marinefamily5
05-24-06, 05:43 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Bethany Lyons gets caught off guard whenever she hears the recorded voice of her husband, a Marine who died in Iraq.
She saw her husband again, and listened to his voice, on video clips Tuesday night at an emotional and somber screening of a new documentary on the Columbus-based Lima Company, which lost 16 members, including Lance Cpl. Christopher Lyons.
More than 300 family and friends attended the private event. One woman walked out of a theater crying, her hands covering her face. Dozens others used handkerchiefs to wipe their red eyes.
But Bethany Lyons said it was therapeutic.
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"I love seeing the boys," said Lyons, 24, of Ashland. "They know they're all my Marines because they took care of Christopher when I couldn't be there, and for that, they're all my heroes."
The film, "Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company," uses personal video shot by the Marines, and debuts Thursday on the A&E Network.
Lima Company has received much media attention, but this is the first documentary about the unit, part of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook Park, said Maj. Kirk Greiner.
The Marines provided director and producer Michael Epstein with hours of footage.
Epstein said he and co-producer Jonathan Yellen, a former Marine who served during Desert Storm, wanted to cover the war in a different way.
"Everybody was focusing on the number dead," he said. "What people knew was that they had died, not what they accomplished in Iraq or who they were."
The video footage captures the Marines in some of their most candid moments because it was filmed for personal use, Epstein said.
In one, the late Cpl. Andre Williams makes a video for his daughter's sixth birthday, Epstein said. In another, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem takes part in a pizza-eating contest.
Bloem was one of 14 Marines killed in a roadside bombing Aug. 3. Nine were from Lima Company, and Bloem and another Marine were serving as part of the unit while in Iraq.
Williams died July 28 along with another Lima Company Marine when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq.
Other documentaries about the Iraq war have focused on post-traumatic stress disorder and a war medical unit. Another, "The War Tapes," directed by Deborah Scranton, also featured footage shot by troops - members of the New Hampshire National Guard.
The rest of the Lima Company documentary is based on 22 hours of interviews with 15 Marines who survived the ordeal, including Maj. Stephen Lawson, the company's commander.
"I was grateful and really startled at the depth of their honesty," Epstein said. "They really held nothing back. ... They just needed to talk."
Those interviewed represent a cross-section of the company, coming from various platoons and ranks, Greiner said.
Epstein said the documentary shows a unit whose "cavalier" video-game attitude about war becomes "weathered and emotionally beaten" as fellow Marines die. In addition to the 16 based with Lima Company, seven others serving as part of the unit in Iraq also were killed.
Staff Sgt. Steve Hicks, 33, of Columbus, was one of the Marines interviewed for the film. He said he was apprehensive about working with the filmmakers because he didn't know what to expect. But he's pleased with the result.
"I liked every bit of it because it was something we lived for seven months," Hicks said. "Seeing in it this two-hour documentary puts it all together."
The documentary follows the Marines as they readjust at home as well as the effect the company's experience in Iraq had on Ohio communities, Epstein said.
"Because it's an all-volunteer service most of us ... are very, very removed from the daily life of war," Epstein said. "The country is so removed from the sacrifice of war.
"I'm hopeful the film gives people a greater sense of intimacy."
She saw her husband again, and listened to his voice, on video clips Tuesday night at an emotional and somber screening of a new documentary on the Columbus-based Lima Company, which lost 16 members, including Lance Cpl. Christopher Lyons.
More than 300 family and friends attended the private event. One woman walked out of a theater crying, her hands covering her face. Dozens others used handkerchiefs to wipe their red eyes.
But Bethany Lyons said it was therapeutic.
Advertisement
"I love seeing the boys," said Lyons, 24, of Ashland. "They know they're all my Marines because they took care of Christopher when I couldn't be there, and for that, they're all my heroes."
The film, "Combat Diary: The Marines of Lima Company," uses personal video shot by the Marines, and debuts Thursday on the A&E Network.
Lima Company has received much media attention, but this is the first documentary about the unit, part of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook Park, said Maj. Kirk Greiner.
The Marines provided director and producer Michael Epstein with hours of footage.
Epstein said he and co-producer Jonathan Yellen, a former Marine who served during Desert Storm, wanted to cover the war in a different way.
"Everybody was focusing on the number dead," he said. "What people knew was that they had died, not what they accomplished in Iraq or who they were."
The video footage captures the Marines in some of their most candid moments because it was filmed for personal use, Epstein said.
In one, the late Cpl. Andre Williams makes a video for his daughter's sixth birthday, Epstein said. In another, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem takes part in a pizza-eating contest.
Bloem was one of 14 Marines killed in a roadside bombing Aug. 3. Nine were from Lima Company, and Bloem and another Marine were serving as part of the unit while in Iraq.
Williams died July 28 along with another Lima Company Marine when his unit was attacked with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades in western Iraq.
Other documentaries about the Iraq war have focused on post-traumatic stress disorder and a war medical unit. Another, "The War Tapes," directed by Deborah Scranton, also featured footage shot by troops - members of the New Hampshire National Guard.
The rest of the Lima Company documentary is based on 22 hours of interviews with 15 Marines who survived the ordeal, including Maj. Stephen Lawson, the company's commander.
"I was grateful and really startled at the depth of their honesty," Epstein said. "They really held nothing back. ... They just needed to talk."
Those interviewed represent a cross-section of the company, coming from various platoons and ranks, Greiner said.
Epstein said the documentary shows a unit whose "cavalier" video-game attitude about war becomes "weathered and emotionally beaten" as fellow Marines die. In addition to the 16 based with Lima Company, seven others serving as part of the unit in Iraq also were killed.
Staff Sgt. Steve Hicks, 33, of Columbus, was one of the Marines interviewed for the film. He said he was apprehensive about working with the filmmakers because he didn't know what to expect. But he's pleased with the result.
"I liked every bit of it because it was something we lived for seven months," Hicks said. "Seeing in it this two-hour documentary puts it all together."
The documentary follows the Marines as they readjust at home as well as the effect the company's experience in Iraq had on Ohio communities, Epstein said.
"Because it's an all-volunteer service most of us ... are very, very removed from the daily life of war," Epstein said. "The country is so removed from the sacrifice of war.
"I'm hopeful the film gives people a greater sense of intimacy."