'I was a witness to greatness'

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Hal Moore

For 25 years, the careers of Auburn resident Hal Moore and George W. Casey Sr. paralleled each other. The two graduated from West Point together in 1945 and rose through the ranks to the exalted status of general.

In 1970, Casey Sr. was the highest-ranking officer to be killed in Viet Nam. When Moore and his wife Julie learned of the tragedy, they spent two days with Casey's family helping them deal with their grief.

Casey Sr.'s son, George W. Casey Jr., was 22 years old at the time. Today, he is a four-star general and the U.S. Army's chief of staff.

The 88-year-old Moore, a retired lieutenant general, has remained close to the son of his best friend. And on Monday--President's Day--Moore delivered the keynote address when father and son received the Freedom Award from the American Citizenship Trust in Montevallo.

Moore was the award's first recipient, and the day also marked Moore's birthday. In addition, the occasion commemorated the naming of Liberty Hall at American Village in Montevallo in Moore's honor. The 113-acre American Village campus is operated by American Citizenship Trust.

Moore rose to public prominence during one of the first major battles of the Viet Nam War, the bloody Battle of Ia Drang. The battle was reconstructed in the book "We Were Soldiers Once…and Young," written by Moore and Joe Galloway, a newspaper correspondent who was in the trenches with the soldiers during the battle. The book was later made into the movie "We Were Soldiers," starring Mel Gibson as Moore.

More than 500 people attended the event, including dignitaries such as former U.S. senator and Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and former Secretary of the Army Bo Callaway.

Moore retired to Auburn and is well-known in the community. Guests at the event included Auburn mayor Bill Ham and a number of students, principals and teachers from Auburn City Schools.

According to Kempthorne, those students were very lucky.

"I was a witness to greatness," Kempthorne later said of Moore's speech. "I listened to one of America's greatest generals. He's an iconic figure. So often those of us who love history experience it through others. To actually be there and hear his voice was remarkable."

In his keynote speech, Moore recalled the careers of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, whose birthdays were also celebrated Monday. The two presidents shared "one heartbeat," blazing new trails for America in dangerous, tumultuous times.

"Each one recognized the profound potential of a nation conceived in liberty," Moore said. "Washington stood above the rest with his feet firmly planted on the ground and his head in the heavens. It was Lincoln who stood on Washington's shoulders many yeaers later to see father and higher still. It is we who stand on Lincoln's shoulders to see our United States from sea to shining sea."

Kempthorne said he didn't think anyone could have heard Moore's speech and not come away inspired.

"It made me proud to be an American, and ready to do more," he said. "If we can instill that in our youth, there is still a sun rising over our republic."