Chosin on CBS

Hi all,

Chosin was featured this evening in a piece on CBS Evening News. If you didn't get a chance to tune in, you can watch the video here:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5827235n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Brian, Joe Owen, and I were interviewed by Jeff Glor and the piece was produced by Alturo Rhymes. This weekend marks the 59th Anniversary of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign, and the team at CBS did a great job honoring these veterans for their service and their sacrifices.

News on the film: We made big headway over the last week and we completed a rough cut just before Thanksgiving. Our composer, Will Bates, has been hard at work tightening up the score so that we can make our submission deadlines for the spring film festivals. A few more months of hard work and we will have the film finished!

Semper Fi,

Anton

Brian on Fox News

Veterans Day week has quickly become our favorite holiday. After the Veterans Day parade I hustled down to Fox News to talk about the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities program (EBV). The EBV provides free business training to disabled vets in order to help them open their own business. I graduate the EBV program from Syracuse in 2008 and it is one of the key reasons I am here today. I was invited onto Fox's Situation Room to talk about the EBV program, being a Veteran Entrepreneur, and of course, CHOSIN! What a week! We will post the interview online when we get it!

Semper Fi,

Brian

Anton and I had the privilege of marching with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in the NY City Veterans Day Parade. It was a great time and the people of the city came out by the thousands to show their support. After the parade we went to an after-party at the Crown Plaza. We had a lot of help and we are grateful to the IAVA and all its supporters.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Marine Corps Birthday Ball

As Marines, we always throw a great party for our Birthday on 10 November. This year I was invited as the Guest of Honor to the Avenel (NJ) Marine Corps League's ball in Woodbridge, NJ. It was a great time and in keeping with the tradition of "once a Marine, always a Marine", these guys continue to serve. These great Marines donated $2,500 to our Toys for Tots campaign. In my 14 years of service, nothing has been more rewarding than to put a smile on a kid's face. In these pics are me with the oldest Marine and the youngest Marine present at the ball. The oldest Marine was fought in WWII and the youngest just returned from Iraq 2 months ago. Now that is what I call tradition.

Semper Fi,

Brian

USS New York

Brian managed to wrangle a pair of tickets to the USS New York commissioning ceremony held yesterday near the USS Intrepid. Hilary Clinton was the keynote speaker for the event, preceded by several dignitaries from the Navy and Northrop Grumman. Our Commandant, General James T. Conway, also said a few words. I may be a little biased, but I think he stole the show. He ended his piece by specifically addressing the Marines in the crowd with a famous quote from George Orwell: "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf."

As long as America has her Marine Corps, I know that I will sleep just fine.

Now and update on the film's progress: Brian and I have been hard at work editing and we were able to hand a 1 and 1/2 hour rough cut (very very very rough) to our composer last week. Will Bates (http://www.willbates.net/) is writing the music for the film, which you can hear on the trailer we now have posted on our home page. We should have a rough cut ready for test screenings by Thanksgiving. Deadlines for the spring film festival circuit are right around the corner, so we are going to have to work fast.

S/F

Anton

Editing Editing Editing

Film Week was a success for us-- we couldn't thank the team at the Independent Feature Project (www.ifp.org) enough for all they have done for us since we started this project. We had some great meetings, made some even better contacts, and it was a lot of fun getting to talk shop over a few beers with fellow filmmakers.

Deadlines are coming up for the spring film festival circuit, so we are now up to our ears in editing. We've got 200+ hours of interview footage to dig through, and I just ordered roughly 5 hours of archival footage to be transfered into HD video. Over half of the material we found at the National Archives (www.nara.gov) has never been copied for use in any film, and we even found a few reels that have never even been taken off the shelf-- it feels pretty amazing to be the first person in almost 60 years to look at these images of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign. Lots of work to do and it's a race against time.

On a side-note, I wanted to tell everyone about a film titled Lebanon written and directed by Israeli filmmaker Samuel Maoz. I took the time to watch the film at the New York Film Festival this week, and was blown away. The picture focuses on a tank team fighting in the 1982 Leabanese War. As a combat veteran, I have to say that Samuel Maoz did an amazing job of showing a very intimate, human, and realistic portrait of soldiers in combat. As a filmmaker, I applaud his mastery of the craft-- great script, beautiful cinematography, and the sound shook you out of your seat and made you feel like you were in the tank with the characters in the film. I don't believe that the film has been released in the US as of yet, but keep an eye out for it in the future-- hopefully on Netflix at the least. Here's an article on the film in Variety: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117945011.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Semper Fi,

Anton

Film Week Kicks-Off

Hi everyone,

Independent Film Week in New York City started on Saturday, and Brian and I are pretty pumped. Film Week is a sort of film festival for unfinished projects. We have meetings with several TV and film companies this week, and it should all be a great learning experience at the least.

Brian and I also met quite a few filmmakers who are avid supporters of the veteran community, and it looks like we may be able to dig up some more work for the Marines we worked with from the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation (www.woundedmarinecareers.org) during the course of shooting Chosin.

Stay tuned in-- we should have some exciting news to share in the upcoming weeks.

S/F
Anton

Production Complete

Hi everyone. We finished our tour of Texas last month and less than 24-hours after we got back home to the east coast, we drove to Syracuse, NY. Texas was a great success and we interviewed four more veterans in Syracuse, to include 1stLt Joe Owen of B 1/7 and author of the book Colder Than Hell. Brian also conducted a presentation to the most recent class of veterans attending the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities, or EBV. Brian is an alumnus of the program at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and this film project was born from his time at the school. Syracuse University has a long history of supporting veterans and this program is just another way that they are opening doors for our nation's heroes when they come back home.

We are now getting ready for Independent Film Week, which is just over the horizon: September 19th. We finished a 15 minute "sampler" DVD for our presentation at the event, but we are keeping it under wraps for now. Brian, Adam and I spent last weekend glued to the computer for two days to finish the DVD and the coffee pot was working overtime with us. We still have hours and hours of footage to dig through over the net few months aa we edit, but we are determined to have a final cut ready by Christmas with a January release date. We'll keep you posted.

As we finished up production, another New Jersey Newspaper, The Hub, took interest in our project and they printed an article on the front page this morning. You can read the story here: http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2009/0903/front_page/003.html

Also, word of the film reached as far as South Korea this month, and two different radio stations conducted phone interviews with Brian. The people of South Korea by and large have a strong reverence for the veterans of the Korean War that sacrificed so much to protect South Korea. The shows have already aired, and we will post audio clips on the website as soon as we are able to get MP3 files from the radio stations.

Semper Fi,

Anton

Texas

What a crazy couple of weeks. The Midwest trip was an absolute success and we had the honor of meeting over fifty Chosin veterans from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis/ St Paul. Our battle rhythm for the trip was grueling-- we were up by 0600, filming until 1900, and then driving for five to seven hours to our next location. We were basically running non-stop on about 3 hours of sleep a night. Somehow, in the middle of all of this, we managed to get our package together for NY Independent Film Week, which was due during our travels. We had a few good articles written about us on the trip, including this one from Chicago's biggest paper, the Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-forgotten-heroes-07-aug07.0.4014073.story

After getting back, Brian and I dove right into preparations for our Texas trip, and we just landed in San Antonio today. We've got a full schedule planned, and we will be meeting with members of the San Antonio, North Texas, and Texas Gulf Coast Chapters of The Chosin Few.

Semper Fi,

Anton

Midwest Tour Day Three: Milwaukee

We had a great day today at American Legion Post 416 in Greendale, Wisconsin. Post Commander Tim Baranzyk took great care of us, and we had some great interviews with Chosin veterans from the Army and the Marine Corps. One particular veteran, Grant McMillin, fought with the 31st RCT on the East side of Chosin Reservoir and survived 32 months as a prisoner of war in a Chinese camp. His story is truly inspirational and we were honored to sit and talk with him today.

We also had press on-set today. Tom Held, a writer for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, sat in on a few interviews and interviewed Brian and I on the project. He said that the article will most likely be published in the next few days, so stay posted for the link.

We finished up in Milwaukee around 6 p.m. and then fought our way through traffic to reach Minneapolis. We finally found a hotel that wasn't booked just around midnight. A little more work to do before we hit the rack, and then it's a big day tomorrow- nine interviews with the gentlemen of the Upper Midwest Chapter of The Chosin Few.

Semper Fi,

Anton

Beginning of Midwest Tour and Some Big News

Brian with Bob Kirchner from Fox Company, 2/7

We kicked off our midwest tour yesterday in Pittsburgh at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall. The hall has been a landmark in the Oakland neighborhood for decades and is famous for being one of the main filming locations for The Silence of the Lambs. The building its self is amazing and there is a great military museum inside that contains artifacts donated by Pennsylvania veterans from the Civil War to Operation Iraqi Freedom. We were honored to be able to use this fantastic space for our interviews and I highly recommend a visit to anyone who is in the area. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review also wrote up a short article on our visit, which can be viewed here: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_634883.html

We filmed in the auditorium of the Soldier's and Sailor's Hall

It was great to meet up with Chosin vets from my hometown. As soon as we wrapped up for the day we drove out to Detrot, where we were greeted by Phil Smith of the Dearborn Detachment of the Marine Corps League. Phil is a Marine and Vietnam Veteran who is very active in the Detroit veteran community, and he went out of his way to make sure we had everything we needed while we were in town. Thanks Phil!

George McCafferty (G Co, 31st RCT) and Brian at the Dearborn MCL Post

Brian and I also recieved some great news last week-- the film has been selected as one of just 75 documentaries for Independent Film Week in New York this September http://www.independentfilmweek.com/. Independent film week is hosted by our fiscal sponsors, The Independent Feature Project. The IFP has been helping independent filmmakers for over 30 years, and they have been instrumental in our ability to accomplish our mission. The IFP has once again opened doors for us by inviting us to be a part of Independent Film Week, and this will be a huge opportunity for us to network and find a distributor for the film. We have a lot of work to do to get prepared while we are still filming on the road, but it will all be worth it in the end. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

We will be filming in Milwaukee tomorrow morning and then we will be driving to Minneapolis for a two-day shoot with the veterans of the Upper Midwest Chapter of The Chosin Few.

Semper Fi,

Anton

Mid Atlantic Chosin Few

We have just returned from a few days on the road interviewing member of The Chosin Few's Mid-Atlantic Chapter in the Baltimore and DC areas. It was a pleasure sitting down with these heroes at the VFW in Parkville, MD and at the American Legion in Annandale. Much thanks to our friends and supporters who cleared some space on the floor and gave us a bite to eat.

We are looking forward to hitting the road in a about 2 weeks. We will be traveling from NJ all the was to Twin Cities Minnesota, hitting all the states in-between. Lots a driving ahead and the chance to sit down with more heroes. Looking forward to it.

Again, thanks for the support. Keep checking back with us.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Back on the Road

So we have been busy getting our interviews in order, organizing things and getting ready for a bug push in July and August. This weekend we will be in Baltimore and DC. We have decided to push North Carolina so we can spend more time down there. At the end of July we will head from PA all the way to WI and back.

We are making trip two to the archives next week to get more film transfers and pictures.

Please be sure to check back from time to time for updates and news. Thanks again to all our fans and supporters.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Upstate NY Complete

We had the pleasure of interviewing the North-East NY state chapter of the Chosin Few. Anton attended a great luncheon and we spent the next two day conducting interviews. Great support from the Marine Corps League, Electric City Det, and Fox Co, 2/25.

Like our homes in NJ and NY City, Schenectady was rain, rain, and more rain. We crack the computers this week and get into the editing a little bit. We still plan to shoot up to Mid-September, then we hit the editing full time.

Look for us soon in DC, Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Texas! Whew!

Semper Fi,

Brian

Mid June Update

Brian here. I know it has been a while for me to post. As you gather, we are very, very busy and things get hectic very quick. We are making a trip to upstate NY next week and we are excited to meet everyone. Our budget, more like our credit card debt, has grown recently due to the purchasing of some much needed equipment. We had a few choices to make concerning our editing process. We could go through a painful transfer process and edit on high end machines. Not absolutely necessary but the transfer process was not worth it. Next we are looking at editing on old computers using and older version of Final Cut Pro. We decided to bite the bullet and add an extra computer and buy the newest version of the editing software. Thankfully, we used a student discount and saved a few buck. Still, it hurt a bit.

We have a pretty solid schedule up to September when we wind down the filming. We may head to England in mid September and that will be our last stop. Fingers crossed.

Thanks to all of our supporters and friends.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Recovery and Prep for Summer Production

It's been awhile since the last post. After our mad dash through California, Brian, Adam and I went our seperate ways over Memorial Day weekend to spend time with our families.
After a few good days off, it was back to work.

Originally, we had planned to use June as a month to edit, but we are going to squeeze in two or three days of filming in upstate New york and possibly Massachusetts or Connecticut. Brian and I are also developing several other projects at once, so June will be a mish-mash of writing, editing, and filming. We will be travelling through the midwest in July and then we will roll straight into Texas in early August, so all planning/ scheduling for the rest of the summer will need to be done this month as well. The madness never ends.

S/F

Anton

May 20th: California, Day 14

It's the end of day 14, and we are actually still in Arizona. We slept in until 0700 today and after a quick breakfast, we went to work on the computers. We spent all day editing, and we now have a great set of clips that we can use for submission to grant programs, including the upcoming Independent Film Week Spotlight on Documentaries, which is run by our fiscal sponsors, the Independent Feature Project (www.ifp.org). Editing is grueling work-- we have gone non-stop for 17 hours, but we got done what we needed to get done.

We will be done on the west coast soon, and although we have been here only a few weeks, it feels like forever. Adam found out today that his youngest daughter took her first steps while he was here helping us on the film. His wife sent him pictures. Brian's son began crawling, and he is already trying to walk. While we all feel that this project is incredibly important, these two guys and their families are really sacrificing a lot to make sure the film is made and the story of The Chosin Few is told. But if we don't do it, who will?

It's now 0151. Brian and Adam have been racked out for about an hour, and we all need to get up at 0330 for a 5-hour drive into Los Angeles for a couple of meetings. It never stops, and I wouldn't want it to. Time for a quick nap.

S/F
Anton

May 19th: California, Day 13

Brian was featured on "The Story" Dick Gordon on NPR today. You can listen to the interview at www.thestory.org. The episode was titled "Making the Transition" on the May 19th broadcast. Brian talked about his transition from the Marine Corps to working as a filmmaker, as well as starting his own production company and making "The Chosin Few." Check it out.

Today marks our last day of shooting in California. We finished up in San Rafael yesterday and stopped by the Downs' house for one last home cooked meal. They had thrown us an impromptu birthday party on the night of the 17th (Adam and I both have our birthday on that day, and Brian's is next week). Phil and Debbie really made us feel like family for the weekend. Thanks guys.

After we finished shooting last night, we caught a quick nap and then departed at 8pm for a 13-hour drive to Arizona for our last interview. We met with a gentleman by the name of Ed who served with the Army's 31st Regiment in Korea. Ed's unit was surrounded by three divisions of Chinese in the east side of Chosin Reservoir. After five days of holding off the enemy, the regiment was almost completley out of ammunition and began a withdraw with all of their dead and wounded. Led by LtCol Don Faith, the 31st fought their way through multiple Chinese ambushes and road blocks. Faith was killed during the battle and posthumously awarded the medal of honor.

Adam, Brian, and Ed (K Company, 31st Regiment)

After the convoy was ambushed and halted, the Chinese Communist Forces burned all of the wounded alive in the back of the trucks. To make a long story short, Ed miraculously survived after being shot in the head, beaten, and left for dead with no winter clothing in 40-below temperatures. He made his way to the ice on the reservoir where he was saved by LtCol Beale and some other Marines who had driven through enemy lines in jeeps to recover as many survivors from the 31st as possible. We spent almost three hours talking with Ed and we were honored to be welcomed into his home today.

Well, we have some editing to do tomorrow so that we can submit our project for a grant from our fiscal sponsor, the Independent Feature Project, then we have a few meetings in LA on Thursday before getting on a plane back to the East Coast on Friday.





S/F
Anton

CATCHING UP May 17th: California, Day 11

Adam and Brian crew in

Brain and James Bodack (2/7)

It's been a loooong couple of days. We finished up in Pasadena on the 14th around 1800 (6pm for all the civilian types) and got on the road towards Sacramento. We reached our destination around midnight, and two of Brian's friends, Mac and Lisa, put us up for the night. Mac was a Navy Corpsman and was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for his service with 1st Battalion, 4th Marines in Vietnam. We stayed up for awhile telling war stories over a few beers , and in true Marine fashion, we were all calling Mac "Doc" by the end of the night.

Lisa, Anton, Brain, and Mac ("Doc")

We had a great day of inteviews at the Fair Oaks VFW on the 15th, but Adam had to build another table fort out of banquet tables to help absorb some of the background noise coming from the bar area. We also had three of our six interviews cancel on us due to some last minute emergencies, but Gus Vaseldenos (5th Marines) filled in last minute and came down to meet with us. We had a great time and then we had to get back on the road to Lafayette, just east of San Francisco.

Cliff Blakely (C-1-7), Anton, and Gus Vazeldenos (7th Marines)

Phil Downs, a Marine Officer who served with Brian in Iraq with 2/5, is from the Lafayette area. His parents, Phil and Debbie, welcomed us into their home and made a fantastic home made dinner for us. It was much welcomed after living off of fast food for most of our trip.

We've continued to be humbled by the men that we have interviewed over the last few days. One amazing part of most of these conversations is that they keep telling us how proud they are of us-- the current generation of Marines. We look up to these guys as our heroes, Marines who set the bar for combat excellence and defined what it means to be a Marine. We look back at the history of our Corps so that we know the legacy we must uphold, whether we are fighting a war, conducting humanitarian operations over seas, or just going for a PT run. Our history is what drives us forward and won't allow us to ever quit. To hear even one of these gentlemen tell us that they are proud of us means everything-- that, in their eyes, we have upheld the reputation of our Corps and upheld the legacy of the "Old Breed."

We've got one more day of filming in San Rafael tomorrow, then we have a long drive to Prescott, Arizona for an interview with a gentleman who fought with the Army on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir. More on that story later.

S/F
Anton

May 13th: California, Day 7

My cousin Dave let us crash at his place in West Hollywood. When I was stationed in 29 Palms, I used to make one last stop in LA everytime I deployed to Iraq, and Dave always made sure that I had a great time. We got up around 6am and drove out to Pasadena to shoot.

The American Legion in Pasadena opened its doors for us today. We had to work through some sound issues again, but we've gotten pretty used to coming up with creative solutions. Adam built what looked like a defensive perimeter around the set by stacking up tables to block out unwanted sound from the bar next door.

Adam's maze of tables

We had the honor of meeting with Bob Licker today, a Marine who fought with Able 1-7 at Chosin. He was also the national president of The Chosin Few at one time. Bob was one of the "Ridgerunners" who fought their way to Fox Hill to relieve Fox Company 2/7. If you don't know the story, check out the book The Last Stand of Fox Company. Their fight was on par with the story of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae. The book is fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Navy Corpsman Don Lyon (2/5) and Anton

Brian and James Bodack (7th Marines)

Long day tomorrow. Four interviews tomorrow and then we have a long drive up to Sacramento.

S/F

Anton

May 12th: California, Day 7

We got a decent night's sleep and finished filming in Orange. We grabbed some cheap tacos for dinner and then drove north into Los Angeles. We hung out at Barney's Beanery for a couple of beers and made a few new friends, including filmmaker Jake Rademacher. Jake's documentary film, Brothers at War, is going to be released this month. Jake has two brothers who served with the Army in Iraq, and he went over to tell their stories. Check out the website for the film at www.brothersatwarmovie.com.

We kind of tied one on tonight so tomorrow morning is going to be rough. Time to get some sleep.

S/F
Anton

HOLD FAST May 11th: California, Day 6

Howard Mason, Able Company, 1/7

We finished filming around 1800 today and headed over to Laguna Beach for some Thai food in Brian's old neighborhood. He lived there for a time when he was still stationed in California. We managed to find a reasonably priced hotel for the night. Adam synced up all of the audio and video that we shot today and hit the rack. Brian is doing some light editing right now and I have been catching up on e-mails. The press has done a great job of covering our project and it's starting to feel like I need to hire an intern to help me keep up with all of the e-mails and phone calls. I can't complain though-- being busy is good.

Larry Kerzman (B-1-11), Brian, and Doug Stout (7th Marines)

Things went well today. John Whiteriver, the president of American Legion Post 132 in Orange, is our host for the next few days. John is a Marine who fought at Inchon in Korea. We've really lucked out on this trip so far-- John is one of a number of Marines that we have met that have made our project possible through their selflessness. I probably shouldn't be surprised-- Marines always take care of Marines-- but I am always humbled by their willingness to help us out when we are in a jam.

Ahn, Brian, Howard, and Anton

Ahn was back on the set, and, as always, he did a great job on the cameras. We had a lot of challenges with background noise today, but Adam made sure that all of our audio came out sounding damned near perfect. We really are lucky to have a such a crew of consumate professionals.

Brian on set

Good interviews today, too. Jack Stites, the president of the Colonel William Barber chapter, met with us. He has done a lot to connect us with the members of his chapter. We have another full day of interviews with these gentlemen tomorrow, then we will continue our march north to Pasadena.

S/F
Anton

May 10th: California, Day 5

We finished up our last day of filming in the Vista/ Oceanside area, and our departure was bittersweet. We are excited to move forward to the other veterans we will be meeting this month, but we had an amazing time throughout the weekend with Colonel White and the rest of the General Raymond Murray chapter. The good Colonel and his lovely wife Paulette went above and beyond by allowing us to set up shop in their house for the whole weekend in order to interview everyone that we had scheduled. They really went out of their way to make us feel like family. We couldn't possibly thank them enough.

The film was featured on the front page of the North County Times Sunday edition, and Colonel White was the star. There is also a short video on the page. You can read the article here:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2009/05/10/military/zd0a6d157fc697fcc882575ae00788685.txt

We've got a long day tomorrow. We will be up bright and early to drive from Escondido to Orange for a 0800 crew call at American Legion Post 132. We don't have a place to sleep yet, but we will figure it out. Mission first.

S/F

Anton

May 9th: California, Day 4

We attended the event honoring the Chosin Few at San Diego Naval Base today. There was a full crowd and we met veterans who lived as far away as Arizona. Capt Smith and the crew of the USS Chosin put together an outstanding event and we had a great time. Rick Rogers of the San Diego Union-Tribune also wrote up a great article on our project and the veterans involved. The article made the front page of the region section in what is the largest paper in the San Diego area. You can check out the article here:

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/may/09/1m9docu021134-honoring-chosin-few/

Jack Stites, Frank Torres, and Bob Licker, members of the Colonel William E. Barber chapter of The Chosin Few, presented a replica of the friendship bell to Capt Smith. The replica is one of two in existence, and it was originally presented to Colonel Barber (the CO of Fox Company, 2/7) by the president of South Korea. Jack and the other members of the chapter knew that the sailors of the USS Chosin would ensure the safe keeping of the bell and felt that it only seemed right to have the bell travelling the high seas on the vessel that bared their namesake.


Also, Bob Weishan and the San Diego Chapter presented a large haul of Tootsie Rolls to the crew. Tootsie Rolls have been a part of Chosin lore because most of the Marines and Sailors ate nothing else but Tootsie Rolls as they fought their way from the reservoir to Hungnam. All other food was frozen solid, but the candies would easily thaw out in their mouths. There has never been a real explaination as to why all of the crates of Tootsie Rolls were air dropped to the Marines, but one of the vets I talked to suggested an explaination. He told me that the words"Tootsie Rolls" were sometimes used as a code word for "bullets" over the radio when asking for a resupply, and that possibly a radio operator took the words literally when recieving a resupply request for ammunition.



As the ceremony came to an end, Brian realized that a member of the Marine Corps color guard at the ceremony was a Marine who was a member of Brian's platoon in G/2/5. They had a chance to catch up and talk afterwords. It really is a small Marine Corps.



We took the rest of the afternoon to tighten up logistics for the second half of our trip and we will get our first solid night of sleep since we left New Jersey. We've been getting 3-6 hours a night since we arrived, so it will be nice to recharge our batteries.

S/F

Anton

May 8th: California, Day 3

Another fantastic day of interviews. Col Jean White and his wife Paulette invited us into their home to conduct all of our filming this weekend with the men of the General Murray Chapter of The Chosin Few. All of the VFWs and American Legions were booked for meetings and Mothers' Day breakfast events this weekend, so we would have been stuck without a location if the White's had not offered their help. We cannot thank them enough.

We will be taking a short break from interviews tomorrow in order to attend an event at the San Diego Naval Base. The USS Chosin will be in port, and they are having a ceremony and barbecue to honor the Chosin vets. There will be five chapters represented, so we are looking forward to meeting everyone.

S/F
Anton

May 7th. California: Day 2

Today was a long one. We interviewed another five veterans, a few of which served long careers in the Corps. One gentleman, Colonel Patton, was an artillery officer at Chosin. He also served as his battalion's meterological officer, which made him responsible for recording air temperatures and windspeeds so that each battery knew how much powder they would have to use when they fired their guns. Colonel Patton told us that on one night, he recorded the temperature at -60 degrees Fahrenheit. With the brutally strong winds that night, he calculated the temperature to be -120 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chill. I can't imagine walking in weather like that let alone fighting through the night in those temperatures.

The day went well over all. Anh Nguyen, a Marine and graduate of the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation, helped on the cameras with Adam. He did a fantastic job and also took the initiative to get us a lot of b-reel footage in between takes. After we were finished, we drove north to Brian's sister's house near Vista. She gave us a place to crash for the night, but by the time we grabbed a quick dinner, finished backing up our work for the day, and synced all of the sound, we didn't get to bed until after midnight again. Coffee and energy drinks have been flowing like water.

We start filming in Vista tomorrow at LtCol Jean White's house. He is a member of the Chosin Few who served in Korea and Vietnam.

S/F
Anton Sattler

California: Day 1

Brian, Adam, and I landed in sunny San Diego yesterday afternoon. We spent the day getting all of our gear together and we had a chance to touch base with Tim at the Wounded Marine Careers Foundation, which is a program that trains wounded Iraq and Afghanistan war vets for careers in film and media. We are working with several graduates of the program while we are out here and it was great to meet some of the people behind this fantastic organization.

We started filming today at American Legion Post 6 in San Diego. Things went well, but we had to fight through some technical difficulties. A few of the files recorded by our cameras would not download properly, but we found a temporary fix and moved forward. We have some work to do tonight to figure out the issue.

Frank Manthei, the president of American Legion Post 6, is letting us use the facilities at the post for our interviews in San Diego. In terms of sound quality, this has been one of our best locations. This is probably the first time that Adam has not had his hair falling out of his head because the microphones were picking up the backround noise caused by traffic or people talking outside. Not that Adam has any hair because he gave himself a haircut with some electric clippers yesterday. I now am officially the only member of the crew who is not bald.

We've got some work to do, so I'm going to sign off for now.

S/F
Anton Sattler

We're off to California

This week has been crazy. We were short on planning time, but we got everything done. We've got shooting locations set for eight different cities and we'll be interviewing between 60-75 veterans over the next two-and-a-half weeks. I'll still be making plenty of phone calls on the road to finish booking vets for interviews, though. It was physically impossible to do it all in the time we had this week.

Brian had reserve drill this weekend and went to the field to make sure that his Marines were prepared for their upcoming deployment. He just got back home yesterday in time to see his son sit up for the first time (and he's already standing on his own 24 hours later!) I'm sure he's still finishing up last minute preparations like I am. This reminds me of going to the field or getting ready for an operation in Iraq-- awake all night, thinking everything over to make sure you didn't forget any deatail. Re-checking your gear to make sure you've got what you need. I've got to be up in just 2 hours to head to the airport. Better get a quick nap. This month is going to be hectic and exciting.

S/F
Anton

California Getting Closer

Meeting up with my Great Uncle Jack yesterday was great. He's had a few strokes, but, like many of the Chosin vets I have met, he's a survivor. And he still remembers Chosin like it was yesterday. My Uncle Jack served with Chesty Puller and the 1st Marines at Koto-ri. We had a great time and I'm looking forward to visiting with him again next time I am home in Pittsburgh.

One week to the day until we leave for Cali. Out plane tickets are bought, everything is set with our equipment on the west coast, and Brian has booked the rental car. The biggest and most difficult part-- booking locations and veterans for interviews-- is still in progress. We have to find places that are preferrably free-of-charge that are relatively isolated from crowds/ traffic noise/ etc. Not an easy task when you are unable to scout them out ahead of time and you can only ask questions over the phone. Brian is all over it though, and, as Marines, we are always good at adapting to the situation once we are on the ground.

I'm calling around to the California Chosin vets to book interview apointments. We have a pretty substantial list of names, but many members are either unlisted in the phone book, are in poor health, or have passed on. It's tough business. We are moving as fast as we can to get as many veteran's stories recorded as we can, but I can't help but feel like I wish I was working on this project a decade earlier. There is a lot of history that is gone forever that we will never get to go back and record. Time is short and we have no other choice but to attack.

S/F
Anton

Good week/ Family at Chosin

Brian and I went to a mixer held by our fiscal sponsor, the Independent Feature Project, earlier this week. They recently moved to a new location in Brooklyn, and held the event to celebrate. We had a chance to shake hands and talk with the staff at IFP. All great people from a great organization. They are a valuable resource for independent filmmakers in New York and we couldn't make this project happen without them. As a bonus, my Dad was in town for the day and came with us to the event. We had a great time, but didn't get too rowdy.

Tomorrow is an exciting day. Brian will be doing a taped inteview with NPR for future broadcast and I am meeting with my great uncle who served in the Marines and fought at Chosin. I had always heard about my grandfather and his three brothers who fought in WW II in the Army and Navy, but nobody had told me that the youngest brother, my great uncle Jack, was a Marine or that he had fought in Korea. When word got around that I was working on this film, one of my mother's cousins filled us in. I was amazed. It made me think again about how Korea has really been "the forgotten war." I can only hope that this film exposes more people to how important this piece of American History truly is, and that we can do right by these veterans by telling their story.

Semper Fi,
Anton

California Prep

Well, it looked like we had a good chunk of time to get ready for Califonia, but we had to cut that time in half once we took a second look at the calendar. Our original plan had us leaving on May 11th, but we realized that we would be trying to compete with veterans' Memorial Day plans at the end of our trip. Not good. We moved our departure date to the 5th, so Brian and I now have roughly one week to get logistics in place for 16 days of shooting in 8 locations across California and Arizona. Adapt and overcome. Ooh rah!

S/F
Anton

Florida Day 6

Amazing day today. We interviewed a veteran named Jerry who served with the Army in the 31st RCT on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir. His unit was drastically short on everything from ammo to communications equipment, but his story was proof that this battle was hard fought by Soldiers as well as Marines. Probably one of our best interviews yet, and the first that we've had with a gentleman who was a part of Task Force Faith-- a crucial piece of the Chosin Reservoir story. Jerry and his wife Phoebe welcomed us into their house as if we were family, and we enjoyed some home-made Lebanese food and good conversation before it was time for us to get back on the road. We were truly honored to be so welcomed.

We've got a long drive back north tonight, then it's time to get started on planning for California. May is just around the bend.

Semper Fi,
Anton

Day 5.

Last night was the first good night's sleep we have gotten in days. For some of us, weeks. Good times. We are crashing at a local Econolodge. Far cry from the last digs. Can't say that I recommend it. But in a pinch, it does the job. I would normally say that I would rather sleep outside, but since there were severe thunderstorms and tornadoes overnight, it was worth it to get the room.

Rough stuff in the interviews today. Their war is not too different from ours. The biggest difference is the time and place. The VFW worked out great as a shooting location. The post commander, Mark Goss, is a Marine and he really went above and beyond to make sure that we had everything that we needed. He runs a tight ship and we had a great time last night having a few beers with the other members of the Chester McKay VFW Post 7978. Thanks for everything!

We had a few more cancellations for tomorrow. It's hard to get the veterans to agree to meet with us, but even harder when they cancel on us. Thankfully, we can scramble really wll and plug the gaps.

Tim Kennedy, from the University of Tampa (also a Marine and tanker none the less) got us in touch with a great veteran, Lou. Memory like a steel trap. Tim runs a top notch film program at UT. Since he is a Marine I am not surprised. The proof is in the students. We met em. Top notch. Good work Tim. Thanks for the help.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Pictured to follow.

Day 4. Tired.

Thank God we are Marines. We haven't really slept in a few days and the drive to Tampa was tough. We are clocking in about 3 hours of sleep a night. Nice. But as always, no one is shooting at us so we have no room to complain.

We hit the Marine Corps League, Holiday Detachment, in New Port Richey. Must say Marines always look out for Marines and that Det is great, but I would expect nothing less. It's always good to see Marines from all generations getting together. This was our longest day yet. We had a few beers at the bar and had to look for a new. The Det was great but there was too much traffic noise to contend with so we went on the hunt. Anton found a great place at the local VFW.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Florida Day 3

Whew. Long days. Long nights. We hit the pool tonight. This is a family place, so a handful of Marines covered in tattoos and drinking beers ended up clearing all the families from the pool area. At least the hot tub was nice and hot. We had a great day of interviews. Every time we talk with our Chosin heroes we are honored and privileged. We learned an amazing story about Marine legend Chesty Puller today. Every night at bootcamp on Parris Island, we sung the Marines' Hymn before hitting the rack and hollered, "Goodnight, Chesty, wherever you are!" A veteran who served with Chesty at the Chosin Reservoir told us that every night before the sun went down, Chesty would walk the lines with a bullhorn to give a speech before the sun went down, and would finish with, "Goodnight Marines! Get ready, they will be here in about five minutes." (He was referring to the Chinese, who attacked relentlessly through the night just after sundown). In response, the Marines all across the lines would holler from their fighting positions, "Goodnight Chesty!" I never knew where the tradition came from until now. Got to get some sleep. Time to head up near Tampa in the morning.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Florida Day 2

More great interviews at an equally great location. Long days of non-stop production means no room to enjoy the wonderful location. We got to talk to some great men and are always humbled in their presence. As a matter of fact, today was actually kinda crazy. We had a couple of wild men on the roster. Not only did I laugh like crazy, I also feared that if we all hit the bar after the show that we could all be arrested. Wouldn't be the first time a group of Marines caused utter mayhem, wouldn't be the last. Adside from a few cancellations for the following days - Great day.

Semper Fi,

Brian

Florida Day 1

We arrived in Ft Myers late last night. We are fortunate to have recieved the support of the Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa. I like to think that I have "been a few places," but this is one of the nicest hotels I have ever stayed in. The interview room is amazing, the staff is amazing-- the water, location, you name it. If you are going to stay in South West Florida, I highly recommend staying here - at least for a night. Amazing.

Moving on. We had a long drive, taking turns sleeping on the floorboards. The mini-van wasn't as big as we thought it would be. Nonetheless, it does the job and we made mission.

Today was jammed packed and we could not have been more honored to sit with these heroes and hear their stories. We especially appreciate these men taking time over Easter weekend to meet with us.

Got in a little work out, a few bean burritos from Taco Bell. Gonna hit the pool and hit the rack. Nice. Until tomorrow.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Gearing up to Drive

Here we go. Florida. This is the first of the "big four" trips that we are embarking on this year. Naturally, due to retirement and general distaste for the cold, many of the Chosin vets have migrated to warm climates. I can't blame them, and the crew and I are not feeling too bad about having to travel to sunny Florida to meet them. Compared to the weather in Korea, Iraq was an inferno, but there is no way that I want to retire somewhere that is freezing cold.

We will be filming the road trip and behind the scenes, so stay tuned for new videos to meet the crew.



Semper Fi,

Brian

Pre-Deployment Work Up for Florida

Our first deployment for the film is getting closer. Over the past week, Brian and I have been finishing up the logistics for production in Florida. Dick Bonelli and Wally Dugan of the Southwest Florida Chapter of The Chosin Few have been indispensible in our preparations. Support from the Chosin vets has been great, and it looks like we may get the opportunity to sit and talk with as many as 30 or 40 members of the SW Florida chapter. There are a few more details to work out, and then we will hit the road next Wednesday.

S/F
Anton

Filming in Long Island

Today we went for the first of many trips to NY. We have a handful of shoots in the Long Island area and then we will head to the Syracuse area/northern NY. Today was another day of doing our part to honor these brave men. We were fortunate enough to shoot in the Tun Tavern of Garden City, NY. For those of you who don't know, Tun Tavern, Philadelphia was the birthplace of the Marine Corps. We want to extend our gratitude to the Marines of Garden City for lending a hand.


Semper Fi,
Brian

Post Factory

The crew and I would like to announce that we will be handling our post production at a what is arguably the best post house in NY - Post Factory NY. The only thing better than the facilities is the staff that works there. Our hats off to those guys for helping us out.

Semper Fi,
Brian

IAVA and Turner Execs

Thursday, 26 March, Anton and I attended an event hosted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of Amercia. We had a great offportunity to meet with wonderful people from Turner Broadcasting to incude executives from TNT Sports, CNN, and Cartoon Network. The IAVA has been a growing voice for the new generation of veterans and we are proud members. Check them out at http://www.iava.org/.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Meeting with Pete

Anton and I had the pleasure of meeting with Pete Abel of Abel Cine Tech. He is a supporter of veterans and is lending a hand for this project. Pete runs a great rental and equipment sales business in NY City. He is a stand up guy and are happy to have his experience and sage counsel in our corner. Thanks Pete.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Anton Signing On

Hello friends and supporters of the film! This is my first of what I am sure will be many posts. A lot has happened since Brian brought me on to co-produce the film with him in January. In a few short months, we have connected with over sixty veterans of the Chosin Reservoir Campaign and our contact list grows every day. I have been truly honored to work with "The Chosin Few," and their willingness to share their stories with us is humbling. Ever time I meet one of these gentlemen or talk to them over the phone, it feels like I am meeting a long lost relative.

Yesterday, I spoke with Dick Bonelli, a Chosin veteran who served with Fox 2/7. He told me a short strory about he and some other Chosin veterans visiting wounded Marines who had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr. Bonelli was struck by the mental toughness of our returning warriors-- "if they didn't need to recover, you could have given these guys a helmet and a rifle right there and they would have gone back into the fight." This was coming from a man whose generation paved the way for today's Marine Corps. Marines truly share a mutual respect and brotherhood that transcends generations.

Right now, we are simultaneously preparing for two days of filming in Long Island and a ten-day road trip to Florida in early April. The operational tempo is starting to pick up, and I'm excited about the challenges that lie ahead. Stay tuned.

Semper Fi,

Anton

TV Festival Party

Anton and I, along with our good friend and former Naval Officer, Steve, had the pleasure of attending the NY Television Festival. It is a fest that is designed for television pilots and spots. The party was good and we had a great chance to spread the word about the film. We reaffirmed out mission when no one that we talked to had ever heard of Chosin, and only some have heard of the Korean War. Time to get to work on that.

Semper Fi,
Brian

In the News!

The Navesink Journal, a great local pub.mag has just published an article on our project. We have been contacted to conduct a follow up interview for a feature article for the next issue.

We are prepping for our upcoming shoot on 14 and 15 March. We have a great line up of heros to include Silver Star winner Kenny Benson. Stay tuned for a handful of new video clips online.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Whew!

Friends,

Sorry it has been a bit. The response has been overwhelming and the project is in a good place. We have another shoot around the corner and will be traveling the east coast in April conducting more interviews. I cannot thank enough for all the support. We are looking to head west in May and then hit Texas and the middle states in July. We may have to make another round at the end of the summer into fall but that will only make us happy. Connecting with these brave men has been rewarding and we owe our efforts to their sacrifice. Stay tuned.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Production Day 1

Lights, Camera, Action!

Today we began production on The Chosin Few! Many thanks to Brookdale Community College for letting us use their studio. We also want to thank our great vets and the press who came out to cover this great mission. Check back soon for pictures and new video posts at the main webpage.

Semper Fi,
Brian

In the Archives

Here is a good pic of Producer Anton Sattler with Marine Audio Visual Archives Master Tony Magnotta. Tony is the keeper our our audio/visual history. He holds a lot of history and tradition in his care.

Big day tomorrow, meeting with the NJ Chosin Few. Hope they can all make it. They way I see it, the snow and cold never stopped them men before.

Had a great interview this morning with Businessweek. They will be doing a mini-profile on Veterans Inc, which is the all veteran film and media production company. I will send you a link when it posts next week.

Semper Fi.

MCL Meeting

Had a great meeting with the Marines at the Dorn Detachment of the Marine Corps League. Regular Vic Handow will be interviewing with us on Feb 15th. They are a great bunch of guys who do a lot of great charity work with little fanfare. Like most Marines, they do this as a calling, a form of continued service to their country, not for medals or accolades, nor even a thank you. Next time you see them at the supermarket looking for contributions, don't just avoid eye contact and breeze by them. These old guys have been to WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq - and everything in between - and they still serve! Say thanks and drop some change in the bucket.

Anton and I will be meeting up with the Chosin Few NJ chapter in preparations for the Feb 15th shoot. We are extremely honored and privileged to share their company and look forward to share their story.

Semper Fi,
Brian

Meeting with Don

I drove out to Pennsylvania, near where I was stationed at during college and met up with Don Gee. Don is the administrator for The Chosin Few. Don retired from the Corps and in true hero fashion, continued to serve for the VA. He retired a few years ago and still keep busy working with, and helping vets - like me and the crew!

We had a good talk over good ol' diner food and then I made the 2-hour trek back home. If Don invited me to lunch tomorrow, I would take the drive in a heartbeat.

We have confiremd 2 local papers and are working on some more for the shoot on Feb 15th. Good stuff.

The Dream Has Begun

It is midnight and all elements are in place to begin shooting on Feb 15th in New Jersey. This is the official begining of our epic journey to capture the legacy of the heros who are quietly passing the torch.