Our Story

Tim Haley, Ray Calhoun, and Mike Hogan began their friendship during the crossover from Elvis to the Beatles. It was junior high when they met and the boys were living in the San Fernando Valley.  In high school, they played football, spent days at the beach, and dated their future wives. The 60s were just starting and the sun was shining in Southern California. 

 

Graduation sent the trio just up the road to Pierce College where, rather than filling their evenings with studies, the boys chose to fill up on beer and poker. One night during a game, they watched on television as protestors marched down Sunset Blvd, raging against the escalating Vietnam War.  Tim, coming from a military family, took offense and convinced the boys that it was their patriotic duty to enlist in the armed services. The next morning, Tim, Ray and Mike joined the Marines. 

 

The boys entered on the buddy system, expecting to serve in the same unit. Turns out the buddy system meant that the Marines congratulated you on having friends and then split you up. Each, at some point during the war, survived a tour in Vietnam. Each had varied experiences in different parts of the country and each returned home radically different from when he left.

 

So we beg the question: if you take three boys who grew up in the same area with similar ideals and send them off to war, how does that experience shape the men that they are today? How did being forced to mature so rapidly impact their every action from that moment on?

 

Our film reunites Tim, Ray and Mike and takes them back to the genesis of that change: Vietnam.  While there, each Marine will have the chance to lead his friends through his time in country. Their senses will be in overload and their emotions on high alert as they rediscover the land and the people that, because of a youthful encounter, left a mighty impact on their adult lives.

 

Although the Vietnam they rediscover is a new one for them, our Marines will still be walking in the footsteps of lost innocence. This is their moment to remember, to respond, to feel without fear and renew their psychological integrity.  For these men, this is total immersion, a chance to be reacquainted with the boys they left back in Vietnam.        

 

 

The Impact

It is by learning from and understanding the trying moments of the past, that we are better equipped to face the trying moments of our present and future. In a tragically fundamental way, America has never engaged the haunting reality of Vietnam, and as a consequence, has never understood it, or even more important, has never learned from it.

 

So how do we now, 40 + years later, re-examine these events and what can we learn from them?  The hope is that by taking the three friends who joined the Marines together and served in Vietnam, back to what can be conceived as the genesis for a rapid metamorphosis, will in some way provide a glimpse of the journey they have been on. There is no other situation than war in which a young man is called upon so greatly.  It's in that moment where many believe change happens and unless a person has been through it, it's very hard to understand. 

 

It's the hope of the THROUGH THEIR EYES production team that studying this event will not only bring some closure to the situations that occurred in the past, but can also help soldiers coming home now, and better equip them with tools and services to make the transition from war to civilian life, easier. It is well beyond the time to give these voices of the Vietnam War a chance to be heard. They have been silent for far too long, and it is the belief of the THROUGH THEIR EYES Production team that the soldiers and the nation have suffered because of their silence. It is time to give long overdue tribute to the faces that have been forgotten, the stories no one has heard and to those sacrifices that have never been fully appreciated. 

 

The interviews conducted thus far for this production have been life-changing. Already, several emails have been received from the families of our interviewees all conveying the same message - that for many of these men, the opportunity to finally open up and talk about those experiences has had a positive effect on them mentally, emotionally and physically. 

 

 

What We Need & What You Get

We've already shot over 50 hours of interviews with Veterans from around the country, but we still need more. Our goal is to do a 3 city campaign where we can finally complete our tour of the U.S. Once the preliminary interviews are completed and the team has been assembled, we can begin to build momentum and financing for the trip to Vietnam.

 

 

Other Ways You Can Help

We know times are tough for everyone right now. Please help us spread the word by forwarding on the link to this page to everyone you know who would like to help our Veterans.

 

Call your local VA Hospital, VVA chapter or Veteran's motorcycle club and share our mission with them.

 

Are you a Vietnam Veteran or do you know one who would like to share their story? Contact us today.