If the story of the Navy SEALs in the new film "Lone Survivor" sounds familiar to you, it’s because five of the elite warriors who died in the mission and failed rescue were based at Pearl Harbor, and a sixth — the lone survivor, Marcus Luttrell — was also stationed here.
Their courage on June 28, 2005, high on a mountainside in Afghanistan, resonated deeply through Hawaii’s military community in the weeks that followed.
When the SEALs were eulogized two weeks later at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, at a ceremony I covered, the emotional pain was obvious on nearly every face in the audience of 1,000 military and civilian mourners. Even the gruff SEALs who spoke of their friends eventually broke down.
Tears were the common denominator that afternoon at Punchbowl.
"Lone Survivor," which was directed by Peter Berg and stars Mark Wahlberg as Luttrell and Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Michael Murphy, opened Friday amid generally positive reviews. Based on Luttrell’s best-selling book, "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10," the film focuses on a four-man SEAL team sent to kill a Taliban militia leader. The mission quickly sours and becomes a bloody firefight against more than 100 heavily armed enemy fighters.
The SEALs went headlong down the steep, rocky mountainside, falling and tumbling and shooting back with fierce resolve. They were trying to reach a village house that would shelter them as they fought back the Taliban.
In an attempt to save them, an MH-47 Chinook helicopter packed with SEALs and Army commandos took off for a daring daylight rescue nearly 8,000 feet above sea level. Their plan was to swoop into the area and make a fast-rope exit from the helicopter.
But the Taliban forces held a better vantage point. They used a rocket-propelled grenade to down the Chinook, killing everyone aboard.
The Chinook fatalities included three Pearl Harbor SEALs: Senior Chief Daniel Healy, 36, of Exeter, N.H.; Petty Officer 2nd Class Shane Patton, 22, of Boulder City, Nev.; and Petty Officer 2nd Class James Suh, 28, of Deerfield Beach, Fla. Their SEAL teammates from Pearl Harbor — Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., and Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew Axelson, 29, of Cupertino, Calif. — were killed in the ground fighting.
To watch their friends mourn the fallen men at Punchbowl was a lesson in loyalty. It was more powerful than any cinematic moment.
They spoke of a fierce devotion to each other that outweighed personal safety. They spoke of men who were tough beyond measure.
When Murphy was remembered, he was the SEAL who was afraid of nothing. Murphy was already badly wounded when he walked out into open ground so he could use a mobile phone to call for help. As he described the situation from the only spot where his phone would work, Murphy took a round to the back. Then he braced himself, returned to his friends and renewed the fight. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
But the SEALs spoke of love, too. As Warrant Officer Dave Bauer described Healy, he seemed to crumple beneath the weight of his own words.
"As a father, I can only hope my own sons can grow to become a man like Dan," said Bauer, a bear of a man. "He is a guy you want to grow up to be like."
AND that’s a wrap …
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Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
