Everyone in this country knows someone who served during the Vietnam War. It would be practically impossible not to as over 3 million Americans served at some point during the war and well over half-million troops were stationed there at the war’s peak in April of 1969. Of the 3-plus million to serve, nearly 60,000 did not make it home alive.
According to the National Park Service, there were 766 American soldiers who were captured as Prisoners of War (POW). 114 of them did not make it home alive as well. The new documentary The Final 19 from Tim Breitbach takes a different route than the usual film focusing on the Vietnam War. Instead, the spotlight is on one of the final 19 POW’s to be liberated from the enemy and his family’s journey to reuniting.
19-year-old Dan Hefel dropped out of high school in the small Iowa farm town he grew up and contemplated his next move in life after the height of the war. The military draft was 5 years in at this point and Dan knew it was just a matter of time before he was drafted, so he decided to get ahead of the inevitable and enlisted in the Army. His 7 older brothers had all served their country and Dan saw his enlistment as a right and privilege to serve his country and even volunteered to go to Vietnam.
After serving as a foot soldier for eight months in the jungles of Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division, Hefel volunteered to be a door gunman on a helicopter transporting higher ranking military officials. This was done in means to avoid the constricting confines of the jungle. Once accepted in to the new position, he found himself sleeping on a cot in a dry tent instead of on the wet ground in a field in the middle of nowhere, the ability to take warm showers, and being able to visit the NCO (Non-Commisioned Officers) Club to have the occasional cold beer. It definitely seemed as though the high school drop out had scored big with his new assignment.
The documentary then tells the story of a fateful day in February in 1970 when the helicopter he was in caught fire and crashed into the rugged jungle covered mountains. Hefel and the rest of the crew were captured by members of the North Vietnamese Army and classified as Missing In Action, as it was unknown if they were dead or alive.
During this time back in Iowa, Hefel’s parents and his 13 siblings were worried sick about the whereabouts of Dan and many felt in their hearts that the unimaginable had happened to him. Hefel was alive but was severely wounded from the crash that led to his capture and spent not weeks, not months but years as a prisoner. Writer and director Breitbach has the film follow Hefel through the retelling of all of the agonizing events he suffered through during his time spent in captivity including an excruciating repeating of an emergency surgery he suffered through.
From the time the helicopter that the infantry grunt was flying in crashed into the A Shau Valley and was captured to the time he flew out of Vietnamese airspace on his way back to Iowa, 1,143 days had passed. That equals to over three years of confinement. Three Super Bowl winners had come and gone. UCLA won three straight NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships during that span. John Wayne won an Academy Award for True Grit as did George C. Scott for his portrayal of General Patton. Baltimore Orioles, Pittsburgh Pirates and the Oakland Athletics all won the World Series during that span. President Nixon was even reelected while Hefel was in-prisoned.
The Final 19 is a documentary all military buffs are encouraged to watch and one that spotlights a soldier that came home fairly unchanged despite all that he suffered through which is never covered when dealing with the Vietnam War.
The film will be available for viewing starting February 5 via Amazon on what marks the 53rd anniversary of the day that Sgt. Hefel became a POW.
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
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