thedrifter
07-24-07, 07:29 PM
Filmmaker, 13, donates prize to wounded vet
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 24, 2007 17:43:04 EDT
The conversation Ian Scott Wilson had with a wounded soldier lasted just a few seconds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., but it made a lasting impression.
Ian, 13, is giving the $1,000 first-place prize he won in C-SPAN Classroom’s StudentCam video documentary contest to that soldier, he told S. Ward Casscells, the Pentagon’s top health affairs official, in a meeting Tuesday.
Ian’s video is titled “When the Boys Come Home: The Controversy at Walter Reed.”
Ian later said he doesn’t remember the name of the soldier, who had lost a leg, but it’s written down in his files at home. Ian’s father, David Wilson, said they had to get approval from Walter Reed to give the money to the soldier.
Casscells met with Ian, his mother Julie, sister Katherine, 10, and brother Sean, 8, to thank Ian for his work on the documentary. Casscells gave him a copy of the book “Medic at War,” by John T. Greenwood and S. Clifton Berry Jr.
“You’ve been a great example for all teenagers. I hope you keep it up,” Casscells told Ian.
Later, Casscells said he plans to show the video to the Senior Military Medical Advisory Council on Wednesday.
Ian didn’t interview any wounded service members, he said, because he wasn’t allowed to set foot in Walter Reed until after he made the documentary and won the prize. He relied on information provided by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., as well as information others gave him in making the documentary, including a number of clips from C-SPAN. Ian also interviewed people on the streets of Washington about their thoughts.
He worked on the project for about a month and a half, he said, culling more than 30 hours of interviews down to less than 10 minutes for the video — hard work, he said, but worthwhile. He’s considering a career in the field, perhaps even in uniform as a reporter or cameraman for the Navy, he said.
At the time the controversy over outpatient treatment for combat troops at Walter Reed broke earlier this year, Ian became concerned about what could happen to his older brother, Sgt. Gordon Hamm, if he were injured while he is in Iraq.
“My older brother is in the 82nd Airborne,” Ian said. “If he got hurt, that would be horrible. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have to go through the things they had to go through” that he had heard about at Walter Reed. He said his brother, still in Iraq, hasn’t yet had time to see his video.
C-SPAN had announced its contest right about the time that the Walter Reed situation was in the headlines.
Ian was in the eighth grade at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., when he produced the film earlier this year. He’ll be entering high school in Egypt — the family is moving there July 30 when his mother, who works for the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will be reassigned there.
Ellie
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Jul 24, 2007 17:43:04 EDT
The conversation Ian Scott Wilson had with a wounded soldier lasted just a few seconds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., but it made a lasting impression.
Ian, 13, is giving the $1,000 first-place prize he won in C-SPAN Classroom’s StudentCam video documentary contest to that soldier, he told S. Ward Casscells, the Pentagon’s top health affairs official, in a meeting Tuesday.
Ian’s video is titled “When the Boys Come Home: The Controversy at Walter Reed.”
Ian later said he doesn’t remember the name of the soldier, who had lost a leg, but it’s written down in his files at home. Ian’s father, David Wilson, said they had to get approval from Walter Reed to give the money to the soldier.
Casscells met with Ian, his mother Julie, sister Katherine, 10, and brother Sean, 8, to thank Ian for his work on the documentary. Casscells gave him a copy of the book “Medic at War,” by John T. Greenwood and S. Clifton Berry Jr.
“You’ve been a great example for all teenagers. I hope you keep it up,” Casscells told Ian.
Later, Casscells said he plans to show the video to the Senior Military Medical Advisory Council on Wednesday.
Ian didn’t interview any wounded service members, he said, because he wasn’t allowed to set foot in Walter Reed until after he made the documentary and won the prize. He relied on information provided by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., as well as information others gave him in making the documentary, including a number of clips from C-SPAN. Ian also interviewed people on the streets of Washington about their thoughts.
He worked on the project for about a month and a half, he said, culling more than 30 hours of interviews down to less than 10 minutes for the video — hard work, he said, but worthwhile. He’s considering a career in the field, perhaps even in uniform as a reporter or cameraman for the Navy, he said.
At the time the controversy over outpatient treatment for combat troops at Walter Reed broke earlier this year, Ian became concerned about what could happen to his older brother, Sgt. Gordon Hamm, if he were injured while he is in Iraq.
“My older brother is in the 82nd Airborne,” Ian said. “If he got hurt, that would be horrible. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have to go through the things they had to go through” that he had heard about at Walter Reed. He said his brother, still in Iraq, hasn’t yet had time to see his video.
C-SPAN had announced its contest right about the time that the Walter Reed situation was in the headlines.
Ian was in the eighth grade at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., when he produced the film earlier this year. He’ll be entering high school in Egypt — the family is moving there July 30 when his mother, who works for the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, will be reassigned there.
Ellie