MovieChat Forums > We Were Soldiers (2002) Discussion > Telegrams to the wives

Telegrams to the wives

posted 10 years ago by fcmjr55
4 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed this movie, but have one small quibble. This was a three day battle. After the first day of battle, telegrams started arriving announcing the death of those KIA. I don't know logistically how the information would have been reported, and the resulting notice sent to the survivors, but I can't imagine that the names of the KIA were radioed in during the heat of battle. And I can't imagine that the military would have been that efficient to get notice out within 24 hours.

[–] BertramWilberforceWooster 10 years ago

My dad was in Vietnam, and he said it was usually around a week before notices arrived. I think this film takes creative license, but it's effective.

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All your base are belong to us.

[–] MadTom 10 years ago

The original book by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway is made up of two parts, and the movie only covers Part 1, from the Prologue to Chapter 18.

Part 2 is mostly about a second battle involving the 2nd Battalion 7th Cavalry as they are ambushed while marching on the way from LZ X-Ray to another LZ, and is made up of Chapter 19 through Chapter 26 and an Epilogue and a couple of appendices.

The part about the wives receiving the telegrams after the end of the battle, with Julia Moore yelling at the cab driver and then calming down and accompanying him to deliver the telegrams, is in Chapter 25. They could have followed the book up through Part 1 as written, leaving out that part, so it was a directorial/production crew decision to intercut it with the battle as if it was actually happening in real time.

Personally, the only problem I had with it was the way they had the the troops raising their weapons to firing position as the NVA approached them, and then out of nowhere cut to a closeup of Julia's vacuum cleaner. That was a real WTF moment for me, as I presume it was for most other moviegoers.

[–] mobstar1967 10 years ago

I believe that since this was the very first confrontation between American combat troops and the NVA that all eyes and ears were focused on the battle at La Drang ..
I could see how confirmed kills very well could of been handled right away having the KIA letters expressed within a day or two..Only because this was the first official battle this could of been so..,
Once *beep* got out of control over there
And it did fast getting those KIA letters would of taken much longer..

[–] jasidwell 10 years ago

I thought the same thing about the movie, but then I get it. It was probley a couple of weeks later they get the telegram. They just incorporated into the movie to show not only the fighting part but also the wives side of it too.