Posted on 12/20/2002 6:35:25 PM PST by jern
Senator happy with small role
in ‘Gods and Generals'
Chris Stirewalt <cstire@dailymail.com>
Daily Mail Staff
Thursday December 19, 2002; 10:30 AM
He doesn't get the girl and he doesn't even have any lines, but Sen. Robert
Byrd still is looking forward to his big screen debut.
Byrd said he is eagerly awaiting the Feb. 21 premiere of the Civil War
movie "Gods and Generals," which will include his cameo as Confederate Gen.
Paul J. Semmes.
"My role is small, admittedly, and probably won't earn me an Academy Award,"
Byrd, D-W.Va., said. "But it was exciting to participate in a project that is
helping to promote our nation's history."
The movie, which details the events and battles leading up to Gettysburg, is
set to open nationwide with a full fusillade of publicity from Warner Bros. A
special screening is planned in Martinsburg, in the center of the history-laden
area where the movie was largely filmed.
Several key scenes were shot in Harpers Ferry.
Director Ron Maxwell included Byrd; and fellow Sens. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and
George Allen, R-Va. and media mogul Ted Turner, who financed the $51 million
production, in small parts.
Byrd's role as a field commander is an essential one to history buffs.
Gen. Semmes, a Georgia plantation owner and banker, was in command of key
brigades in the battles leading up to the war's turning point at Gettysburg.
Semmes was mortally wounded there.
Semmes died of his wounds in Martinsburg several days after the battle at age
48. He saw action at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Savage's Station,
Malvern Hill, Crampton's Gap, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Salem Church.
Byrd, 84, spent an entire day on location in Fredericksburg, Va., in November
2001 at the recreated headquarters of Gen. Robert E. Lee. He worked with Robert
Duvall, who plays Lee in the movie, and other central characters.
The setting is a camp where Lee, West Virginia's Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and
other Confederate leaders are discussing strategy for the upcoming battle. Byrd
stands at one end of a group of 19 officers clustered around a long, folding
table.
"I have talked with Ron Maxwell several times since the filming and am very
excited about the final product," Byrd said. "This film allowed me the
opportunity to help bring American history to life, to spring it from the pages
of history books into the flickering images of the movie screen."
After his experience on the set, Byrd was moved to make a speech on the Senate
floor about his experience in the movie and how the current war against
extremist Muslim terrorists parallels the challenges faced by America during
the Civil War.
Byrd said that he has long felt that understanding our history was a key to
dealing with new challenges.
"I have talked countless times about George Washington, James Madison, John
Adams, the Founding Fathers, the Constitutional Framers, Nathan Hale, Abraham
Lincoln, and other true American heroes," Byrd said. "I try to encourage young
people to learn about these great figures of our country's past. I urge
students to read, to visit historical sites, and to soak up as much knowledge
as they can."
Writer Chris Stirewalt can be reached at 348-4824.
Actually, a great many of them come from areas not shown on your map. They're easy to spot, I'm sure you've seen them on TV the last 2 weeks as they endlessly engaged in the despicable and bigoted act of labeling and defaming entire groups of people and sections of the country. Their 'modern bigotry' is what always gives them away. I'm sure glad there's not any on FR.
Pardon? Maybe not in today's combat. However, 600,000+ deaths of men aged 17-39 over a four year span covering a territory having roughly one third today's population is hardly insignificant and would surely affect the ALS numbers. I don't see how war deaths on and off the battlefields couldn't be a prime influencing factor....
Easy. He'll walk backwards. :-)
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