From AFT:
“Documentary chronicles
efforts to repatriate American service members missing since WWII”
(Jules McManus waves the flag
over a found WWII MIA B-24 during recovery operations in 2008 in Palau.)
Technological developments in
recent decades have continued to galvanize oceanic research teams into scouring
unfathomable distances and depths in missions aimed at locating World War II
wreckages once believed to be lost to history. One such investigative outfit is
Project Recover, a small team comprising oceanographers, archaeologists,
historians, and military veterans who, since its inception in 1993, have
searched the Earth’s farthest-flung corners in an endeavor to repatriate the
remains of Americans still missing in action 75 years after the war concluded.
Though it began as a small-time
operation by founder Dr. Pat Scannon, Project Recover has evolved into an
effort backed by the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution
of Oceanography and the University of Delaware. In nearly three decades of
operation, its teams have completed more than 60 missions in over 20 countries
and territories, located more than 50 downed aircraft, and found more than 180
Americans once missing in action. Of those, 14 have been repatriated. A total
of 687 men from the Atlanta-class light cruiser died in the attack, including
all five Sullivan brothers.
That remarkable work will soon be
shared on the big screen in To What Remains, a documentary chronicling the
Project Recover’s step-by-step process of searching for what one missing
service member’s family characterized as “looking for the smallest needle in
the largest haystack.” Film crews captured the research team’s meticulous
undertaking over a course of years, each arduous affair necessitating extensive
digging through military action reports and the completion of both manned and
unmanned dives of battle sites. “While the search for a single crash site can
require years of effort, the Project Recover team members are fueled by the
sense of purpose that comes from identifying the remains of Americans who gave
their lives in service, returning those remains to their proper home, and
bringing closure to families who had nothing more than a picture on a mantle,
vague memories passed down from prior generations, and unanswered questions,”
the film’s synopsis reads.
The film is set for a Nov. 11
Veteran’s Day premiere at the American Film Institute’s annual festival in Los
Angeles. It will then have a nationwide theatrical release in early December —
to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor — thanks to support from
global distribution marketing and rights management company Abramorama and the
film studio Imperative Entertainment. “Project Recover is a group of gifted
professionals who use their talents and training to help fulfill our country’s
promise to ‘leave no one behind,’” an Imperative Entertainment statement read. “To
What Remains is the story of heroes from one generation striving to do right by
heroes from prior generations, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to share it.”
^ This is a very important
subject and I am very interested in watching the Documentary. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.