So, I have to say a little blip about this movie.
First, if you really know me, you know I hate war movies. Why? Well, I just can't deal emotionally with the pain, suffering and struggles of others. I just start to cry. I cried my eyes out for E.T., it is not a war movie but it's still a sad movie. Well, I can't remember if I have said that
Werner Herzog is here, well he is. He is creating a documentary on something to do with Antarctica for, I believe, National Geographic, I think, but correct me if I am wrong. Please. So, currently in Film Festivals around somewhere, maybe the world, Herzog is premiering his most current film "
Rescue Dawn", and the Housing crew was 'lucky' enough to view it before the rest of McTown views it this weekend. First, it's an ok movie, and I am not much in to war movies, which it really didn't have a lot of fighting just a lot of torture, but it's ok. So, what was I going to say... Oh! Yeah. After I view a movie that is based on true facts I then do my own research because movies sometime give you a skewed version of history. However, my research maybe skewed as well, so take it with a pound of salt.
Well, so what I found is just a bit about the fellow "Gene", who supposedly goes crazy in the film, not Duane (Steve Zahn.)
If you have anything else on this I would like to know more.
And here is a bit of info on
Dieter Dengler. If you want to know.
Not such a small blip...
DEBRUIN, EUGENE HENRYName: Eugene Henry DeBruinRank/Branch: U.S. CivilianUnit: Air AmericaDate of Birth: 01 April 1933Home City of Record: Kaukauna WIDate of Loss: 05 September 1963Country of Loss: LaosLoss Coordinates: 164245N 1061021E (XD250480)Status (In 1973): Prisoner Of WarCategory: 1Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C46Refno: 0018Other Personnel in Incident: Joseph C. Cheney, Charles Herrick (killed incrash); Chui To Tik and 3 other Thai nationals (names unknown) (all captured)Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families,published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 1998.REMARKS: ESC W/D008 NFI-CREW PIC PUBD
SYNOPSIS: During the 1950's a deteriorating political situation in Laos hadallowed NVA troops and Pathet Lao guerrillas to seize the Laotian panhandlefrom the Royal Lao Army. Prevented by Geneva Accords from having a largemilitary presence in Laos, the U.S. established a "Program EvaluationOffice" (PEO) in 1958 as a CIA cover for anti-communist covert actions. Oneactivity, begun in 1958, used Meo tribesmen for a small pilot guerrillaprogram, which soon became the largest clandestine army in CIA history. Inthe first year, using U.S. Special Forces White Star teams as PEO"civilians", a few CIA officers and 90 elite Thai Border guards, an army of9000 Meo was trained for behind-lines guerrilla activity. Within 10 years,the Meo army grew to over 40,000 guerrillas, becoming the most effectivefighting force in Laos.The CIA's covert airline, known as "Air America" (AA) supported the Meo aswell as numerous other CIA-backed clandestine guerrilla armies. With theescalating war, a large US military presence guaranteed that Air Americacould operate in relative obscurity. With little fanfare throughout the war,AA fought in the frontlines of unconventional war. AA pilots flew "blackmissions" over China, North Vietnam and the Laotian panhandle. AA flew inevery type of aircraft from 727 jets to small Cessnas and junk aircraft,transporting everything from combat troops (alive, wounded or dead) to babychicks, dropping rice to refugees and specially trained Nung trailwatchersinto denied areas. AA contracted both with the Drug Enforcement Agency (totrack international drug smugglers) and with the Meo (to haul its annual andvaluable opium crop).As U.S. forces pulled out, AA picked up the slack, straining to maintain thestatus quo. The communists drove the Meo from their homelands in the early1970's, and as the Meo retreated, AA was in the position of hauling (andfeeding) tens of thousands of refugees. There were problems as the CIA fellunder Congressional scrutiny of its world-wide paramilitary activities andpublic pressure to divest itself of Air America. South Vietnam's rapidcollapse in 1975 signified the end of the clandestine war that began inVietnam thirty years earlier.
On September 5, 1963, an Air America C46 aircraft was hit by ground fire andcrashed about 2 kilometers from Tchepone, Savannakhet Province, Laos. EugeneDeBruin, Chui To Tik and two Thai nationals parachuted to safety, but wereimmediately captured by the Pathet Lao. Two crew members, Joseph C. Cheneyand Charles Herrick, were killed in the crash.Later, the the Pathet Lao photographed DeBruin and four others prisoners andpublished a leaflet naming the five as their prisoners. Several times duringtheir captivity the entire crew was moved to different locations withinSavannakhet and Khammouane Provinces.In early July 1966, Eugene and six other prisoners made an escape. However,only two of the seven, Dieter Dingler and one of the Thai nationals who waspart of Eugene's crew, reached safety. One report stated that DeBruin waskilled in the escape attempt, but the Thai national reported that DeBruinwas last seen attempting to reach high ground in a classified location.Eugene's family has not stopped looking for answers. They were able to finda report that Eugene may have been alive as late as January 1968. Hisbrother, Jerome traveled to Laos in 1972 in search of information.Although the Pathet Lao openly admitted holding American prisoners of war,they insisted that the U.S. negotiate directly with them to ensure theirrelease. The U.S. never negotiated or recognized the Pathet Lao, and as aconsequence, not one of the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos (many of whomwere known to have survived their loss incidents) was ever released.As reports mount that Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia, theDebruin family wonders if one of them could be Eugene or one of his crewmen.http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/d/d601.htm
