Raw War: The Lost Film of Dak To

A common complaint of military combat camera folks is, "We do the work but get none of the credits." This film should become a part of our military history because what it discovers, changes the military history of the Battle of Dak To. It is a major accomplishment and means a great deal to those who served in that battle and those who risked their lives to capture it on film and audio. A fantastic job by Frederic Lumiere and his team for capturing the detective work it took to uncover the truth of that one battle and finally give recognition to it's participants and the combat cameramen of the 221st Signal Company (Pictorial). Bravo!

No Oliver Stone stuff here.

This is real footage taken by Army combat photographers whose work is typically neither well known nor appreciated.

In this case the photographers were from the 221st Signal Company.

One can see the confusion and unpredictability of combat and better understand the challenge of capturing it.

This footage is also unusual because there is audio with it, real sound recorded at the time. Not something added later from stock audio.

Most of the 221st Signal Company photographers didn't carry audio equipment. Their camera was a Filmo 16mm powered by a wind-up spring and without light meter and auto focus. But very sturdy.

In addition there's an interesting mystery aspect to how this documentary came about.

All in all a compelling work.

I liked the detective story approach regarding how the audio tape's discovery led to a search of the official film archives with a positive result.

It's nice to know that all of this effort at the time wasn't in vain. Nothing beats realism like ... the real deal. In fact, the audio was so chilling that it could stand alone.

Viewers owe a big debt of gratitude to those intrepid souls who laid their lives out there to record such battles just for the sake of history. Viewers should also thank the team who put this entire project together for the good of all who care to see it.