One of the more gratifying experiences we’ve enjoyed with our BRAVO! encounters is the recognition that is coming to so many of the men who served with Bravo Company, 1/26, during the outfit’s time in Vietnam. On September 28, 2014, Vincent Mottola was honored in his hometown of Medford, Massachusetts.
Unlike a lot of other wars in which United States armed forces have been involved, the honors and remembrances due the men and women who served in Vietnam have been slow to come.
Regardless of how one feels about the morality or efficacy of our efforts in that war, the men and women who fought and died there, not to mention those who have returned, were not responsible for our government’s choice of wars. They were called to serve and they did, some giving the ultimate sacrifice for, in most cases, something they thought was worth doing.
Honoring Vincent Mottola. Photo Courtesy of Marie Chalmers
So we are very happy to crow about the honors that are coming now to the men of Bravo who gave up their youth, their naiveté, and in many cases their lives for something they thought was of value.
Below are some photos taken and sent to us by Vincent Mottola’s cousin, the vibrant Boston native, Marie Chalmers. These photos are of the ceremony conducted in Medford, Massachusetts, where Vinnie Mottola was memorialized by having a street corner named in his honor.
Vinnie is one of the veterans to whom BRAVO! is dedicated, thanks to the generosity of the Mottola family. He was killed in action at Khe Sanh Combat Base on February 23, 1968. You can find out more about Vinnie here.
Below are some photos of the event in Medford. Photos courtesy of Marie Chalmers.
This first photo is of the street sign for the newly named corner.
Vincent A Mottola Square
The second photo in this three-photo series is of Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn and the Marine Corps color guard.
The last is a photo of Vincent Mottola’s family who joined together at the naming of Vincent A Mottola Square.
Ooorah and Semper Fidelis, Vincent Mottola!
We look forward to upcoming screenings at the Meridian Library in Meridian, Idaho, on October 22; Oceanside, CA, on November 1; and Newport Beach, CA, on November 15, 2014. Please join us and invite your friends.
If you would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this winter or spring, please contact us immediately. DVDs of BRAVO! are available. For more information, go to https://bravotheproject.com/buy-the-dvd/.
BRAVO! has a page on Facebook. Please “like” us and “share” the page at https://www.facebook.com/Bravotheproject/. It’s another way to stay up on our news and help us reach more people.
We are proud to announce an upcoming event in Medford, Massachusetts to honor Vincent Mottola, a Bravo Company Marine who was killed in action at Khe Sanh on February 23, 1968.
Vincent, or Vinnie as his family calls him, had an MOS # of 0351, Antitank Assault Man. We Khe Sanh Marines would have referred to Vinnie as being in Rockets.
Vinnie is being honored in Medford next Sunday, 9/28/2014, at 10:00 at Zero Medford Street. Please consider attending this memorial celebration if you can.
In separate news, BRAVO! COMMON MEN, UNCOMMON VALOR, will be screened tomorrow night in Nampa, Idaho, at Elks Lodge #1389, 1116 1st Street. Doors open at 6:00 PM with the screening beginning at 6:30 PM. There will be a $10.00 donation to benefit the Wyakin Warriors Foundation which assists wounded veterans with education and career training. You can find out more about the Wyakin Warrior Foundation at http://www.wyakin.org/. There will be refreshments and a no-host bar and a question and answer session following the film moderated by noted author Alan Heathcock. You will be able to ask questions of veterans of the Middle East conflicts and veterans of the Vietnam War including men you will meet in the film BRAVO!
Alan Heathcock Photo by Mathew Wordell
On November 11, 2014, the Liberty Lake, Washington Fallen Heroes Circuit Course will be screening BRAVO! in conjunction with the honoring of Bravo Company Marine Greg Vercruysse, a Navy Corpsman who was killed in action north of Hill 881 South on June 7, 1967. The screening will take place in Liberty Lake’ s Meadowwood Technology Center. See more about the Liberty Lake Fallen Heroes Circuit Course at http://www.llfhcc.org/. You can find out more about Greg Vercruysse at the Virtual Wall: http://www.virtualwall.org/dv/VercruysseGP01a.htm.
Image from the Traveling Wall
More details to follow on the event in Liberty Lake as well as upcoming screenings in Oceanside, California, on 11/1/2014 and Newport Beach, California, on 11/15/2014.
If you would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this winter or spring, please contact us immediately. DVDs of BRAVO! are available. For more information, go to https://bravotheproject.com/buy-the-dvd/.
BRAVO! has a page on Facebook. Please “like” us and “share” the page at https://www.facebook.com/Bravotheproject/. It’s another way to stay up on our news and help us reach more people.
BRAVO! co-director and co-producer Betty Rodgers muses on the summer of 2012’s screening tour.
Ken and I have been home from our “Great Adventure Film Tour” for three weeks now, allowing us time to reflect on the experience as we settle back into our lives in Boise.
To recap, we headed south from Idaho through Utah, dipping quickly into the heat of summer as we scurried across deserts and mountains, prairies and plains toward Dallas for our first screening. There we showed BRAVO! to more than 125 attendees at the Vietnam Veterans of America Annual Leadership Conference and were introduced by our host, Michael Keating, to many of the important people who drive the organization forward. The VVA’s founding principle is, “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
From right to left, Michael Keating, Betty Rodgers, Ken Rodgers at the VVA National Leadership Conference.
From there we took the sultry road through pecan orchards and goat ranches to Brownwood, TX, where we were the guests of Mary and Roger Engle, longtime friends and fans of BRAVO! Mary put together a first-class screening at the Douglas MacArthur Academy of Freedom on the campus of Howard Payne University. One of the hosts for the evening was former Marine Gunnery Sergeant Billy Murphey, the local Veterans Service Officer, who arranged for a local Marine Corps League color guard to formally kick off the program. The auditorium was filled to capacity. The editor of the Brownwood Bulletin, Gene Deason, interviewed us and wrote an insightful article about the event and the film.
Next we ventured on to lower temperatures in Memphis where we were greeted by our host, Cobb Hammond, a historian of the Vietnam War. Cobb gave us a wonderful tour of Memphis, including the Mississippi River, Beale Street, and a drive by Sun Records. He also made sure we enjoyed the superb BBQ at the Blues City Café, and bemoaned the fact that we were not experiencing typical (sweltering) Memphis summer weather. Thank goodness! Our screening was also hosted by Khe Sanh survivor Skip Funk, and Mason Ezzell at LSI. Guests came from far and wide and included a Korean War veteran.
With Ken still behind the wheel, the galloping Honda CRV then transported us to Washington, DC, and the home and culinary sanctuary of my cousins, Chuck and Donna Dennis, who also hosted us two years ago while we did research for the film. We attended the annual reunion of the Khe Sanh Veterans and screened BRAVO! to a standing-room-only crowd. We were pleased to have three members of the “cast,” Steve Wiese, Ken Korkow and Doc Cicala, in the audience. Our friends Betty and Lee Plevney, Connie and Greg Gibbons, Mark and Elaine Kramer, and Ron Exum each contributed greatly to the success of this event.
BRAVO! screening in Washington D C
And then finally, Boston. Beautiful Boston, where we were the guests of Marie Chalmers and the family of Vincent Mottola, a Marine from Bravo Company who gave his life at Khe Sanh. Marie not only hosted the screening, but also gave us a delightful whirlwind tour of the city. BRAVO! was shown at the West Roxbury VA with the assistance of Diane Keith, and a color guard of local Marines. The appreciative audience was comprised of local folk as well as people from southern California to Rhode Island. It was also a special afternoon for families…both the Mottolas and the family of “cast” member Mike McCauley.
And then we headed north, then west, happily donning sweaters and jackets in the cooler clime.
To say the least, we are exceedingly grateful to those who invited us to their meetings and cities to screen BRAVO! And without the hospitality of friends and family along the way, the trip would not have been possible. Their belief in the film and its importance is responsible for the huge positive response we have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy as more screening requests come our way.
Now we are back home and once again searching for a corporate sponsor and/or a distributor. We are making daily contacts to find that one personal connection that will help send BRAVO! out into a national or worldwide audience.
And we do so with the glorious memories of our journey. Ken chose to drive the entire way, which concluded at about 12,900 miles. I was the navigator, ice chest and luggage manager, and scribe. Ken was the car packer, itinerary planner, tour guide and historian. To travel with Ken is to learn of people, places and events; to learn of geography, geology and the solar system.
Along the way we were able to see migrating snow geese and more than 70 species of birds, plus wildlife such as deer, elk, bighorn sheep, bear, and coyotes, but nary a moose. The “Moose-on-the-Loose” signs were posted nearly everywhere in the north like a promise, but one that was not fulfilled. They say it was because we didn’t drive at night.
A Moose on the Loose sign
A stand-out for me was the people all over the North American continent who give themselves to history and place and talk about it with great passion and eloquence. There is the person behind the counter at our national parks, the ranger who drives from monument to monument with a speech and armful of maps and photos for each stop, the archaeologist who thrills at the find of the day. There are the greeters at the information centers who welcome you to their country, state, or city. There are the servers at restaurants who talk about what it’s like to live in their towns, and the bus drivers who care about the movement of the icefields and their watersheds.
And because we drove eastward through the US, and westward through Canada, we gained a vast knowledge of the beauty of our North American Continent and its people. It was both reassuring and rewarding. And best of all, it gave us an even deeper sense of what every Marine—and every person who serves to defend and protect our continent—is committed to preserving.
Last Saturday afternoon Betty and I screened BRAVO! at the West Roxbury, Massachusetts, VA. The VA is located in a beautiful suburb of Boston and sits among streets lined with stately trees and green-lawned parks.
The screening was hosted and arranged by Marie Mottola Chalmers whose cousin, Vincent Mottola, was killed in action on February 23, 1968. Vincent Mottola was a Marine with Bravo Company. A large number of Vincent’s family, including his brother, William, and numerous cousins attended.
Also on hand were relatives of Mike McCauley, another Bravo Marine who is in the film. Mike’s two brothers, Larry and Jim, his sister Claire, in-laws and close friends attended the screening.
BRAVO! supporter Mark Cahill (and his son Dillon who is a student in the Boston area),a good friend of Bravo Company Skipper Ken Pipes attended the screening all the way from Southern California.
As in all our screenings so far, the overwhelming response to the film was deeply gratifying to Betty and I. Some of the folks with relatives in Bravo Company, 1/26 who came to see the film had no idea about the savage grind, the vicious nature of the Siege of Khe Sanh. Their emotional response to the film was moving.
The Boston screening had several special moments that made it unique among our showings. Young Mr. Benjamin Hoffman opened the afternoon with a stirring a cappella rendition of the National Anthem. Closing out the evening, a detachment of United States Marines from the First Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, posted the colors and lead the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
A big OOORAH!is due Marie Chalmers and the Mottola family, Ms. Diane Keith of the West Roxbury VA, Benjamin Hoffman, Mark Cahill, the MacCauleys and the color guard of the First Battalion, 25th Marines for their initiative and support.
In associated news, if you missed the blog post about our Washington, DC, screening of BRAVO! to 130-plus viewers, you can check it out here.
In addition, one of the folks who attended the screening was short story author, Siobhan Fallon, whose book of short stories, You Know When the Men Are Gone, (G. P. Putnam’s Sons) is a wrenching and realistic look at war’s effects on the warriors’ loved ones. Siobhan blogged about her impressions of BRAVO! You can read Siobhan Fallon’s blog here.
