Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal (2004)

Director:

Carlton Sherwood

Writer:

Carlton Sherwood (writer)

Genre:

Documentary | Short

Plot:

In the mid 1960's thousands of young American men left their families, homes and jobs and went to fight for their country in Southeast Asia...

Plot Keywords:

1960s | Vietnam Era | Right Wing | Propaganda | Vietnam

Cast

Carlton Sherwood	...	Himself - Journalist
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kenneth W. Cordier	...	Himself - P.O.W.
George E. 'Bud' Day	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Jack H. Fellowes	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Ralph E. Gaither	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Paul Galanti	...	Himself - P.O.W. (as Paul E. Galanti)
Carlyle S. 'Smitty' Harris	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Gordon Larson	...	Himself - P.O.W. (as Gordon A. 'Swede' Larson)
Kevin McManus	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Thomas M. McNish	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Thomas S. Pyle	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Robinson Risner	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Robert H. Shumaker	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Thomas J. Sterling	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Leo K. Thorsness	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Jack L. Van Loan	...	Himself - P.O.W.
James H. Warner	...	Himself - P.O.W.
Ronald J. Webb	...	Himself - P.O.W.

Runtime:

USA:43 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Red White & Blue Productions

Watch it

"Stolen Honor" is an homage to Vietnam vets rejected by their countrymen during the latter days of the war.

It's sad, and hard to watch at times. Numerous American POWs tell stories of brutal torture at the hands of North Vietnamese forces, who exploited the claims of the anti-war movement back home to further their psychological abuse.

One former soldier describes being read anti-war statements by his own mother from his jail cell in Hanoi; another, in a fierce indictment of Jane Fonda and her bevy of useful idiots, is forced to stand inside a tiny circle for hours upon end, upon threat of beating, during which he observes a procession of clueless American celebrities tour the camp outside.

The film's attitude is proud, but hardly jingoistic. While acknowledging the barbarism of My Lai in 1968, its message is that American forces were -- in contrast to John Kerry's 1971 testimony before the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations -- overwhelmingly decent people who answered their government's request, and received little reward for it.

This is still very much an election film, so Kerry figures prominently -- but he's often a starting point for bigger issues, like the country's aggregate anti-war feeling, and hostility toward the returning soldiers. It could almost have been made without him, as I'm sure similar testimonies to Kerry's could bear the point out just as well.

I didn't notice any factual errors, but I have not read the whole of Kerry's statements cited within, so I'm not sure if they're misrepresented.

I don't agree with the reviewers who panned this movie, and I suspect some of them have not bothered to watch it. Whatever you think of this whole business, "Stolen Honor" is worth seeing. If you don't feel like renting it, you can download it for free from several websites.