On Thursday Jan. 25, the University welcomed Benjamin Patton, the grandson of General George S. Patton, who served in WWII.
Ben Patton began the Patton Veterans Project (PVP) in 2011. According to the PVP website, Patton thought that the “process of collaborating to create visual narratives this way could also benefit veterans returning from combat deployment as they sought to transition home and find their ‘new norm.’ This inspiration led to the inception of the I WAS THERE Film Workshops initiative.”
The PVP has hosted over 50 film workshops across the nation to give veterans a safe place to address their problems and cope with other veterans.
“People don’t take their life when they’re making films with their friends, having a beer, going to church; they do it in the dead of night when they are alone with their thoughts,” Patton said.
The event on Thursday evening was kicked off by the UW Army ROTC presenting the colors. Members included Christian Miller, Collin Rice, River Haggstrom, Ava Gunn and Caleb Barlow.
Governor Mark Gordon then addressed the audience and expressed his support for the PVP program. He related a story in which he described the U.S. military uniform. “Your name is over your right chest but what is over your left? The United States army is over your heart.”
Patrick Lim, one of the directors and actors of the first film explained that the first film, “Pawns” was a symbolic piece that showed how the military experience can be difficult for many. The film also featured Darlle Dickens, Jeff Miller and DeShann Schinkel. The film portrayed three people entering a recruiter’s office and explaining why they wanted to enter the military. Lim’s character explained that he wanted to travel the world, Schinkel’s character expressed that the men in her family had all been in the military and she wanted to prove that she could serve her country as well, and Miller’s character explained that he had a difficult home life and needed to get out.
Each character was given a chess pawn that symbolized their new status in the military. At the end of the film, however, both Schinkel and Lim had a queen piece symbolizing that they had gone across the proverbial chess board and came back successful. However, Miller still had a pawn that had become dark in color. Schinkel and Lim reached out to Miller and asked them to join them in their conversation and gave him a night piece. The film ended with Miller leaving behind a bottle of alcohol and joining his former comrades.
The second film featured Mike Leeman, Darleen Hansen and David McCollough. The film addressed the pain that many veterans go through during the holidays. Leeman explained that 15 years ago, on Christmas Eve a few of his fellow soldiers had been killed in action. He said that losing his brothers had changed Christmas Eve for him, and it wasn’t until after producing “About the Brothers” that he could enjoy the holiday for the first time in 15 years.
“Family includes a lot of people that aren’t in your household,” McCollugh said.
Hanson explained that she was unable to travel home due to medical restraints and that she was waiting on the VA for accommodations. McCollough explained that he was unable to see his son who was overseas and that it was painful for him to spend time away on the holidays.
After sharing their common hardships in the film the characters who were displayed as strangers meeting at a bar, decided that they would meet every year for Christmas Eve as a new tradition. Hanson brought tears to the eyes of audience members after saying, “So you’re telling me that when I go to bed at night, I will have something to look forward to.”
The tear jerking performance shed some much needed light on the hardships that veterans go through. Leeman explained that even his wife didn’t fully understand why Christmas Eve is so difficult and expressed that even he did not realize that he was still healing and coping until after the production of the film.
The third film titled “Family First” featured JD Dolan, Dean Nelson, Zander Rahn and Eric Wright. This film was dedicated to showing that the families of veterans are affected as well. The theme of the film pointed out that stories do not make the man, but the willingness to serve does.
The final film called Serenity which was presented by Janina Rios portrayed a character that had intense ptsd from 9/11. Rios explained that she had served in the U.S. army and that she identified with many of the issues of the NYPD officer’s character that she portrayed in the film. Rios explained that she too had suffered intense grief and that she had also been victim to abuse and rape. However, this film was instrumental in her journey and was effective therapy.
Patton wrapped up the evening, inviting the audience to a reception and expressed an invitation to any veterans that needed support to reach out to him and get involved in a collaborative film workshop.
Details concerning film workshops and screening can be found on pattonveteransproject.org.
