The filmmakers designed a point of assembling a crew of Vietnam veterans:

Retired Lt. Col. Bob Baird, co-pilot and mission logistics coordinator, who served two decades in the Army with two tours in Vietnam. Bill McDonald, mission chaplain, an old crew chief to the 128th Assault Helicopter Company. Gary Roush, mission historian, a former helicopter pilot with all the 242nd Assault Support Helicopter Company. Mike Venable, mission co-pilot, who flew using the 129th and 134th Helicopter Assault Companies.

The Fries conducted many interviews with veterans, logging greater than 200 hours of taped interviews, reunions, and ceremonies.

"One of our own philosophical principles was that we wanted to stay as close as you possibly can to the good the veterans each and every opportunity," Cheryl Fries said. "So we involved veterans at each and every level. We always had a Vietnam veteran within the left seat from the aircraft and now we had veterans planning the LZs and doing a lot in the crew work. Accuracy was non-negotiable. There was quite a lot of respect relating to this being sacred ground for your people telling the stories. We were devoted to being respectful from the veterans and families i was interviewing. In the many years of pre-production, we interviewed countless veterans. That's how we formed the philosophical base for that film."

Patrick Fries belief that had they not been faithful on the experience from the veterans, many in the stories do not need been told.

"If you just aren't accurate, people do not want to speak with you," he said. "They don't desire to open up their stories as well as their photo albums as well as their pain and suffering just to have it not told accurately."

Accompanied by three support vehicles as well as an aerial cinematography helicopter, the Fries estimate they flew 10,000 miles, a figure arrive at by Logistics Coordinator Bob Baird, who logged the miles on his SUV between Ft. Rucker, Alabama, along with the flight's final LZ, the Angel Fire National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the mountains of northern New Mexico.

They scheduled 25 Landing Zones and guess at the final tally of 42, several they are struggling to nail down with any precision because many LZs popped up at the very last minute, and all followed Patrick Fries' rule: Don't land on concrete unless absolutely necessary.

So they put down in-front yards and back yards and farm yards and pastures and open fields. Their Web page has an LZ guide: 3 farmyards, 4 backyards, 1 elementary school, 1 church, 1 town square, 1 hospital, 1 VFW hall, 2 high schools, 4 museums, 3 military bases, 5 parks, 5 universities, and also the Ft. Gordon POW/MIA Memorial.

They found a daughter who lost her father and a Vietnamese baby saved by Americans. They visited pilots and crew members, triage nurses, Red Cross "Donut Dollies," and USO entertainers. They met family members who told heartbreaking stories of loss. In some cases, people had carried the terrible burden of imagining family members dying alone until they met the men who had held their family members when they died.

"I had no idea a mother or sister's darkest fear was that their son or brother had died alone," Patrick Fries said. "You believe when someone is killed, the greatest loss is the loss of life. You can't celebrate birthdays and Christmases together. But to listen for them the worst part with the whole thing is they were told their loved one died alone somewhere in the jungle thousands of miles from your own home was quite challenging. I had no idea whatever they grieved for. People die and lots of, a long time later, the war will be as present in their children's hearts because the day they died. From the family members for the hardcore veteran who hadn't shed a tear in 34 years, it was way a lot more than we ever bargained for."

Cheryl Fries remembers a Gold Star Mother who located a Huey LZ.

"She brought up her son," she said. "This would be a woman who heard the Huey was going to her town and arrived on the scene to see it. We'd never met her before. She was clutching an image of him. She pointed to her Gold Star and said, ' This is all I have left. ' That family lives with that loss every day."

Fries spoke of the Georgia veteran who held a dying comrade as part of his arms because the man asked the veteran to tell his wife which he loved her. Thirty-four years later, through the hard detective work of Gary Roush and what Cheryl Fries known as a "series of miracles," the filmmakers were able to locate the man's widow and put her in touch while using soldier who held her dying husband in the arms. Each said the knowledge helped to heal wounds that had been painful through each of the years.

The film ends in Angel Fire, N.M., with the Huey settling looking for a landing in a very cloud of swirling snow behind the chapel in the Angel Fire Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The memorial was built through the late Victor Westphall to honor his son, David, a Marine officer killed in Vietnam, and other Vietnam veterans. Westphall peeked out of over the top from the instrument panel because helicopter landed. The hands of veterans he loved reached to the helicopter to drag him out gently and have him into his wheelchair.

"Angel Fire took over as perfect ending spot," Cheryl said. In the event you adored this article in addition to you wish to be given details regarding tour leader generously go to our own web site. "Here you needed so many incredible elements, the daddy on the mountaintop, the first memorial to honor fallen Vietnam veterans, the kinds of things people do in the face of unimaginable grief, and then this full-circle come back to Native America, using a Native American veteran blessing the helicopter. It was all there area. In a way, Shadow became a story alone. It became a story of reconciliation, of arriving at terms.''

The Fries are entering the film in film festivals, an option taken by all independent film producers. They've been notified that Shadow get an award in a Houston Film Festival. They are considering an offer from a cable TV company to air the film on Veterans Day. In Albuquerque last February, it had its first theater showing on the Madstone Theaters, a fundraising event for that Angel Fire Memorial. The production company provides the film to Vietnam veteran groups for reunions and meetings.

Major funding for that film came from Arrowhead Film & Video, DynCorp, and US Helicopter. Major in-kind support was provided by Southwest Airlines and Bell Helicopter. A complete listing of contributors may be found in the Shadow Web page.

"It was very surprising to find out how healing it was for your veterans to inform their stories," Cheryl Fries said. "I hope one from the lessons of In the Shadow from the Blade is when you open up and reach out, many times the peaceful link you may need. We were exactly the conduit. It would have been a life-changing experience for people to be able to do this for people."Article Source: Berger is a writer for The VVA Veteran, the state voice of Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc. ? An organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. Learn more at