, you've seen the remains of it. on the western end of the

airstrip. i gathered all the hospitelicop. all my company commanders. 50 people. and i issued my option. something like -- and why did i gather all these people? because i wanted them all to know my concept. my plan of maneuver and of fire support. which companies would land when. with succession. why? i went on the game and somebody who went -- wasn't any confusion. i did that every time i went

into battle. vietnam. i made a mistake which i've always regretted. i take full responsibility. i should have put more on the mountain. right there, matt dillon, british operations officer right there. they didn't suggest it. the tie ins in the valley.

in accordance, which was about an hour and a half northwest of x-ray and on the eye drain river. another set in the south. southeast part of the mountainous complex about two miles. and the third set that i had six digit, right in the middle -- >> when you get -- i should have realized that the enemy had an

observation post on the mountain. my head was up my ass, i never thought of it. i should have put in air support. fire bombs were available. so, i must -- had i not made that mistake, some of the other men who came forward -- we landed without instance. i fired my -- land ed and i ran

ran across to get here. possible -- no contact. i was very happy about that. i looked up -- [ inaudible ] and i realized that the line beside of him, folks down the mo mountain and up the mountain.

i had given about three sitting in the borders. be prepared to take over the mission of another company, which was fine. if the company was readily responding. >> we know what happened -- >> yes. [ inaudible ]

walked in tight up the mountain. i needed the order and i got there to to look an order at ridge line and draw. and took it on and within a short while, a large group of enemies. 60 days or less.

and then once he's getting in, after 60 days, i began losing men going back over. before the battle. officers do their job and ncos, platoon sergeants probably and i incured a lot of -- i had the upset ridge line. in the process of the initial

fire fight, paris spotted a group of enemy. i don't know how many, maybe three, maybe six. who were running to the north down another creek bed. to the west creek bed borderi bordering -- and he radioed back -- that he was pursuing and by so doing, we defied the commander of three maneuvers and they maneuver hall.

protecting the -- one of his platoons. said okay, but don't get surrounded. but i don't know -- we all make -- possibly, had gone too far to be recalled, but anyhow,

he was quickly surrounded and gathered down the knoll, formed a circle -- superb leader. very well, yeah. expect the recent ones. and they're me.

he quickly got the radio. they were calling in fire support for his troops. and he did a great job, although it was bad for students to be surrounded out there. away from the rest. formed a problem for me because i promised all my troops that i would bring them all home. very supportive. we agreed that -- cut off the

rest of the -- [ inaudible ] because we thought it confused the enemy. that we were stretched out. it may have prevented that enemy circling around to the northeast. and coming out in two directions. so in retro spective, awfully good. [ inaudible ] >> exactly. >> playing the role, will they be interviewing harp er?

[ inaudible [ inaudible ] >> only child and here's a remarkable man who it was the brigade. first captain. pennsylvania military and senior r year before that, eager to learn. and object went into the eye

drain valley, we were gone mid september to mid november. and we went out above operations. [ inaudible ] i tried to calm him down and he will him got to face up to the facts this happened. do better the next time. gone to heaven and don't match

your at tide. c tuesday. contaminate. have a positive attitude. although you could be grieving, you still have to have a positive attitude. can't let that contaminate your leadership. [ inaudible ] going out to play and was sitting down with dagen at his fox hole cp.

having a cup of coffee. and -- the morning that he was killed -- over 200 that company, that company and my delta company was -- over the next

morning, i stayed away for most of the night. i was thinking how am i going to get off that platoon. i decided to make a --

[ inaudible [ inaudible ] smack into them. it's large -- they were able to give the alert back. i didn't know if this was going to be an attack only or -- that was why we were so quiet. my instingts.

headed back under fire. all five were walking and officers were wounded. two of the five, two of the lieutenants were killed. and that's when charlie hastings, my air force controller on the ground, i didn't know there was such an order, but he called into the radio, broken arrow. not likely to move. and i didn't know he had done this.

every may believe bomber in south vietnam had the choice to do. either assist -- and within ten minutes, we had fire bombers stacked up on the eye drain valley. intervals up to 37,000 feet. delivered their orders. and the smoke an dust in the north. the men hollering for mom and medic, it was just unbelievable. it was a deadly situation i was ever in.

during that battle -- thinking about negative thoughts. i thought what could i do to influence the situation. so the first thing i did, had to chop charlie. then i ordered on the other side -- but they helped a lot. and d company put the mark and they cut a lot. only one enemy that i know of

staggered through and that was black pajama -- probably and this wounded, staggered and he couldn't even talk. [ inaudible ] but charlie company held their ground.

committed my recon and my reserve. which helped. hold off that enemy and cause a lot. may have retreated, what we brought -- they were enemy bodies all over. weapons littering the ground. mortars. they came to stay. maps. those guys