When Adam Makos, formerly of Montoursville, wrote a book about two heroic naval aviators during the Korean War, he could scarcely have imagined that the book would become a major motion picture seven years after the book was written.
The film, “Devotion,” based on Makos’ book of the same title, was released in theaters nationwide last week, including one locally. I went to see this film on its release date and was very impressed and moved by it.
Sometimes when Hollywood gets a hold of a good book, they alter it beyond recognition and basically wreck it. That was most certainly not the case with “Devotion.” It stayed very true to the spirit and content of the book and celebrated the bravery and dedication and, yes, the “devotion” of the two naval aviators.
I understand that it is getting some Oscar “buzz.” I am not an expert on what is Oscar-worthy, but I think it is safe to say that this film may be so, including the performances by some of the actors involved in the film. I heartily recommend this film.
At the time the book was written seven years ago, I did a story on it for Webb Weekly. And I think it would be instructive to revisit this story and help give you the background and surrounding activities about the book to help you appreciate the film better. I hope I don’t give away too much of the story, but I hope that it makes you appreciate the film more.
A chance meeting by author Adam Makos and Korean War Medal of Honor winner Thomas Hudner in 2007 has led to Makos’ latest book about military heroism, bravery, and the brotherhood that military people often experience with those that they serve with.
The book is titled, “Devotion: An Epic Story of Brotherhood, Heroism, and Sacrifice,” and it is the story of two U.S. Navy carrier pilots, Lieutenant Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, who served together during the Korean War. The story details their devotion to duty and to each other. It also gives you a window into the role of naval aviators during the so-called “Forgotten War.”
Makos introduces us to Tom, a white New Englander from the country club scene, and Jesse, a sharecropper’s son from Mississippi who became the navy’s first African American aviator. While America remained gripped in segregation, Tom and Jesse joined forces as wingmen.
Jesse and Tom’s story took a dramatic turn on December 4, 1950, during the Korean War, as the two naval aviators, flying from the deck of the U.S.S. Leyte, were providing close air support to beleaguered U.S. Marines and Army troops taking on a horde of Chinese and North Korean troops in desperate fighting at the Chosin Reservoir, later known as “Frozen Chosin.”
Jesse’s Corsair jet took enemy ground fire which caused his plane to crash violently. Jesse was having trouble escaping from his plane, now seriously on fire. He was trapped, and he looked skyward toward a flight of Corsairs and waved furiously at them.
Tom saw the smoke and his friend’s frantic waving. Tom disregarded a standing order from his air unit and crash-landed his Corsair in a bid to try and assist Jesse in his desperate, life-threatening situation.
Tom desperately tried to free Jesse from the cockpit of his plane. Jesse was hopelessly pinned within it. Tom used snow to try and extinguish the fire that neared the cockpit.
Together they waited for a rescue helicopter; Jesse and Tom’s flight mates knew that both were down and alive and so a helicopter was dispatched. Unfortunately, Jesse died before the arrival of the helicopter. Tom promised Jesse that he would deliver a message to Jesse’s wife, Daisy; Jesse loved her.
As Tom flew back on the helicopter, he believed that he had somehow failed Jesse and that he would also face court martial for disregarding flight orders.
But it turns out that the commander of the U.S.S. Leyte, the carrier Jesse and Tom flew from, recommended Tom for the Congressional Medal of Honor, which he received from President Truman in April 1951.
Tom kept his promise to Jesse’s wife, Daisy, and did even more than that; he paid to put Daisy through college.
Over the decades, Tom was haunted by the thought of what have happened to Jesse’s remains.
Fast forward to 2013, at the age of 89, Tom, along with another Korean War veteran, and Adam Makos traveled to the mysterious and forbidding land of North Korea in a quest to find out what might have happened to Jesse’s remains and if he could locate them and bring them home.
Tom found himself seated across a table from a senior colonel of the North Korean People’s Army. With the cameras of the world media rolling, Tom asked his former enemies to help search for Jesse’s remains.
At first, the colonel was silent. He glanced at his notes, cleared his voice, and began to read a prewritten reply from the nation’s new, 30-year-old Supreme Leader—Kim Jong-un.
Kim Jong-un is not noted as being a tender or compassionate man, as witnessed by the hundreds, if not thousands, of people he has had executed.
But Kim Jong-un said he was impressed that Tom had come so far, after so long, to keep a promise to a friend. In tribute to Tom, he granted approval for his army to resume the search for the remains of missing in action American servicemen—beginning with Jesse Brown.
There was supposed to be an expedition to search for the remains of Brown and perhaps others in the Chosin Reservoir area, but a large monsoon storm made it impossible for things to proceed. Tom and his party returned home, not knowing for sure when, if ever, the search for Jesse’s remains will resume.
Adam Makos, the author of “Devotion,” is the author of the New York Times bestseller “A Higher Call.” In his work as a journalist, Adam has interviewed countless veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and present-day wars. In pursuit of a story, Adam has flown a WWII bomber, accompanied by a Special Forces raid in Iraq. He lives in Denver, Colorado. He is originally from the Montoursville area.
