Galloway is a native of Refugio, Texas. He married his first wife, Theresa M. Magdalene, in October 1964 and they remained married until her death on January 26, 1996, from cancer. Together they had two sons, Joshua and Lee. In 1998, Galloway married Karen Metsker. After they divorced in 2003, he married Dr. Gracie Liem Lim Suan Tzu, a friend for more than 45 years, on May 13, 2012, in Las Vegas. In attendance at the ceremony was former U.S. Senator Max Cleland and 7th Cavalry veterans John Henry Irsfeld and Dennis Deal. Mr. and Mrs. Galloway now reside in Concord, North Carolina.
Career
Newspapers
Galloway started his career at The Victoria Advocate in Victoria, Texas, afterwards working for United Press International in the Kansas City and Topeka bureaus. Later, he served overseas as bureau chief or regional manager in Tokyo, Vietnam, Jakarta, New Delhi, Singapore, Moscow, and Los Angeles. He worked as a reporter for UPI during the early part of Vietnam War in 1965. Thirty-three years later, he was decorated with the Bronze Star for helping to rescue a badly wounded soldier while under enemy fire on November 15, 1965, during the Battle of Ia Drang at Landing Zone X-Ray in Vietnam. Galloway retired as a weekly columnist for McClatchy Newspapers in January 2010, writing, "I have loved being a reporter; loved it when we got it right; understood it when we got it wrong...In the end, it all comes down to the people, both those you cover and those you work for, with or alongside during 50 years."
Literature
Along with Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, Galloway co-authored a detailed account of those experiences in the best-selling 1992 book, We Were Soldiers Once… And Young. A sequel was released in 2008: and Moore and Galloway gave an interview on the book at the Pritzker Military Library on September 17, 2008.
In popular culture
In We Were Soldiers, a 2002 film based on his 1992 book, Galloway is portrayed by actor Barry Pepper. Actor Edward Burns portrayed him in the miniseries Vietnam in HD, and Tommy Lee Jones played him in the 2017 film Shock and Awe.
Narration
Galloway narrated A Flag Between Two Families, a documentary film, based on the events of May 9, 1968, in Vietnam by the members of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry.
Awards
In 1991, Galloway received a National Magazine Award for a U.S. News cover article on the Ia Drang battles in Vietnam. In 1992, he received the New Media Award of the National VFW for his coverage of the Persian Gulf War for U.S. News. In 2002, Galloway received the Robert Denig Award for Exceptional Service of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Assn. In 2005, he received the Tex McCrary Award of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. On May 1, 1998, Galloway was decorated with the Bronze Star with "V" Device. The medal was in recognition of his heroism on November 15, 1965, during the Battle of Ia Drang, the first major battle by U.S. and North Vietnamese troops in the Vietnam War. Galloway was present as a journalist. During the fighting, he risked his own safety to assist wounded soldiers. His actions are depicted in the film We Were Soldiers in which he is portrayed by actor Barry Pepper.
