Free Republic

Flying low over the dangerous and impenetrable Laotian jungle on a bombing mission against the Viet Cong, U.S. Air Force Colonel Eugene Deatrick saw a lone figure waving to him from a clearing below. He continued on his flight path, but ten minutes later - puzzled that a native in this hostile terrain would try to attract his attention - he decided to turn back for another recce. This time, he saw the letters SOS spelt out on a rock. Beside them stood an emaciated man dressed in rags, waving the remains of a parachute over his head and signalling...

Every American needs to see "Rescue Dawn," in theaters nationwide today. If it's the only movie you see this year, you've done yourself a service at the box office. It is the best movie of the year. The silver screen story of Dieter Dengler--a Navy pilot shot down over Laos and imprisoned in a Vietcong POW camp--is not only a great movie. It is patriotic and uplifting. It is the story of survival against all odds, and the story of a man who refused to denounce his adopted country, the United States of America. And it is the story of...