Lieutenant General Harold G. "Hal" Moore, A Contemplative Leader
Harold G. "Hal" Moore was born in Bardstown, Kentucky. on February 13, 1922. He graduated from West Point in 1945 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry. Immediately upon graduation he made a retreat at the Abbey of Gethsemani where he met Thomas Merton.
He served as a paratrooper for a rifle platoon in Japan; jump-tested experimental parachutes for the Army's Airborne Test Section with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; commanded two infantry companies and served as a regimental S-3 in the Korean War; and commanded a battalion in the newly formed air mobile 11th Airborne Test Division at Fort Benning, Georgia.
In November 1965, Moore validated the air-mobile concept when he and his unit of 450 troopers fought and won the first major American battle of the Vietnam War against more than 2,000 North Vietnamese regulars. Immediately after the hard-fought battle, he was promoted to colonel and given command of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, which he continued to lead in combat for another 235 days.
Before retiring in 1977 as a lieutenant general after 32 years of service, Moore served in Norway with NATO; commanded the 7th Infantry Division in Korea and the Army installation at Fort Ord, California; and was personnel chief of the Army. In 1992 Moore and journalist Joseph Galloway co-authored the best selling book We Were Soldiers Once...and Young. Mel Gibson portrayed Moore in the 2002 movie version, We Were Soldiers. Moore returned to Vietnam seven times since 1990 to walk the battlefields in reconciliation with the North Vietnamese commanders who opposed him. In August 2008, Moore and Galloway teamed together once more for a follow-up book, We Are Soldiers Still.
Moore is a master parachutist with over 300 jumps and qualified Army helicopter pilot During his military career, he earned accelerated promotions six times. He was awarded two Combat Infantry Badges, the Purple Heart and the Distinguished Service Cross, among many other awards for valor. He completed advanced studies at Harvard University and has earned many civilian accolades for his lifelong service to the nation. Despite his many accolades, he claims his proudest achievement to be that, in all of his many battles during two wars, he never left a soldier on the battlefield to become a prisoner of war or missing in action.
Moore resides in Auburn, Alabama. He and his wife Julie, who passed away in April 2004, have five children and twelve grandchildren.
LTG Moore is passionate about those things he believes warrant sustained leadership. His efforts today involve The Merton Institute for Contemplative Living and contemplative leadership, The Julie and Hal Moore Center of Excellence, the American Citizenship Trust, the Hal Moore Youth Leadership Academy of Honor and other worthwhile leadership endeavors.
Recent works about his life and leadership include A General’s Spiritual Journey and A Tender Warrior.
He credits the development of his contemplative nature for his ability to find silence, peace, and calm even in the midst of a chaotic battle. “My decision-making is based upon my contemplative wisdom and the uniqueness of my life experiences.”
His leadership emanates from a deep understanding of himself and his relationship with God, with others and with nature; He exemplifies the contemplative values of compassion, humility, generosity and love in his decisions and actions. He profoundly affected the lives of the people he served and continues to influence many people in all walks of life, contributing to improving the human condition everywhere and setting an example that will inspire future leaders to create a just and peaceful world.
The irony of a common ground in the life of military man and a monk speaks to the essential, shared unity and understanding that exists at the contemplative level of our being that can find its expression in whatever way a person chooses to live.
On February 13, 2009, The Merton Institute honored LTG Hal Moore with its first Merton Institute Award for Contemplative Leadership.
‘The mission of the contemplative in this world of massive conflict and collective unreason is to seek the true way of unity and peace, without succumbing to the illusion of withdrawing into a realm of abstraction from which unpleasant realities are simply excluded by force of will. In facing the world with a totally different viewpoint, the contemplative maintains alive in the world the presence of a spiritual and intelligent consciousness which is the root of true peace and true unity among men.” Thomas Merton