Tribute to Veterans: Connecticut Resident Creates Documentarty, American Medevac

Veterans Day is this Sunday, November 11 - a day to honor those who served our country in war. One longtime Connecticut resident, Morton Dean was in the line of fire - in the gripping documentary American Medevac, Dean, writer and director of the film, honors and unites a Vietnam Dustoff crew with the men they saved. 

More than 40 years ago, CBS News cameraman Greg Cooke and Emmy award-winning news correspondent Morton Dean flew a combat medevac mission in Vietnam that saved the lives of three wounded infantrymen. 

Dean and Cooke would never be able to shake the paralyzing thoughts of the soldiers wounded during that mission, and the heroic acts of the men of the 236th Army Medical Detachment.

“It became the most haunting memory from a lifetime in journalism. We could not forget the men we met that day,” explains Dean. “Our story lasted just seven minutes on the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. But for Greg and me, decades later, the memories refused to fade,” he adds. Footage of the 1971 news segment shows the plane taking enemy fire and one injured soldier reaching for Dean’s hand.

What happened to the bloodied soldiers who flew in that medevac? Did the trauma of combat leave an indelible impression? What about the pilot and co-pilot who rescued them?

Dean and Cooke knew time wouldn’t heal all the wounds of Vietnam and the rescue mission. They still had work to do.

“We set out to find them [the soldiers and pilots] and to tell the stories of their lives.  To our surprise, the Medevac pilot and co-pilot had never met any of the wounded they rescued,” says Dean.

Enter American Medevac: a documentary which reconnects medevac crew members with the soldiers they rescued during the Vietnam War.

This reunion is part of the fabric of America and promises healing, hope, and friendship. Thank you to Dean and Cooke for making it happen.

Learn more and watch American Medevac here.


Dean, a former resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, is the writer and director of the documentary, American Medevac.

 

M
Submitted by Milford, CT

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