It was a pleasant Memorial Day. I edited and published a Memorial Day post first thing in the morning, then lazed around until after noon and fired up the grill. After I burned some hot dogs, the family sat down and trimmed out the meal with cold watermelon, sweet tea and finished it off with Dutch apple pie, a la mode. Americana at it’s finest. As we ate my daughter asked us what was the difference between Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, to which my wife and I stumbled over each other as we tried to explain simultaneously. Somehow we managed to get it across cogently enough for her to understand. Ironically, sitting by the TV was a Netflix envelope with the answer to her question. The movie was Taking Chance, based on true events, in which Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, played by Kevin Bacon, escorts the body of fallen soldier PFC Chance Phelps back to his hometown. The Netflix envelope lay unopened for a couple weeks prior and I couldn't even remember what the movie was about, and it went unwatched until last night. I’m glad I finally did.
The American war movie has undergone quite an evolution in Hollywood’s relatively short history, with the propaganda films of World War II and Korea, followed by the anti-war pictures of the Vietnam era, to the humanizing an often apolitical films of the last decade or so. With films like Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, Clint Eastwood’s complementary films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, and Kathryn Bigelow’s amazing film, The Hurt Locker, we see the focus not on ideology, but on the men and women who fight and serve and die in our armed services, and putting before the viewer the human face of those who serve. Taking Chance took that sentiment one step further and compelled the viewer to experience the posthumous impact that our fallen men and women can, and should, have on us today.
The movie takes you through the journey that our fallen heroes’ take to their final resting place. From the reverence and respect shown by the military to the body, to the impact upon people as they realized the precious cargo on it’s route, I found myself fighting back tears throughout the movie. I couldn’t help but reflect on my own time spent in the military and the brash bravado I had about my service during the Gulf War. Though I never made it to the war theater, I was eager to apply my training and contribute to the effort. Then, I would have died fighting for a cause greater than myself, now, twenty years later, I’m thankful for each precious moment of life I’ve had. It’s a dichotomy one can experience only after the passage of time, one many of our fallen soldiers will never get to contemplate. PFC Phelps died at the age of nineteen, never to experience the things so many of us take for granted.
Much of the movie depicted the impact of Phelp’s body and his escort, Lt. Col. Strobl, had on those they encountered. Whether overly dramatized or not, it was moving to see people stop as the body was moved from a cargo hold or hearse. During the scene of the last leg of the journey to Phelps’ hometown, one by one, vehicles are shown passing Phelps’ hearse. My wife looked up from her computer and remarked that the movie seemed slow a that point. What see wasn’t seeing was, as each vehicle pasted, they turned on their headlights in respect upon seeing the flag draped coffin in the hearse. This went on until there was, in essence, a funeral procession preceding Phelps to his final destination. I pointed out the headlights, and she got it. Thankfully, she didn’t see the tears welling in my eyes.
It’s true, I’m overly sentimental when it comes to our brave men and women fighting for our country. I truly lament each death. And as I get older, Memorial Day becomes more important to me. I wish we could have watched Taking Chance on Memorial Day, it would have done a much better job answering my daughter’s question than her mom an I did. Still, I did watch it and was, and still am, moved by it. I’d recommend giving it a view yourself, and if you have kids, set them down, too. It’ll help them understand what Memorial Day is about.
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