Shawn Kelley’s documentary brief, My father’s brothersrecounts the events of June 29, 1966, during the Vietnam War, when a platoon of American soldiers ran into a large force of the North Vietnamese army in the dense jungles northeast of Saigon.
Outnumbered and armed, the company came under fire. What began as a routine patrol became a defining moment for each of the men of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry, 173rd Airborne Division. The filmmaker asks his father, Jack T. Kelley, and other survivors about what happened that day and how it impacted their lives.
“… The many examples of grace under fire are an astonishing testimony to the the will and endurance of these fighters… “
Even half a century later, the veterans interviewed find it difficult to stand together to tell tales of bravery and heroism. The many examples of grace under fire are astonishing testimony to the willpower and endurance of these fighters. But, of course, that day changed their lives forever, and over the years the strength of that day, for those who lived it, turned into sadness and trauma shrouded in the guilt of the people. survivors who took a lot out of the warriors who fought with such tenacity.
Kelley begins her film by saying that her father never spoke about war. It’s typical of a lot of fighters. Once a soldier has stood in this particular hell, knowing that he could die as easily as he could live and that nothing but luck would matter, covered in the mud and blood of the battlefield, we must ask how you could ever tell this story and make anyone understand? They recount crawling through the mud made of dirt and blood and how calls to the doctor were met with the response, “the doctor is dead”. As it seemed clear that they were going to be invaded, they fell back and gathered their last grenades for use rather than being taken prisoner.
