The Patton Veterans Project helps veterans tell their stories and make films.
It's therapeutic and it brings their experiences to the civilians.
“My grandfather in 1943, infamously slapped a couple of soldiers during the campaign in Sicily,” Benjamin Patton said. “At a time when he thought he was doing the right thing.”
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Benjamin Patton could tell stories forever.
“He thought he was giving back their sense of honor and their sense of self, but he didn't really understand it,” Patton said.
Specifically of his grandfather, General George S. Patton III, the great World War II military leader for the United States was depicted in the 1970 film Patton, though sometimes without context.
“I think people came away from that thinking that he loved war,” Patton said about his grandfather. “But I think he just loved the tactical aspects of war of being effective against an enemy. But I don't think he loved war.”
Benjamin's father George S. Patton IV also served in the United States Army, attaining the rank of Major General.
It's the lives of his father and grandfather that inspired him 13 years ago to start the Patton Veterans Project, which helps veterans with filmmaking.
“They tend to forget the situation they're in and they’re just focused on finishing this film,” Patton said.
“I felt I had no purpose and I had been retired,” said Randy Henry, PVP operations director. “And when you're retired, idle hands. And this has given me a new purpose to be able to help veterans in a way I didn't know I even could help.”
Henry served in the U.S. Army for 20 years and worked with 15 to 20 veterans on the film “Ledge” about veteran suicide.
He says whether it's the military or producing a film, the commitment is similar.
“It's like combat buddies,” Henry said. “I don't want to let you down. I'm not going to let you down in this film.”
Patton and Henry are in town for a Veterans Navigation Network event hoping to recruit some veterans for filmmaking productions.
“I love it,” Henry said. “This is a blast.”
“We've had a long legacy of service,” Patton said about his family whose military service goes back six generations. “And while I didn't serve in uniform, I feel like I'm serving out of uniform right now in a way that perhaps is just important."
Patton and Henry ask veteran to contact them if interested in filmmaking.
Contact information from the PVP website:
- workshops@pattonveteransproject.org
- (970) 657-550
