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Mistakes

Just after Lyndon Johnson announces that the air mobile units will be sent to Vietnam (1965), a dance/party scene has everybody dancing and singing 'Hold On I'm Comin' by Sam and Dave. It was a hit, but not in 1965. It was a mid/late 1966 hit, almost a year after that party. The Ia Drang Valley battle took place in November, 1965, before that song was recorded. See more...

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After Hal Moore calls "Broken Arrow" the shots of the A6 Intruders taking off from the aircraft carrier are taken from Flight Of The Intruder. See more...

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We Were Soldiers (2002) - 19 corrections

Directed by Randall Wallace, starring Chris Klein, Greg Kinnear, Madeleine Stowe, Mel Gibson, Sam Elliott (add more)

Genres: Action, Drama, History, War

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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Right before they deploy to Vietnam, Mel Gibson describes to his soldiers what a diverse group they are. He lists off the various ethnic and racial groups that comprise the 1st Battalion, Seventh Cavalry. Among them are Hispanics, which is the wrong term for the time period, since Hispanic is a neologism coined in the '80s. [Since you didn't indicate what term would have been used in '65, I became curious and checked on the net. While I still am not sure what term Moore might have used in '65, your contention that the term was coined in the 80's seems to be incorrect. There are much older historical usages, and meanings, for the term (see wikipedia and others), but the first OFFICIAL use of the term in the U.S. is widely reported to have been the 1970 census, at least ten years earlier than you contend. This still does not answer the question, might "hispanic" have been in COMMON usage prior to the mentioned first official usage and might Moore have used it? If not, was there a term in common or official usage that Moore would have been more likely to have used?]
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When Galloway and an unidentified medic are clearing Jimmy Nakayama off of the field, Galloway tries to pick him up by the legs and peels them to the bone. Jimmy screams in anguish. Severe burns are merciful. With badly burned tissue (which would have had to be the case for the skin to peel off) the nerves have been destroyed. Jimmy would not have felt additional pain when the tissue tore. [Is he screaming in anguish, or from horror at seeing his legs peeling off? I know I'd freak seeing my skin slough off like it's an overripe banana peel.]
Edit Corrected by rswarrior Time
Where are all the charred bodies? There should have been thousands of charred bodies littering the battle field after all the bombing (especially napalm). The trees and vegetation should have been burnt black and down to the dirt. Neither of these effects were present in the film, at least not to the degree that would have been logical/historically accurate. [Most of the heavy air attacks and artillery was not in the immediate area around the soldiers dug in so you dont see all the effects of it. There are plenty of dead bodies, and just because there isnt a up close shot of a charred body doesnt not mean there are not any in the movie. Many bodies look pretty messed up. Only an estimated 634 enemy were killed and an estimated 1215 killed or wounded by artillery and air attacks. Plenty of trees are blackened with leaves burnt off too. Artillery and napalm doesn't completely destroy everything.]
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The rifles used in this movie, the Armalite AR15 / Colt M16. There are two models ? The earlier (1965) model did NOT have the 'bolt closure'/'bolt assist' on it. This was a device on the right side of the rifle to ram the round up the chamber. This earlier model also had a 3 prong flash hider on the front end of the barrel. The later (1967) model did have the bolt assist. It also had a flash hider which was caged in. This later model was not released and issued until 28 February 1967. The model used in the movie was this latest model (1967). The Battle of Ia Drang took place in November 1965. [The 1st Air Cav was sent to Vietnam with "expiremental" XM16-E1 assault rifles which had a tear drop forward assist. The version of the M16 the Air Force adopted in 1964 had no forward assist but that same year the US Army adopted the XM16-E1 as a limited standard rifle. However, because XM16-E1 replica rifles are almost non-existant, the rifles used in the movie were M16-A1 rifles (which were introduced in 1967) which had early 3-prong flash hiders and early non-trap-door stocks attached (instead of the M16A1s birdcage flash hider and trap-door stock). The reason you can tell the rifles used were originally M16A1s is because the lower reciever on M16A1s have "fencing" around the magazine release button. XM16-E1s did not have "fencing". In many scenes in the movie you can see the fencing.]
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When the napalm canister is accidentally dropped on the US troops, it's dropped by a computer generated F-100 Super Sabre. Historically, the aircraft which actually dropped the errant napalm canister was an F-105 Thunder Chief. Since the aircraft was CG, they could have depicted the F-105. [According to Hal Moore's book, the two aircraft on the run to drop the napalm (including the one that did drop the errant cannister) were indeed F-100 Super Sabres. Sergeant Nye (at the battle) confirms this. Therefore, no mistake.]
Edit Corrected by Zwn Annwn
In the film, Hal Moore repeatedly fires his weapon at NVA soldiers near the command post. In actuality no NVA soldiers got into the command post area, and Hal Moore never fired his weapon. [Artistic license, not a mistake.]
Edit Corrected by Twotall
In the beginning, when the soldiers are attacked, a soldier is blowing a horn when it appears that he gets shot in the throat. In slow motion, the blood shoots up out of his uniform from a special pouch. [If you have to view it in slow motion, it's not a mistake.]
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Both Snake and Too Tall are shown piloting their helicopters from the right seat, the pilot's seat is the left seat. [Most helicopters are piloted on the right side.]
Edit Corrected by Ronnie Bischof
When CSM Plumley hands Joe Galloway the M-16, Galloway takes off his camera and drops it on the ground, but after the battle when he gets it back it is hanging from the branch of a tree. [Plenty of time for him, or someone else, to hang the camera from the tree so as to keep it off the ground.]
Edit Corrected by Zwn Annwn
In the scene where Mel Gibson is standing alone, waiting for the bus at the airfield in the middle of the night, the camera pans in close for a face closeup, and over his shoulder you can clearly see a blue strobe police lightbar, strobing in the background. Strobe lightbars did not exist in 1965, they weren't invented until the 1990's. [It's not a blue strobe police light. The scene referenced is at 38:46. If you pause the DVD at this point you can get a clear view of what is behind him. More correctly, you get an out of focus view. Behind Mel is an antenna complex with three tall towers (you can see them when Mel first walks into the light). In addition to the three towers you see a slightly out of focus row of various colored lights which are part of the tower complex. The blinking blue light is in direct line with all the other lights and is part of this complex (not on a police car).]
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During the most intense fighting, Mel Gibson calls for "Broken Arrow" meaning that all available planes drop their ordinance. Several NVA soldiers are shown running across the ridge wearing bandanas completely across their faces due to allergies from the dust; they were supposed to remove them during the final shooting but obviously they didn't. These aren't seen at any other time. [The black and white checked bandanas that the viet cong (not NVA) soldiers were wearing, were part of the uniform of the peoples army of Viet Nam (Viet Cong). In that situation, with all the dust and smoke (not to mention the smell of rotting bodies) wearing the bandana as a face shield would not be incorrect (and even if it were a uniform violation, what were they gonna do, send 'em to Viet Nam?).]
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When the reporter finds Jimmy half-burned from napalm, Jimmy is writhing on the ground. The problem is that his clothes aren't burning, the ground around him isn't singed, and Jimmy obviously was not able to move himself in any way. [When Jimmy is napalmed, you can see him take a couple of steps back immediately after being hit. As he was on the edge of the blast, this took him out of the burned area.]
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Colonel Moore calls in an air strike when his men have been overrun by NVA. The next scene shows Navy EA-6B's launching from an aircraft carrier deck. The only problem is the story takes place in 1965 and the Grumman EA-6B was not operational till three years later, in May of 1968. [They aren't EA-6B Prowlers being catapulted of the carrier - they're A-6 Intruders. Similar aircraft, but definitely not the same.]
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As the troops gather for the transport to Vietnam, they are all carrying weapons and full combat gear. This is incorrect, as weapons would have been issued on arrival in 'Nam. They would not even have worn combat fatigues, let alone the other gear during the flight over the ocean. [In the military, it is not uncommon to find the soldiers being boarded onto planes in full combat gear with rifles and everything. I know people who went to Iraq and Afghanistan and that's how they boarded their airplanes.]
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In the scene where Lt. Herrington dies, he says that he was glad to die for his country. After he says this, he stops breathing and the medic checks for a pulse in his neck with his thumb. You never check a pulse with your thumb because it is big enough that you will feel your own pulse. [The medic is actually using his index and middle fingers to check for a pulse. His thumb is on Lt. Herrington's collar. The camera angle makes it appear as if he is using his thumb.]
Edit Time
In the movie some of the North Vietnamese underground tunnels were huge. Some of them were almost 6 feet in diameter. According to an acquaintance who actually inspected many NVA tunnels in Vietnam, most of them were much, much smaller in diameter. In fact, one can only crawl through many of them. None of the tunnels he inspected was 6 feet in diameter. Imagine the tremendous amount of labor required to dig out a huge 6-foot diameter tunnel. [I was there in 1969 as an infantry platoon leader and saw first hand some tunnel complexes (medical to be precise) that were every bit as large as those depicted in the movie. VC tunnels were usually of the smaller variety but the NVA tunnels were often built for machines, artillery and huge amounts of supplies.]
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This film is supposed to take place in Vietnam. It looks like it was shot in the same location as "Little House on the Prairie". Where's the jungle? It looked as though the battle took place in Northern California, not Northern Vietnam. [Buy the book and look at Joe Galloway's pictures. They look very much like the movie set.]
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Isn't it odd that the telegrams were arriving even as the battle raged? How could they arrive so quickly? [If you read Moore's book, you will realize that the telegrams *were* arriving during the conflict in the Ia Drang. Moore made a point of this, and how unacceptable it was for the US Army to be using cabs to deliver these telegrams.]
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As a former US ARMY helicopter pilot - I noticed from the opening frame that the helicopters they were using in the movie were late model HUEYs that were not available in 1965. The give-away is that all of the helicopters in the movie have 2 windows on the troop compartment door. The 2 windows reflect a change made in either the Delta ("D") or Hotel ("H") model Huey where the troop compartment was expanded for a larger payload. [They did use D-Model Hueys at LZ X-Ray. Go to www.lzxray.com for pictures taken at the time by Joe Galloway.]
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