Arts of War on the Web

Khe Sanh, 1968

You can get a look at the synopsis of the script for an as-yet unproduced film called A Grunt’s Tale at the moviebytes.com web site. The script, written by by Justine Cowan and based on a true story, centers on an African-American housekeeper for a white suburban family who helps a Marine Vietnam veteran deal with his emotional readjustment after surviving the Siege of Khe Sanh and coming home.

Cowan concieved the idea for the script after interviewing Khe Sanh veterans at their 2007 reunion. “It  been my life’s dream to see it made into a film,” Cowan told us. “It is script is a tribute to Vietnam veterans and I want to see it made.”

To contact Cowan, email juscowan19191@aol.com

Sarah Wells, a student at Loughborough University in England, is writing a dissertation on the impact the media had on the Vietnam War. She is looking for input from American Vietnam veterans who, she says, “experienced the brutality of the war first hand,” and have opinions on how the news media represented the war and veterans.

If you’d like to help, email: sarahwells1@hotmail.com

And tell her you read about it here, at VVA’s Arts of War on the web page.

Robert Romaniello, who served with the U.S. Army’s 633rd Collection, Classification and Salvage (CC&S) Company in 1969-70 near Marble Mountain (above), is looking for old war buddies for the combination memoir and history of the company he is writing.

Mike Cerrone, Terry Riley, Ron Pollard, J.B.Barnes, and Dennis Wilson, or anyone else who served with the 633rd CC&S and has stories or photos they’d like to share, contact him my mail (734 Falling Oaks Drive, Medina, OH 44256) or phone: 330-722-6019. If you do, please mention you read about it here at Vietnam Veterans of America’s Arts of War on the web page.

romaniello@zoominternet.net

For its annual Black History event February 25, the Newton White Museum in Mitchellville, Maryland, is looking for information on African Americans in the military, from World War I to the Vietnam War.

In you’d like to share stories, photographs, artifacts or memorabilia, call 301-249-2004 or email nwmansion@pgparks.com

The Newton White Mansion, which is in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Prince George’s County, is a Neo-Georgian-style brick mansion sitting on 586 acres. The mansion was the home of Navy Captain Newton H. White, the first commanding officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise prior to World War II.

Matthew Alexander, a former military interrogator and a Iraq War veteran, is conducting research on interrogation methods at American University in Washington, D.C., and is writing an unofficial interrogation manual to supplement the Army Field Manual. He would like to interview former military interrogators from any of America’s wars, including Vietnam. Part of his work is to collect true stories from interrogators and the methods they used.

So, if you are a former military interrogator or intelligence officer who conducted interrogations, he would like to hear from you. Contact his research assistant, Jennifer Anderson, at 757-243-4319 or email her at jennifer.anderson@american.edu And tell her your read about the project in VVA’s Arts of War on the Web.

Detroit-based Visionalist Entertainment Productions and Executive Producer Keith Famie will be producing a documentary next year called “Michigan: Our Vietnam Generation.” The doc will pay homage to the service and sacrifice of Michigan’s Vietnam veterans.  The producers are in the process of funding the project, and they are also looking for stories from men and women who served.

Among other things, Famie put together “From Hanoi to China Beach,” an Emmy-nominated hour-long documentary that was filmed in Vietnam. That 1999 film, which Famie dedicated to “the men, women, and children who lost their lives during the Vietnam War,” examines a bicycle trip he and a group of Vietnam veterans took.

If you’d like to learn more about the new documentary or would like to offer your war story, email Famie at famie@famie.com; call 248-869-0096; or go http://www.v-prod.com

PublishingWorks, a New Hampshire book publisher, is looking for submissions from veterans for a book tentatively titled Moments of Honor, which will be published next Veterans Day.

The proposed book will contain 20-30 personal reminiscences, letters, and e-mails from veterans depicting experiences during conflicts from World War II to today. The submissions may be as long as 20 manuscript pages, or as short as a paragraph. The criteria are:

Victory/Loss
Fear/Courage
Honor/Regret
Love/Longing

E-mail your submission, or mail it, and include contact information (phone, address, e-mail), as well as a SASE. Do not send photos or any original material.

Send submissions to 151 Epping Road Exeter, NH 03833. Or email jeremy@publishingworks.com with “Veteran” in the subject line. Or call 603-778-9883 and ask for Jeremy or Carol. The deadline for submissions is March 1, 2010. And tell them you read about it here: at Vietnam Veterans of America’s Arts of War on the web page.

U.S. Army Major Greg Schrein, who is stationed at Fort Leavenworth and is working on his MA in Military History at the Command and General Staff College, has chosen the early advisory efforts in Vietnam (1955-62) as the focus of his thesis.  “I am specifically examining if experiences of advisers in Korea during the Korean War were transferred to the effort in Vietnam,” he told us.

For his research, Major Schrein would like to interview MAAG-V veterans “who may be interested in sharing some insight into the early efforts.” That especially includes people who served in both Korea (from 1949-43) and in Vietnam.

If you fit the bill and would like to help, send an email to: gregory.schrein@us.army.mil

And tell him you found about it here on VVA’s Arts of War on the web page.

Jeanne Giaimis at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, is in the early stages of writing a book about African-American women who served in the military or in civilian jobs in Vietnam, Thailand, and Japan from 1954-75. “There have been no books written about this group,” Giaimis told us, “and I would therefore as a historian like to share their stories as a part of American history.”

As “a member of the baby boom generation, I am aware that younger generations have very little knowledge of the Vietnam War,” said said. “I would like to do my part to see that this chapter in our history is not forgotten.”

If you fit the bill and would like to be a part of the book, contact Giaimis at 201-675-6465 (cell); 973-353-3557 (work); or by email: giaimis@andromeda.rutgers.edu

If you do, tell her you read about her work right here at VVA’s Arts of War on the Web page.

Deborah McCabe, who created Military and Veteran Search in 2001 to help veterans find old buddies, is compiling a new edition of her book, Brotherhood. She would like to hear from Vietnam veterans who would like to contribute to the book by, among other things, writing a letter to the family of someone who never made it back or describing an act of bravery in battle.

You can learn more at her website or by emailing mavsnews@aol.com The deadline to contribute to the 2009 edition is August 15.